Talking Point with Vicky Turrell: 'I waited and waited...'
“We are experiencing a high number of calls…” I waited and waited for half an hour. Then – “We will answer your call in seven minutes.” Seven minutes went past. No answer. Then another seven minutes. Then a message to say that I could go on ‘Chat’ to solve my problem, so that is what I did.
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“Please can you tell me your full name?” 12 days later we are still ‘chatting’ and my query has still not been answered. “Hi, thanks for your message. Our team know that you’re waiting…”
Those of you who have moved house or utilities might be familiar with all this. I have given up for now.
Heron watch has not given up though. They have had new cameras installed and when I was in Ellesmere this week, I could see the shadowy grey herons incubating their eggs in tall trees on Moscow Island. There was a colony of huge nests made of an untidy cluster of twigs. The birds were remarkably camouflaged and sat as still as statues. There was no movement as I watched but I was told that they take it in turns to incubate for about a month.
A heron came over our garden today with its slow nonchalant flight on huge wings, but we have no pond now and it glanced with distain before flying away looking for fish or frogs to eat.
A pair of rooks also arrived in the garden today. Big and black with scruffy pantaloons they immediately took over pecking at the soil that Mr T had just turned over. I could see their pale sharp beaks as they seemed to be searching for worms. There are not many worms in this newly excavated soil and they soon took off. But where were they going?
The number of rookeries is falling and so the Shropshire Ornithological Society is doing a rookeries survey this year to see how our four hundred sites are getting along. You cannot mistake them at this time of year. I drove past one yesterday, the noise was deafening as the birds were reclaiming and repairing their nests. There seemed to be a lot of quarrelling too as they pinched each other’s twigs for their scatterbrained nests.
I counted 13 nests quite close together like the nests in the heronry. They seem to want to live together, I suppose it is like our housing estates. Once a builder has found a good site, he does not usually build just one house but takes the opportunity to build quite a few.
In our new house another ‘chat’ message has just come – “Our team know you are waiting…You might not always get an immediate response.”
