The car radio this morning was tuned into the BBC, the legacy of bank holiday weekend listening, so there was nothing on the departure of the Taoiseach, instead, a report on peregrines nesting in the English city of Worcester. A man from the city council there spoke with pride of how a pair of peregrines had nested in the cathedral for twenty-five years and upon the commencement of repairs to the cathedral had moved to a fifteenth century church tower. Their nest can be watched through a city council website and strict security is in place to ensure they are not disturbed.

Only on the BBC would there have been the space for such an item, which was worthy of its place on Britain’s most significant morning news programme. If one compiled a list of possible pieces for inclusion on the news, the return of peregrines to English cities would rate far above the antics of spoilt celebrities and the latest wranglings of overpaid sportsmen, in fact, a piece on bird life every morning would be an attractive option.

The peregrines’ five minutes of fame past, the programme moved onto the inconsequential details of yesterday’s sport (Does anyone really care who won the Rockall Open Golf Championship or who is Bardsey tennis champion?)

Radio 4 departed with the peregrines as the radio retuned to Lyric. Ralph Vaughan Williams Fantasia on Greensleeves filled the air as we drove along the edge of the bay on a bright May morning, the one time president of the English Folk Dance and Song Society would surely have approved of peregrines in the home city of Elgar.

A friend last week said that there were many good and beautiful things in the world and that there should be a balance on the news, for every bad story, there should be a good story. A keen ornithologist, he would have enjoyed the peregrines

May is the most perfect month.