There’s a sad absence of starlings these days in my patch of Stirlingshire.
Just a few years ago they inhabited the unused chimney vent in the roof and dashed around the back garden in their iridescent plumage, keeping the blackbirds in order. Thomas Hardy obviously had a soft spot for them too. His starlings are philosophers, and pretty sardonic ones into the bargain.
STARLINGS ON THE ROOF
‘No smoke spreads out of this chimney-pot,
The people who lived here have left the spot,
And others are coming who knew them not.
~
‘If you listen anon, with an ear intent,
The voices, you’ll find, will be different
From the well-known ones of those who went.’
~
‘Why did they go? Their tones so bland
Were quite familiar to our band;
The comers we shall not understand.’
~
‘They look for a new life, rich and strange;
They do not know that, let them range
Wherever they may, they will get no change.
~
‘They will drag their house-gear ever so far
In their search for a house no miseries mar;
They will find that as they were they are,
~
‘That every hearth has a ghost, alack,
And can be but the scene of a bivouac
Till they move their last – no care to pack!’
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article