Regular readers of this column will know about my husband’s bewilderment at my inability to tell a swift from a swallow or house martin. He looks at me while gently shaking his head despairingly and says, “just look at the tail, look at the tail” and I try to look at the tail – but they are flying so fast I can’t seem to get a good enough look. I then make a total guess e.g., “swallow?” and hope that I get an approving nod rather than an arched eyebrow. I impressed him the other morning with saying “is that a curlew I can hear?” (Admittedly their call is distinctive even to someone as hopeless as me) but I got a “well done” for that. However just because I’m clearly will never make ‘birder’ grade does not mean I don’t get very excited at this time of year about the return of our migratory birds. In fact, I get quite anxious about our ospreys – they face so many perils on their journey back from Africa. At the time of writing our male has arrived – here’s hoping the female will be safely back soon. Click here for all the latest info from Loch of the Lowes and don’t forget you can keep up with all the action on the nest …hopefully eggs then chicks etc … by watching their webcam. Osprey webcam – Scottish Wildlife Trust.
The other day I wandered down the Perth Road from Bob’s garage towards the village. Instead of staying on the post office side of the road I crossed to walk down the Old Hostel path and through to Torwood Park. It is absolutely amazing what the Dunkeld and Birnam team have achieved there over the years. They have turned it from a piece of waste ground into a magical woodland walk full of wildflowers. Many thanks to them for all their work there and around the village. Please note that they are looking for extra volunteers so if you have even the
slightest green tint to your fingers, please respond to their appeal for volunteers.
The situation in Ukraine is an unmitigated disaster. Our thoughts and prayers are with the brave people of that country who are fighting for their homeland or moving vulnerable people to safety. Thank you to everyone who has already responded to the various appeals for help. A new initiative is featured on the front page and is being led by our local Corbenic Camphill Community. From the 2nd of April they are setting up a ‘Ukraine appeal table’ in their Dunkeld shop to sell locally made crafts. All money raised from sales on this table will go the DEC appeal. If you are crafty, please set to with haste and make a few things for the stall ... and if you’re not please go in and buy as much as you can and be as generous as you can be to this most worthy cause.
Finally – it’s the local elections in May. Please make sure you register to vote and then get out to vote in person or by post. Democracy might not be perfect but as Winston Churchill famously said:
‘Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…’
The situation in Ukraine is a sad reminder to protect what we have – and one way of doing that is to make sure we value our democracy, despite its many flaws, and use our vote. Many thanks to all our current three councillors, Anne Jarvis, Grant Laing and Ian James, for all their work over the past years on behalf of our community.

Sally Robertson