Several birders attended the funeral of our old mate Stuart Devonald last Monday at the Crematorium near Narberth. It was cold and dry and for those of us who had spent time out in the field with him, the early signs of spring shoots and flowers added a piquancy to the proceedings.
I am not a religious person and the buildling was packed, so I decided to stand outside and meditate on Stuarts passing.
A pair of blue tits were flitting about in some pre-nuptual kiss-chase and in the valley below a great spotted woodpecker was intermittently drumming which seemed apt. Better still i heard the tell tale pi-pi-pi-pi call of a lesser spotted woodpecker! It is surely one of our most elusive resident birds, years often pass without me hearing or seeing one!
So if I had not been there with all the others to say goodbye to Stuart, another year would have probably gone by without contact with a bird that for me has always been something of a gem. Stuart was always a generous birder, even it seems in death, thanks again Stuart!
(Apparently Jon, Byron and the St Davids boys actually saw the LSW walking in through the crematorium grounds!)
