The news this morning that Vera Lynn’s “Greatest
Hits” release has made her – at 92 – the oldest person to
have a disc in the Top Whatever, brought to mind what will surely be an
inclusion, her rendering of ‘White Cliffs of Dover’ from circa
1944. The point I would have been prompted to make here is the
improbability of ‘bluebirds’ appearing over the aforementioned
cliffs. However, I find I am anticipated by Wikipedia, which has already
made the same point, in the terms that ‘there are no bluebirds in
Britain; they are an American species’. What Wikipedia may
have overlooked is the remarkable number of transatlantic passerines that have
been recorded in recent years on British shores. The prospect of
bluebirds is something to bring Bill Oddie and Mark Cocker to the cliff-tops,
particularly as this seems to be a once in a lifetime event when at least 2 bluebirds,
quite possibly more, are going to appear. The prediction that they will
appear TOMORROW makes it even more remarkable. One should, however,
temper one’s excitement by recalling Mr Cocker’s advice that such
rarities, although welcome fodder to the ticker, are disoriented, wind-blown
vagrants whose detection is of little value to science.
