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Hayley Roan

There is so much talent in the RSPB North West Norfolk family...

Our gifted Ringed Plover Project Officer, Wynona, spends her days protecting and monitoring ringed plovers, supporting her wonderful team of volunteers, engaging with beach visitors, compiling reports and updates, working with our partners and funders and, if this wasn't already enough, in her spare time, she's written a remarkable piece of poetry. Here it is for you to enjoy:

Image: Ringed plover chick by Phill Gwilliam

Take a look at me what do you see?

I am curious defiance, flat-packed inside a porous egg.
I am new
I see you and I raise you these oversized legs.
 
These wide, life-learning eyes
and powder-puff head.
Sturdy footing yes, but I am clinging to these shores by a thread.
 
Give me everything life has.
More than my cordoned nest:
Dune slack, strand line, spurge, soft mud, sea rocket and no rest.
Give me
A future.
Shared.
Space to grow safely.
I pick
I stoop
I run and my feet, too big for my body, stumble,
A tiny fluffball tumble
Weed
Sand
Shingle
Stoat
Skulking
Crow
Gull frenzying for chips the same size as me.
I see
A dog I can't outrun,
so I hunker down flat like a stone is it gone
did it see me?
I see
Sandcastles at eye level,
Quad track, boots, wrack,
Bottle cap,
Bike tyre, sandal.
 
I see
A tiny frame
All foot and feather.
Cotton wool
Invisible.
 
I see resilience.
 
I see bold disguised as bite-size,
I see brave and brittle,
I see run as fast as my legs will carry me,
Growing
Fragile
I see a big world
with bigger feet than me,
Really?
 
I see you
Can you see me?
 
Poem by Wynona Legg