I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤

Photo  “Ganet-puffin-guillemot-1-of-12” in Gallery/Birds. Copyright © Richard Keys, Photo Sociology:  “Exploring Sociology through Photography”  All rights reserved.  Used with permission.  Thank you, Richard! ♡

From Richard’s page:

Northern Gannet

The Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus) is one of my favorite sea birds. It has a beautiful blue eye which us set against a pastel yellow nape. They nest in large colonies and are very territorial. Gannets mate for life and return to the same nest year after year.

The snippet of poem shared on today’s Gem came from Julian Date, friend of writer and photographer Richard Carter, FDC.  EDIT:  Richard kindly gave me permission today to share the full poem.  Also, I have corrected Julian’s last name from “Dale” to “Date” (“like the Julian calendar…” Richard kindly explained).  Thank you so much Richard and Julian! ♡

THE GANNET

My favourite bird’s the gannet:
It’s the best bird on the planet.
It’s better than knots
And guillemots
And beats razorbills by lots and lots.

Yes, my favourite bird’s the gannet:
It just can’t be beaten, can it?
It hatches on ledges,
Where it stays till it fledges
And grows a physique
With a fabulous beak.
Then it takes to the air
And soars way up there,
Till it reaches a summit,
Whence it dives in a plummet
And down with a S W I S H !
It catches a fish.

Yes, my favourite bird’s the gannet
(Apart from my girlfriend, Janet!).

Richard Carter created a movement in the United Kingdom called Friends of Darwin.  His original goal was to get the face of Charles Darwin on a bank note.  This is from his Home page:

The Friends of Charles Darwin were founded in 1994 to campaign for the depiction of their hero, Charles Darwin, on a Bank of England bank note. The great man finally appeared on the new £10 note in November 2000.

Due to popular demand, we’re still taking on new members. We currently have 4,070 members in 98 countries. Our most recent new member is Chris Stephens of London, England.

So if you can truly say “Charlie is my Darwin”, and you’d like to be able to write the letters FCD after your name, why not join us? It’s totally free!

I’ve written to Mr. Carter to ask permission to share J. Dale’s entire poem here.  Meanwhile, if you have some time, have a look around his site. It’s really fun and very informative.

♡. under1000skies
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