The Day The Bulldozers came

Exercise 1:
complete the blanks in the passage below about the
poem “The Day The Bulldozers came” by David
Orme.

The poem describes how a normal day in the

countryside was interrupted by the arrival of
bulldozers. These bulldozers/machines came to
clear the __________ and prepare the land for
development. The natural __________ of the creatures
described in the poem was to be ____________. The
frightened animals had nowhere to __________. Even
the fox in his __________ den was not safe.

Exercise 2
Answer the following questions on the poem “The
Day The Bulldozers came”. Refer to stanza 1 of the
poem.
1. What are rooks?
Rooks are a type of bird.
2. What do “egg baskets” refer to?
‘Egg baskets’ refer to….
3. What are ‘oaks’?
‘Oaks’ are…
4. What does the word ‘them’ in line 6 refer to?
The word ‘them’ in line 6 refer to…
 5. What does the description ‘cold-eyed’ tell us
about the toad?
The description of ‘cold-eyed’ tell us that the
toad is…

Stanza 2:
1. What does the expression ‘scattering’ mean?
2. What is the connection between the squirrels’
behaviour and the coming of the bulldozers?
3. What does line 11 tell us about the trees?

Stanza 3:
1. What animal is described in stanza 3?
2. What was the fox doing when the bulldozers
came?
3. What does the word ‘stirred’ in line 13 mean?
4. Why was the fox unafraid?

Exercise 3
Answer the following questions.
1. According to verse 2, what was happening to
the trees?
2. What woke the fox up from his sleep?
3. If you were one of the animals in the poem,
how would you feel when the bulldozers came?
Give a reason for your answer.
 If I were one of the animals in the poem, I
would feel…The reason for this is…
4. How were the squirrels behaving when the
bulldozers came? Why?

5. In your opinion, do you think the bulldozers

should be stopped? Give a reason for your
answer.