Time for a little chat about the birds and the bees

EVERY time I grumble, will someone please pinch me and remind me how lucky I am?
On Saturday morning we were sitting on the patio with a visiting friend, appreciating the sunshine.
Like my husband, his pal is a birdwatcher, and as usual, they had a telescope scanning the meadows towards the cathedral.
And what did they spy on the spire? A peregrine falcon perched on a pinnacle, plucking a pigeon for his lunch.
He obligingly turned this way and that to give us all-round views, while keeping his prey firmly under foot.
We could even see the unfortunate pigeon’s white feathers drifting upwards in the breeze against the dark stone backdrop.
It was an amazing sight. It’s marvellous that the cathedral authorities have not only welcomed back these magnificent birds and given them a nesting box so that they are breeding here for the first time since 1953, but have also taken precautions to prevent tower tour parties scaring them away.
Thirty years ago, peregrines they were so endangered that my husband volunteered to join an all-night guard over a nest on a crag in the Peak District to protect it from egg thieves.
Now, thanks to bans on the pesticides that were affecting their breeding, they are thriving again, right here.

And speaking of the need to nurture nature, some people are once again complaining about the long grass and wild flowers alongside our main roads, where the Highways Agency is economising on maintenance.
But we know that those flowers provide sustenance for our struggling bee population (and without enough bees pollinating enough plants, we’re all doomed) while those long wavy stems provide cover for small creatures.
As long as sight lines are maintained at junctions - and couldn’t Wiltshire Council and its contractors Balfour Beatty negotiate some payment from the Agency to take on that simple task? - I say let the grass grow.

Sticking to the subject of leaving nature well alone, I’d like to remind you that the consultation on Sainsbury’s amended plans for a Southampton Road superstore and underwater wildlife reserve ends soon. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you don’t need to respond because you objected last time around. That doesn’t count. You need to do it again.
And don’t think you can’t make a difference.
Our weekend visitor lives in the London borough of Hillingdon, where the Save Our Northwood group (check out their website) has just forced Transport for London to rethink hugely unpopular plans for a development including a Sainsbury’s supermarket and 167 homes around the railway station.