1974
As a simple way of filling dead 'cyber space' and out of sheer personal indulgence, 1974 launches a series of 'years in the natural history life of one S W Gale'. I won't be surprised, or offended, if you stop reading right now and go off in search of something far more worthwhile. It all began during an art lesson at Sutton Grammar School, Surrey, in the spring of 1974. We had been given the subject of 'Conflict' to illustrate. Most of us were up to our elbows in poster paint trying to work up life-like images of warfare. However, a fellow pupil's work had caught my eye as he had been far more original than the rest of us and was painting a garden scene of a cat pouncing at an improbably coloured bird that was flying just out of paw's reach. I asked him if the bird was a parrot. No, he replied, it was a Jay. He also told me that I could see one in my back garden if I kept a look out. Nonsense, I said, sheer bloody nonsense... Maybe two weeks l...