Passion for land – and birds
Dale Percy gets an enormous amount of pleasure watching birds. He farms near Pahiatua and has written a novel about starlings, Jill Galloway reports.
Dale Percy is a farmer, a writer, a painter and a musician. He is also an environmentalist who cares about the forest, farming, dogs and birds. Percy has written his first novel Summer Within, and illustrated it. The book is an allegorical tale of the history of starlings, their trip to New Zealand, and life here. It is told as an oral history of one starling to others.
Many layers are uncovered in the story – of bravery, loyalty, emotion, tragedy, romance and great happiness.
It also talks about the damage to the environment, and things that suffer as a result.
The simple story tells of the adventures of a colony of starlings.
‘‘They live without the bigotry, greed and religion with which mankind has justified killing itself off in tens of millions,’’ Percy says.
He would wake at night, thinking about the book.
‘‘I wrote it in 12 to 18 months, but it was floating around in my head for a long time before that.’’
Then Percy and his partner, Deirdre Power, printed Summer Within.
The expense of publishing meant it was printed in Hong Kong, to make the cost more reasonable, they say.
The book was written in long-hand by Percy, typed on the computer by Power and proof-read by their friend, Jacky Wall.
Power says she was not allowed to make any changes to the script – only once suggesting there were too many ands in one sentence.
‘‘I have been farming for 35 years,’’ says Percy. ‘‘We have 400 acres [162 hectares] here and 200 acres [81ha] at another farm. We both work on the farm.’’
It is a sheep and beef farm and they finish their own stock.
Percy grew up on his father’s farm at Alfredton, in Wairarapa.
‘‘When I was 8 or 10 it was common to see huge flocks of starlings fly over. Perhaps 10,000. Then DDT came and the big flocks disappeared.
‘‘But the farmers had no idea of what DDT would do. Three years after it was banned in the United States, we were still using it here.’’
DDT was a pesticide, used to kill grass grubs. It also killed anything that ate the insects and traces of it remain today.
‘‘A lot of progressive farmers used it. I don’t think you could fertilise without DDT. It had it in fertiliser already.’’
He says while you do not see many dead starlings around, you also do not see the clouds of the birds any more, so many must have died.
Percy says the inspiration about the environment and the need to protect it came from his father, who built bird boxes around the property.
He has followed suit, building bird boxes at his farm.
‘‘Here we have 20 acres [8ha] of bush, and I’ve planted trees along the river and around the farm.’’
But he is the first to say he is not squeaky clean himself.
‘‘I have sprayed weeds and the farm was covered in scrub. I dropped that, after I realised it provides food for the birds and shelter for stock.
‘‘I don’t condemn farmers for what they do. They have to survive, feed their families. Most are conservationists and there is a groundswell of concern by farmers about the environment.’’
But he is concerned about the impact some have. ‘‘It is the minority who say they are not going to do anything, and I am worried about the flow of nitrogen, from far, into the river, and also land erosion.’’
He praises Horizons Regional Council’s One Plan and SLUI (Sustainable Land Use Initiative) – both designed to limit environmental damage.
‘‘There is so much helpful information freely available on caring for the environment.’’
Percy says many farmers have put in much-needed trees to stop slips, but others need the threat of regulation to persuade them to do the right thing.
As well as farming and writing, Percy has many other skills.
He plays the saxophone, clarinet, piano and bagpipes.
While jazz is the music he likes best, he and Power play old-time 1920s to 1960s music at local clubs.
They are keen trampers, have been on many of the tracks in the South Island and they plan to cycle tracks in the future.
Percy and Power are keen artists. He works in water colours and did the illustrations for Summer Within. Power usually paints in acrylics. Between them they have 10 dogs. ‘‘They’re all sheep dogs, and I hate to say slash pets,’’ Power says. That’s sheep dogs/ pets.
One comes inside, uninvited, but is not told off. It is young, at 12 months. Each day the dogs get a run for at least an hour.
Percy says feedback to Summer Within has been wonderful.
‘‘You have no idea how your first book will go. You are so close to it.’’
Many of his passions are in the book – birds, the environment, looking after what is left.
‘‘The starlings are a vehicle for the story, but also some history. Part of the layers are of human history and how many people were destroyed in the Great War and World War II. People have done senseless things.’’
Yet Percy says there is hope, and that is reflected in the story.
‘‘Mankind is slowly adopting the respect that the characters in this book have always held for other creatures and the environment.’’
Percy and Power hope in time Summer Within will make its way into schools.
They have a lot of time for the starlings, which they enjoy observing.
‘‘It is a real pleasure to see them going over the paddocks, getting the grass grubs. And to see them out on the lawn. They also sometimes sit on a sheep’s back, to eat any insects dwelling on it. They’re a great vacuum cleaner,’’ they say.
‘‘Many people are looking for a balance in farming,’’ Percy says.
‘‘People have to survive and they have to look after the environment. There are always compromises.’’
For all that, he is someone who farms, but is conscious of the need to protect the environment, which is a priority.
A quote by Albert Camus from the book says: ‘‘In the depths of winter I finally learned that within me lay an invincible summer.’’
was printed late last year. It is available in Dannevirke, Pahiatua, Masterton, Greytown, Feilding and Palmerston North.