Don’t feed the birds

ON A regular morning walk recently, I noticed an earthworm making its way across the boardwalk in front of me. In order to safeguard it from other walkers, who might not notice its pilgrimage, I picked it up and left it to the other side.

A blackbird, alerted by its settling-in wriggles in a suddenly unfamiliar location, instantly swooped and the last I saw of ‘my rescue’ was it dangling from the bird’s beak as it flew into a brightening morning just out of winter’s grip.

It is unfortunate, especially from the worm’s point of view, that I have yet to heed my mother’s oft repeated advice that it is often better to ‘leave well enough alone’.

Michael Gannon, Kilkenny city.