Wednesday Photo: Swan taking flight on Grantchester Meadows
Taken with a Fujifilm X100F
Just click on the photo to enlarge it
One of the places I most often find myself walking to (in all seasons of the year) is Grantchester, and the most pleasant (and iconic) route there is that which takes you by the River Cam through Grantchester Meadows.
In my very early teens, and long before I knew Grantchester Meadows first-hand, it was already part of my own inner landscape thanks to Roger Water’s song of the same name found on Pink Floyd’s 1969 LP, Ummagumma. In consequence, Grantchester Meadows has been part of me for most of my life.
Now, although no swan is mentioned in the lyric (which I reproduce below), at 4 min. 15 seconds the sound of a honking swan can be heard followed by that oh so distinctive sound of it taking off from water. The song is set in early summer and the other field-recordings one hears on the song are the singing of larks and the buzzing of a bee. On the day I took this photo (in the summer of 2019) I had heard both skylarks and bees but I had neither seen nor heard a honking swan and its take off. Then, just as I was about to leave the meadow to head back into Cambridge because the day had clouded over and begun to cool, I suddenly heard the sound of a swan taking off. I instantly turned around and snapped without having any time consciously to frame the shot or change any settings on the camera. But, as luck would have it, the current settings were pretty much spot-on and the framing worked or, to be more accurate, when I cropped the frame to 19:9, it worked. The goddess Tyche/Fortuna was clearly with me in that moment and for her gift of this photo, I give thanks.
Anyway, in my (imaginary and entirely pointless) game of Granchester Meadows Animal Bingo I have so far collected four out of five cards because I have also been lucky to see a “kingfisher flashing to the water” (although I have never been able to photograph one). So just one animal remains to be experienced there, a dog fox barking. If I ever get the full set I’ll let you know. But, until then, here’s the beautiful song itself . . .
In the sky a bird is heard to cry
Misty morning whisperings and gentle stirring sounds
Belied the deathly silence that lay all around
Hear the lark and harken to the barking of the dog fox
Gone to ground
See the splashing of the kingfisher flashing to the water
And a river of green is sliding unseen beneath the trees
Laughing as it passes through the endless summer, making for the sea
In the lazy water meadow I lay me down
All around me golden sun flakes covering the ground
Basking in the sunshine of a bygone afternoon
Bringing sounds of yesterday into this city room
Hear the lark and harken to the barking of the dog fox
Gone to ground
See the splashing of the kingfisher flashing to the water
And a river of green is sliding unseen beneath the trees
Laughing as it passes through the endless summer, making for the sea
Comments