Page 25 - br-sep-2020

September 2020 September 2020

advanced section for the stalwarts who had been Lizards
performing almost weekly since the Olympics. We
spent a lot of time listening to each other and If you keep an eagle eye out
getting the feel of the piece we were due to drum you may see a lizard basking in
to. It was quite visceral being part of a drumming the warmth of the sun, or more
collage where three different rhythms are vying for likely darting away for cover as
dominance. Apart from the slight hearing loss I it hears you approach. The
suffered after rehearsals, I thoroughly enjoyed taking common lizard is, as the name
the
suggests,
UK’s
most
part.
common lizard. It frequents a
In the end, our efforts proved to be too ambitious for range of habitats including
the occasion. When we actually practised in the h e a t h l a n d , m o o r l a n d ,
venue, we found it really difficult to keep time as we woodland, grassland and even
were very spread out (half of us at each end of the
pitch) and we had to get to our positions while drumming. The size of the stadium gardens. They can be
meant that there was a time delay in us hearing each other. Gradually over the variable in colour, but
rehearsal, the complexity of our composition was diminished until we were just usually a brownish-grey,
banging the drums as loudly as we could, all to the same rhythm. We were split often with rows of darker
into two groups and arranged along the ends of the pitch where our team would spots or stripes down the
practise before the game. As a lifelong Spurs supporter I found myself drumming back and sides. Common
for Arsenal! lizards can live up to 5 years.
By contrast, the sand lizard is
th
So, on 17 May, there I was playing a drum in the FA Cup Final. This time I was on
the winning side as Arsenal beat Hull City 3-2, after being 2 goals down after the far rarer, with the female a
first 10 minutes. They had drawn back to 2-2 by the end of normal time and sandy brown colour and the
scored the winner in extra time. An eventful match for them and for me and the male displaying green
end of my newly discovered playing career. flanks, brightest through the
mating season. Sand lizards
I later joined the Gamesmaker Choir which led onto singing at major Rugby are confined to sandy heathland and sand dunes. We are fortunate to have both
tournaments at Twickenham, Wembley and the London Stadium. But that’s types of lizard in this area, with common lizards seen around May’s Wood and on
another story … Black Hill with sand lizards on Black Hill. Sand lizards can live up to 20 years. The
sand lizard lays eggs from which its young hatch, whereas the common lizard
Peter Gordon incubates and hatches the eggs within its body, giving birth to live young. Photos
taken by Tony Bates are shown below. If you would like to see these photos in
POETRY CORNER glorious colour, please sign up to our e-mail list by contacting
mike.n.g@outlook.com

Eileen’s daughter Lesley writes:
Nature Notes
She wrote 'Not a day goes by' after the death of her own Mother, who had
worked hard to give her a happy childhood. A little while after that she thought We are continuing to post occasional Nature Notes on the village Facebook
she would like to write a poem about her father too. He was always cheerful and page and distributing them to all on our e-mailing list. Do look out for them – they
brought a lot of happiness to many folk throughout his life. Indeed he was well- provide some information on local and seasonal wildlife sights, be they plants,
known in his later life as 'Tea-boy Ted' at Poole hospital. He cheered up many animals, insects etc, and are accompanied by some amazing photos. Let us
patients over a number of years there by dressing up to serve tea and spend time know if there is anything you would like us to cover and if you have any photos
chatting. Mum wrote 'When you go' to be a cheerful memory of all the goodwill we could post, please email them to us. If you would like to be included on the e-
he shared. In fact Mum wrote both of these as songs, but again they are equally mailing list, please contact us.
suitable as poems.

52 25