caw! caw! caw!

Spring is well and truly here and the rooks are busy refurbishing their nests in our local rookeries, or craw widdies as they are known in this neck of the woods.

The raucous calling, or cawing, of the rooks at this time of the year always reminds me of John C. Milnes's poem, caw!, caw!, caw! written in Doric, the local dialect.

"Caw! Caw! Caw!"
Said an aul' dane craw,
As he dichtit his nib on a docken,
"I'm warein awa',
But I carena a straw,
For I've tastet the tatties o' Buchan"

Which more or less translates:

"Caw! Caw! Caw!"
Said an old worn-out rook (or crow),
As he wiped his beak on a dock plant,
"I'm worn out,
But I don't care a straw,
For I've tasted the potatoes of Buchan" (a district of NE Aberdeenshire)

A writer of farming stock, John Milne (1897-1962) was born at Memsie near Fraserburgh. After a brilliant academic career at Aberdeen University, he turned to teaching, later becoming Master of Method at Aberdeen College of Education. His verse collection, The Orra Loon, was published in 1946 and his collected Poems in 1963.