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Fri 05 May 2007From the banks of the Royal Canal to the CongoDisplaced in Mullingar:  He may have shown an early aptitude for music, but it was a gift from an uncle that set Michael Harding on the writing roadWalking along the canal bank this morning I saw a male blackbird, on top of an ash tree. The ash tree was leafless, except for the overwhelming fold of ivy strangling it to death. The blackbird sang with a mellow ease, and a hen played around on the lower branches. Below the tree, the green blades of flag iris were already a foot out of the water, and small flies were beginning to buzz on the still surface.