大象传媒

Bill Oddie goes cycling and walking on the heath among the gorse. No matter what time of year it is, there always seems to be some gorse in bloom. There is an old country rhyme that says when gorse is out of bloom, kissing is out of season. Bill can hear a whitethroat and a yellowhammer singing, and briefly spots them. He's been hearing the purring call of turtle doves all morning, and now finds one. Turtle doves are quite rare now, so BIll is happy to see it. They get shot as they migrate through the southern Mediterranean. Their name comes not from their tortoiseshell colouring, but form their turr-turr call. Over time this onomatopoeic name was changed from turr-turr to turr-tull to turtle.