The strangest sight met me as I rounded the corner on a lane,  just off the A49 near Shawbury, in Shropshire.  It was about 10.30 a.m. and the mist was only just lifting from the hedgerows – I was pleasantly alone on the journey and didn’t even have the radio on, such was my enjoyment of my surroundings.

There, in the middle of the lane, was a very very large bird - much to my surprise,  I realised it was a buzzard.   Although they are now, joyously, a frequent sight around us in sunny Shropshire, the nearest one often gets is to spot one sitting absolutely still on a fence post across the field.  Their wonderful sharp cry as they wheel and turn high in the sky on a sunny day still thrills me …. sometimes we can count as many as six or seven at once – or catch sight of a poor unfortunate who is being mobbed,  the victim of too much attention from scoundrel crows …… but no, here was my fellow just standing on the lane in front of the car.  I slowed down and stopped about 20 yards away.   He didn’t even look in my direction – he was concentrating very hard on a pheasant, who had just, I guessed, run out into the lane from the hedgerow.   The poor pheasant was also standing still – I had the feeling he was wishing the ground would open up and swallow him quickly before this rather menacing creature in front of him took a step nearer. Gun fight at OK Corral …. only no guns and no corral – but you get the picture!!  I edged my car a little closer to see what would happen and switched off the engine.  The pheasant, quite rightly panicking, ran first one way and then the next – why do birds forget they can fly when they are in a pickle?  How many times have you seen a pigeon run across a lane or road?!  They never fly!  I was fascinated.   The buzzard cocked his head on one side, but otherwise remained motionless.   I held my breath – and then suddenly,  he apparently changed his mind about the quarry in front of him - too large, I wondered?  – and turned and spread his great wings, flashing me that glorious white undercarriage.  He swooped low over the hedge and across the field in one beautifully graceful move and disappeared from view.   Mr. Pheasant was still panicking – he ran across the lane and back again and then hopped into the hedge himself, obviously far too overcome to even think of flying anywhere.   I drove on, wishing that someone had witnessed the scene with me …. but now you have.

The “super-heroes” theme seems to have grown since we were lucky enough to have Rick Stein stumble upon us …. we get nicknamed “the dynamic duo” by the press quite often.  Well, I’m the half of dynamic duo who gets to write the blog … I see it as one of us being the writer and dreamer, the other (Rachel) is the “do-er” ….. quite often these roles cross each other and get tangled, but inevitably they part again and we settle into our designated jobs quite happily – the perfect partnership, at the end of the day.    Rachel is an incredibly talented young lady – not only the first woman in the UK to be licensed to slaughter ostriches (formidable hey?) but she can sail a yacht (has crossed the Atlantic three times), butcher a buffalo and used to milk a dairy herd 360 head strong at 4 in the morning at the tender age of 16 …… see what I mean about being a do-er?  Whereas I …. hmmm… well, I’m just not so practical.   Don’t get me wrong, I love the outdoors, gardening, used to ride horses (before I broke my back … oops) live and spend time in the countryside walking my little terrier, Holly – but I do get an enormous amount of pleasure from just sitting down and writing this blog or fiddling with the website ….. I hope you will enjoy the journey of this blog with us and look forward to your contributions to our “Pigeon Post”.  By the way, I’m Jeannie.