When Angels Sleep by Mark Griffin

Author:Mark Griffin [Griffin, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780349420776
Published: 2019-11-27T16:00:00+00:00

Thirty-six

‘Marsh sandpipers are waders who breed from easternmost Europe to Central Asia. Very distinguished with a fine bill and long yellow legs. Incredibly rare over here.’

Holly and Bishop were sitting in a room that was part of the Forestry Commission’s buildings in Epping Forest. A shelf of computers and monitors to one side. A desk to their right, behind which were charts and catalogues for identifying rare species. They were listening to Marcus Edmonds, mid-fifties with tiny half-moon glasses.

‘The wader was first spotted two weeks ago by one of our regular twitchers, Brad Duesbury. He didn’t have time to capture an image, but we promised to set up a camera as soon as possible. What with the poor boy being found we waited until the police had cleared the scene and then hid the camera in the vicinity hoping the sandpiper might return. As their name implies, they like marshes or wetlands and we have an abundance in Epping. We set up hides and cameras all over forests, part of the WWF, and my remit is Wanstead Park.’

‘I’m guessing we’re not here to see the image of the bird?’ Holly said.

‘Quite.’

Marcus turned on a television that had been linked to his computer and pressed play. ‘Height-wise, the camera is attached to the base of a tree, about two feet off the ground. They’re well disguised so as not to disturb any of the wildlife.’ A time code appeared at the top right of the screen: 3.19 a.m. ‘Here we go.’

‘What day was this?’ she asked.

Bishop nodded at the screen.

‘Watch.’

The screen was pitch-black but Holly didn’t take her eyes off it. And then it suddenly lit up. Bright white and phosphorous. Tree trunks and leaves, branches dipping into frame. A badger walked ponderously from left to right. Sniffed at nothing in particular then stopped and stared at the camera.

‘Can it see the light?’

‘No, it’s infra-red. It can’t see a thing.’ The badger looked once behind it and waddled off into the bushes. After ten seconds the screen went dark again.

‘How many of these hides are throughout the forest?’

‘Twenty-seven. We place them all across the grounds and change their locations every season. Not that the wildlife ever finds them, but some creatures will always tread the same path and every different set-up reveals something new to us. I’ve been doing this sort of thing for over twenty years now. Started as a ranger and then—’

The screen lit up again. A whitewash of vegetation.

‘This is it,’ he said.

Holly waited and waited.

‘I don’t see anything.’

‘The camera is very sensitive. It senses movement around it and will react even if an animal isn’t in frame.’ He leaned forward and turned up the sound. ‘Listen.’

A gentle shush-shush. Stopping. Shush-shush again.

‘What is that?’

‘The undergrowth being disturbed. It’s precisely three-twenty-two a.m.’

Holly felt herself leaning forward, watching the screen as if waiting for the end of a magic trick. The rustling noise was getting louder and louder. But it wasn’t simply a noise now, it seemed to have become consistent.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.