Not a lot of opportunity for birding today and the routine spells out locally produced nothing new.
In the afternoon I went with my daughter Rachael to the cinema within the Edencourt Theatre in Inverness. She'd got hold of tickets as a part of my Christmas gifts for a showing of the film " Mountain". I can't recommend it highly enough ( forgive the pun ! ). It's not a natural history film as such but the scenery shots are absolutely spectacular. There was a real spiritual and artistic aspect to parts of the film with shots of avalanches, "rooftop vistas", ski-ing descents and even erupting volcanoes and close up shots of lava flows.
I confess I found the shots of tent "villages" and columns of people queuing to access the summit of Everest less than inspiring. The "must have" mentality of conquering this majestic peak somehow relegates the sheer beauty of the surrounding landscape. And then I reminded myself that to many outsiders the congregating masses of birders comprising a major "twitch " might seem just as offensive. Live and let live I guess.
At several junctures there was footage of some of the extreme activities now taking place in high places, some of which appear completely absurd. Solo climbing vertical cliffs almost came across as de rigeur ! Launching off high cliffs within mountain ranges on a bike, plummeting downwards with the whole situation then relying on the deployment of a parachute was spectacular. I confess I really enjoyed the somewhat more mundane filmed descents down precipitous snow fields and through woodlands !
Try and see it at one of your local, privately run cinemas. It is well worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment