Rap on The Moss

Flanders Moss, NNR 

Recently we have been going through some old documents on the shelf and came across a CD of People, Peat and Poetry and I thought I would share one of the many poems with you:

Written by children at Thornhill and Kincardine of Menteith
Primary Schools with Louie, April 2009

Bumble bees buzzing by
striped and round as they fly
slimy snakes scared and sly
but they can be very shy
and you can hear the cuckoo’s calling
to one another as the sun is dawning
moss is green, red and brown
never ever will it frown
whirly gigs always whirling away
keeping on the boggy bay
you can see deer play and jump
over all the mossy bumps
trees like wee old ladies huddled together
blowing in the wind discussing the weather
no one ever will be cross
if you visit Flanders Moss

Caterpillar drunk from drinking cans
moves his legs along in a slow dance
trying to advance, eating leaves that are green
some think he is greedy, he’s an eating machine!
amphibians such as newts and frogs
need water to survive the same as the bog
we saw bugs skating along
moss bears silently burst into song
butterflies born out of hatching cocoons
among pond skaters, but no baboons
wildlife is full blown in June
maybe you should visit here soon

The cat tail floating on the pond,
today was a great way for us to bond,
bugs amazing surfing on the surface,
in their own direction with their own purpose.
metamorphosis caterpillar turns into a moth,
spreading her wings slow and soft
they are golden black and brown
the moss is deep and goes a long way down
I saw a dragonfly come out of its nymph
I’ve never seen anything like it since
you could see snakes on a very cold morning,
they creep up on you with a very short warning

Red sundew eating midgies,
underfoot the peat was squidgy
egg yellow sphagnum covering the peats
meadow pippets humming their own beats
water beetles dancing on deep green ditches
the caterpillar’s cute, but its hair would give you itches
hearing cuckoos singing and fluttering
can you hear the moss bears muttering?
fluffy caterpillars crawling along
pond skaters skimming with legs oh so long
this is where the beasties really belong,
and that’s how we’re gonna end this song.
Wooooooo!