National Park (Switzerland) Spöl Valley – near Punt Periv (Karte)
Saturday, 3 October 2015
Ibex, chamois, roe deer, woodpeckers and curiously dishevelled birds - if one is silent and does not tread through the terrain in haste inside the Swiss National Park one spots the most varied of animals. Some one sees only from a distance, others one is suddenly eye-to-eye with. But far more impressive is what one hears out here – especially in the valley over the Spöl. At first it is just a distant presentiment, it could be the fantasy of the city-slicker who eave-drops, a desperate beast of prey in this unfamiliar environment. But then, all at once, one is surrounded by roaring stags – one does not see them, but the hollow groaning and wheezing of their rutting calls reverberate between the cliffs of the valley.
I know that in the autumn, stags court the favour of the hour; it is the commonest thing in the world. I am nevertheless moved by the spectacle: not just in mood, but also in body; it is as if the fierce bellows find an echo in me, as if within me an archaic fibre vibrates in unison – the existence of which I had hitherto no inkling about.
First Publication: 17-10-2015
Modifications: