Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
[T]hat good naturalist and wonderful shot…Lord William is not one of those
eager 'bird-watchers' who dash into print, burst upon the air and smirk at us
from the television screen on every possible occasion in order to impress upon
the world that they, and they alone, are experts.
(Day 1953:126-127)
Never averse to recycling his own words, Day (1967:100) repeated this passage
fourteen years later in
Portrait of the Broads,
replacing 'bird-watchers' with 'birdy-
boys'. Day's dismissal of 'expert' bird-watchers was echoed in his
Poison on the
Land,
an early critique of the use of pesticides in agriculture as a misguided
application of expert knowledge. Day (1957) reflected on '[t]he war on wild life,
and some remedies', highlighting the impact on game birds and placing the
'revolution in farming' alongside myxamotosis in its adverse effects. Day critiqued
scientific authority to uphold landed authority, declaring war on the war on wildlife
in order to maintain shooting.
Day enrolled other Broadland writers and artists into his particular nature—
culture. Several of his topics were illustrated by bird artist Roland Green (e.g. Day
1948, 1960), whom he first met after he shot a swan which came to ground on the
roof of Green's hut. In
Marshland Adventure,
Day visited Green at Hickling, finding
a 'hermit-artist of the Broads' with the same relation to land and the outside world
as Lord Percy: 'Roland Green is no drawing-room publicity-hunter…. He is neither
photographed nor paragraphed.' Day then devoted several paragraphs and a picture
to him (Day 1950:48; 1967:159-161). Day also made alliance with Alan Savory,
author of
Norfolk Fowler
(1953) and
Lazy Rivers
(1956); three chapters of
Broadland
Adventure
describe a cruise down the Yare with Savory from his home at Brundall
(Day 1951:42-73). Savory shared Day's agenda against 'bird protectionists and anti-
sports cranks' (Savory 1953: vii), presenting wildfowling as a pursuit working in the
grain of local ecology, only succeeding if the sole disturbance to the animal was its
death. Savory's fowling was functional: 'I do not personally shoot birds that one
cannot eat, other than vermin, for they cannot be put back like fish' (Savory 1953:
48). 'Vermin' for Savory also included animals such as the otter, on whom he
declared 'war' after the death of some ornamental duck. Savory captured an otter:
'He was a beautiful animal, and he stared me out as I shot a .22 into his brain. I felt
like a murderer until I found my last red-crested pochard duck snatched off her nest
and chewed to pieces' (Savory 1953:118-119). Savory shared Day's enthusiasm for
fishing as a field sport,
Lazy
Rivers
giving anecdote and technical advice, and showing
'[t]he author with a 20-pounder from the Broads.' Day presented Broadland as an
'anglers' paradise' (Day 1967:140-154), with the angler, like the fowler, not
detached from but a 'part of the landscape': 'Therefore he sees a lot that is denied to
the chattering hiker, the petrol-propelled motor-boat fiend, the moronic Beatle-
disciple with his long-player and longhair. These people make a noise. Therefore
they repel nature' (Day 1967:150).
For all his local rhetoric, Day was neither a native nor a resident of Norfolk. Day
did not 'dwell in and by' the region, having his permanent home in Essex, and
