Wildverse is the poetry competition for kids run by Fun Kids and the RSPB.
Every day this week on Fun Kids, we’re sharing the winners and runners up of the three categories.
You can hear them on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday just after 4pm.
Yesterday we announced the under 8’s…
Today, it’s the turn of 8 to 12s!
The winner was ‘Lockdown Discoveries’ by Dotty, aged 12!
Here’s the text of the poem:
I breathe in beauty from my bower, as my boots swing above the brook.
I hear the scurble of the stream as it scurries over stones, and the scritching scratch of Artemis, scrabbling for bones.
And a flabby tubby burble as the swashy water tumbles in the plastic tunnel liner through the limestone bridge that funnels, the day’s rain from the moor.
Past the fields and fences, festooned with fluffy fronds from lambs that gawk and gambol as the golden weir gushes, rusty peaty water through the valleys and the culverts
I pass the gaudy, sludgy torpor of the pond by the meander, and the dragonflies that startle rising flashing from the bushes as my busy wellies bustle crushing boggy bristly rushes.
I see silvery flickering glimpses of the fishes in the reeds, as the frothy waters swirl, bearing branches burrs and seeds, and dancing shadows and reflections from the clouds and fresh green trees.
The brambles, sparrows, crows and finches sing a battle of the bands as a scary creeping sickness quiets the tractors, cars and vans.
A falcon hovers hungry, voles and mice are in its sights, Until the purple streaks of sunset usher bats towards the night.
Runner up: ‘Bat watching’ by Alexander, aged 10
Fluttering, flittering,
Fleetingly skittering,
The bats burst out the tangle of ash,
Swerving, zipping,
Instinctively flipping,
The evening acrobats dash,
Deftly dancing,
Artfully darting,
Whirring wings above me flash,
Flickering, twisting,
Skittishly skimming,
My heart leaps at needle squeak,
Zigzagging, twirling,
Swiftly swerving,
Detector splutters as they streak,
Swaying, scooting,
Nimbly swooping,
Their movement so unique,
Frolicking, frisking
Lithely flicking,
A summer evening’s treat,
Rippling, skimming,
Briskly quivering,
Prehistoric flyers free,
Weaving whirling,
Agilely turning,
Bats seem wondrous to me.
Runner-up : ‘They shut the shops and schools’ by Niamh, aged 10
They shut the shops and schools
I couldn’t see my nan.
The world became a quiet place
where people walked, not ran.
Spring turned into summer
and we watched as seasons changed.
We saw how beautiful it was
how the world was rearranged.
We touched a fallen leaf
we felt a gentle breeze.
We listened and we heard
the chirping in the trees.
When this terrible time is over
and we at last are free
I’ll remember what this lockdown
opened up to me.