(A traditional Czech Carol translated by Percy Dearmer).
This traditional Czech carol, about a cuckoo, a pidgeon and a dove, reminds us of the importance of diversity in the bird population. The Birds Directive is a codified version of Directive 79/409/EEC, which is the EU’s oldest piece of nature legislation. This is the sort of thing that the EU can do very well: although birds are migratory, they are part of our shared heritage, and we need cross-border co-operation to protect them. The Czech Republic joined the EU in 2004.
Percy Dearmer, the translator of this carol, lived for much of his life in London, but is also connected with Oxford where he read Modern History at Christ Church and was converted to socialism. He edited the Oxford Book of Carols published in 1928, and it is therefore particularly appropriate to commemorate him in a Christmas blogpost.
Posted from the Bodleian Law Library’s European Documentation Centre
(Image of Cuculus canorus thanks to Sergey Yeliseev who made it available via Creative Commons Flickr.com)