My First Lessons In Nature

My first lessons in Nature were learnt by my old home In the woods and fields near where I lived I loved them as my own The blackbird whistled in the gloam as shades of night did fall And robin carolled on the hedge by the old garden wall. The woods and fields by my old home I visit them again Where in April the birds formed their nests in sunshine and in rain And the swallows they were home again from places far away And to old shed rafter to form their nest they carried bits of clay. By late May the dunnock's year's first brood from bush to hedgerow fly And their dad in his territory to sing is never shy And their mum sits on her mossy nest in shady nook nearby Her four blue eggs beneath her breast she keeps them warm and dry. And though I've learnt my first lessons from Nature some fifty years ago Of the secret ways of natural things I still have much to learn and know The wild duck's green eggs well concealed in rushes by the stream Of Nature's countless secrets so much to learn 'twould seem. The vixen with her keen sense of scent sense danger near around She utters forth a low growl her playful cubs bolt to ground Teaching them the lessons of survival and making them aware That man and his dog their enemies and of them to beware. The bullfinch with the rose pink breast singing on the sunlit tree He's not the finest songster but few look beautiful as he He eats the blossoms on fruit trees with his plainer looking wife But he is faithful to her and he mates with her for life. In the fields and groves by my old home some fifty years ago The goldfinch and the chaffinch and the greenfinch I got to know Like many wildborn creatures quite secretive and shy But by their looks and songs quite different and quite easy to identify. In the brown bog by dark water pools I often searched around For the elusive curlew's nest though her nest I never found But an old man walking through the bog on his way into town Said he found her nest with four pear shaped eggs of olive green blotched brown. The owls venture out after dark and hunt whilst others sleep And in the gloam the rats and mice out of their dark holes creep And I learnt something of domestic beasts cat, dog, horse, cow and sheep But Nature for the most part her secrets from us keep. Yes Nature doesn't yield too many secrets at least that's how 'twould seem The dipper builds her nest of moss in hole in bank of stream Cloaked by the moss and lichens and near impossible to see Beside the babbling waters she raise her family. The tiny brown wren with the big bird song never ceases to surpise She raises a large family for one of her minute size And the sparrow often under eaves she weaves her nest of hay And you hear her nestlings cheeping in April and in May. My first lessons in Nature oh I remember still The skylark on Spring evening above the bracken hill I listened to him carolling a small speck in the sky A moment to remember and a memory to enjoy. One of my first lessons in Nature I still recall today I heard a wise old lady the years had made her gray Tell of how the badgers lined their sett with dried grass at nightfall The knowledge learnt from elders years later we recall. She told of how the magpie builds her nest high on a mature tree Of sticks and clay and fortressed with thorns to deter the enemy And she lines her home with dried grass and six or seven greenish eggs she lay And her young are self sufficent by mid to latter May. My first lessons from Nature were learnt by my old home The creatures of the fields and woods I loved them as my own And still I learn from Nature though some birds you know them by their song And that bubbling voice coming from gum tree wood to grey butcherbird belong.