A Brief Consideration of Environmental Issues

 

Discarded cigarette ends; toxic little pollutants. (Photo from personal collection)

Walking down many streets, I have often been struck by the amount of noise we human beings make. The screams, the horns, the alarms, the drilling, and the speakers turned up loud, bass thumping vibrations through everything . . .

All the noises we make come together, forming some desperate cacophonous scream into the void, just to prove that we are really here. 

And too much of it is doing real harm to the environment.

Wild animals use sound as a means of navigation, to find food, attract mates, and avoid predation. When these animals must compete with overwhelming human noise, these pursuits are hindered. As a result, their lives are put at risk, and even shortened.

Trading the streets of a town for the lanes of a countryside village is to trade one sort of pollution for another. In my experience, rural paths are usually quieter than the more urban counterparts, but it is this very quietude that makes them attractive to those looking for a spot to dump waste.

Too many times, on otherwise pleasant rambles, I have stumbled across a pile of illegally disposed of waste. Piles of plastic, batteries, metals, and machinery. Chemicals leaching slowly into soil. 

And we are, most of us, by now, well acquainted with the imagery of wildlife hindered or even harmed by such lazily discarded rubbish.

But it doesn't have to come in piles for it to be a problem. Streets decorated with dropped bottles, plastic packaging, takeaway boxes, and forgotten pet poop . . . All the individuals that just cannot be bothered . . .

It adds up to a big problem. 

Inefficient waste disposal, whether it is the fault of the individual or local authorities, also creates problems for local wildlife, and leads directly to harmful interactions between people and wild animals. Sometimes harmful to people, sometimes harmful to the wildlife.

When packages that contain food are left on our streets, or bins are overflowing, that is going to attract wild animals. These animals are trying to survive, and an easy meal is going to draw them into our worlds. 

However, rather than striving to do better, rather than disposing of waste more efficiently and maintaining a better standard of hygiene and cleanliness, we label those animals pests and vermin. We make the decision that those animals which have had the audacity to exploit our laziness must be persecuted.

The rat has its place in the ecological landscape. It is a source of food for many other animals and plays a part in maintaining the health of forests and jungles. Human beings have created a world where this rodent thrives and has been able to spread disease however, which has, in turn, led to a problematic relationship with this animal.

We have to take some responsibility for the ways in which we have bluntly and blindly forced our way into the natural world, intent on exploitation and plunder, only to cause great deals of harm, to ourselves as well as anything else.

We took the grey squirrel from its native America, and released them into British parks just because it amused us. We have been absurd in our interactions with the natural world at times!

When I hear a robin singing from a tree at eleven o'clock at night, its instinct to rain melancholy melody from the treetops ignited by the sickly yellow streetlights, it is saddening. And we are doing that, we are messing with some of the basic elements of these animals' lives. Elements which add up to more profound effects.

Human beings are a product of natural processes, not the other way around, but we treat nature and wildlife as though they ought to respect our innate greatness. We declare certain spaces suitable for human habitation and pursuits, and others for the more natural and wild. We resent nature and wildlife when they try to share our spaces with us, or if they attempt to exploit any of our creations.

Yes, we label those pesky aspects of the natural world "pests", "weeds", "vermin". Which is a handy collection of words we created to justify our killing them off, and without doing much of anything to change our own ways in the interests of maintaining a healthy environment. 

There are signs that the mindset is changing. Natural history coming to the fore in education in schools, the greater options for environmentally conscious consumers on supermarket shelves, and companies pledging to do more about plastic pollution and emissions. The way forward doesn't look entirely bleak.

What can we do as individuals?

We can begin by being mindful of our choices, by educating ourselves about the choices we make. Personally, I find it is a lot harder to continue making harmful choices once I know those choices are harmful. And so, we put our education to use, utilising the knowledge we have gained for the better.

Charitable and nonprofit organisations such as the RSPB or the Woodland Trust make it part of their mission to gather data which will benefit the betterment of nature and wildlife, so these reputable organisations can be considered worthy resources for information on the health and wellbeing of the natural landscape.

As well as these, a visit to a local bookshop or library is worth a visit. Browsing through the natural history section ought to throw up at least a few great titles. 

And join social media groups about nature and wildlife too – there can be some great conversations in there. And keep an eye out for groups local to you!

Sign petitions, put up posters, talk to your local MP, talk with businesses, join groups . . . There is much that we can do to effect change.

Is there still a long way to go? And will we get where we need to be in time?

It's hard to say.

It might all depend on where we focus our great powers of innovation and creation.

I don't think anyone can deny that human beings are a great species, and that we are capable of marvellous things. But, in the future, we might have to pursue, as well as those inventions devoted to the progress of industry and humanity, what is good for the world as a whole.

I think that that is a far nobler ambition anyway.

Thank you for reading. 

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Summer Reflections

 

Comma butterfly on yarrow. (Photo from personal collection)

It has been a while since I published a post here. And I am sure my presence has been sorely missed. So, with that in mind, I thought that I would take a little look back over my summer 2022 so far.

Perhaps the first thing to note of this year's summer, from a nature lover's perspective, as compared with the summers of the last two years, is that Covid-19 and lockdowns are not quite so present here, in the UK, as they were. There are pros and cons to this.

When lockdowns came into effect, and everyday activities had to adapt to an extraordinary situation, people found a great appreciation for the nature and wildlife they perhaps hadn't noticed before. Suddenly, mountain goats and deer were going viral, and everyone was taking to footpaths and waters for a little release. 

There were, unfortunately, facemasks and latex gloves discarded in the grasses and rivers, amongst the usual rubbish. This never made a whole lot of sense to me; why go so far as to use the PPE but then discard it so carelessly? Do you have any understanding of how viruses spread? 

Don't get it, never will. But then, I don't understand littering in general. Why is it that takeaway containers become too much to bear after they are empty? You can carry them down to the park when they're full of food? But it's too much to deal with, too far to the nearest bin, once you've filled your belly?

Bless.

Rubbish in the fields. I'm torn. Sometimes I wish there were more people out on the countryside footpaths. Then, I see this, and I think there's more than enough people out there. (Photo from personal collection)

Whenever I am able to do so, I pick up litter. It's not always possible. Out in the middle of nowhere, without gloves or a picker, or just an empty bag in which to place rubbish, it can be unwise, or even unsafe, to go picking up the rubbish.

To be honest, it is such a problem that any good hearted person must pick and choose which pieces of rubbish they pick up – otherwise you could spend your whole day picking up rubbish, never get where you're going, and not make a dent in the problem.

Bless those groups that volunteer their time for coordinated litter picks!

I fully support the move towards a circular economy for this reason, and others. In particular, government plans to roll out a recycling scheme that would see consumers get money back on purchases when they recycle containers might go some way towards improving the problem of littering. 

Customers, at the point of purchase, would pay a small deposit which would be returned when containers are recycled. For this reason, schemes like this are referred to as a DRS (Deposit Return Scheme). This does, of course, rely on collections and the recycling being done efficiently and effectively once consumers have done their part. Another concern is the speed at which the UK government is going to roll out this scheme – we're talking years!

Evening primrose. Opens in the evening – clue's in the name – just in time for the night-flying moths. (Photo from personal collection)

This sunnier time of year is great for watching flowers open and, hopefully, the visitors they attract.

The flowers I have planted all call pots and containers home, and I have been potting and re-potting as they've grown and needs have changed. The plus to potted plants, is that they are mobile, and they can be moved to keep in the sun. Or out of it, as the case may be.

Also, since they are contained, they are controlled. But, they are limited by the space they have. Hence the need for repotting and thinning out, so that they can reach full potential.

For me, first the daisies and the poppies came. And they did their jobs well – bumblebees buzzed inside the poppies, and the daisies attracted hoverflies and other bees. Other flowers and fruits have come through since, and it's a joy to watch, and to be a part of it.

My appreciation of plant life came via my appreciation of animal life. But, now that I have found it, I love plants for themselves too, not just their place in the ecological landscape. They are fascinatingly strong, resilient, and, I would argue, even intelligent!

Well, that's a little snapshot of my summer so far. A little recap blog post, a bit of a catch up, a bit of a ramble through some thoughts and feelings. I took some time away from  a few things in the last month or so, but I hope to get back on this blog regularly once again.

I haven't covered everything here, of course. There is the Big Butterfly Count to talk about, birds to discuss, and lots of walks to reflect upon. Plus, the plants in the garden could have a number of posts of their very own! But, there's plenty of time for all that in these long days of summer . . .

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A Riverside Walk in May

 

The view from atop a fallen tree. (Photo from personal collection)

It seems to me that a quiet walk is one of the best ways to clear the mind. And, though I don't like to think of myself as a misanthrope, the more secluded the path, the better. It's just my way of getting away from the noise of humanity. That's where most of my problems come from. So yeah, the appeal of being alone is part of my love for nature. And yesterday I went for a walk beside the river, Great Ouse, some of that river which passes through my hometown, and immersed myself in the peace. And I came back delightfully tired and refreshed.

When I am out in nature I am no longer caught up in the nets of monetary, familial, and other day-in-day-out struggles. And though life and death, and everything in between, happens out there in nature, I find quiet there for myself mostly. The struggles of the birds are not my struggles, and I can selfishly enjoy their song. Of course, in return, I try to do what I can for those winged and feathered creatures. To do that though, I must go into those green spaces where trees and flowers grow. Now, after reading a little into scientific explanations of the peace that we derive from nature, I understand something of why I find so much out there in those quieter places. But often I just get lost in the romance and the poetry of a natural scene, rather than the scientific explanation. That's for later, when I turn to the guide books and the internet.

Riverside view - water reflecting sky. (Photo from personal collection)

I stopped for a while, beside that river, and I sat, just to see and hear whatever was there. Now and then, ripples would appear on the surface, and I would watch a while to see if something surfaced. When nothing did, my attention came back to the world above water. Songs were being sung from trees all around me. A Blackbird (Turdus merula) sang a slow and rich melody, while a Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) called out its name in a two note repetition. From the opposite side of the river came another two note call - a Great tit (Parus major) ringing out a song. And, adding its voice to the choir, a Green woodpecker (Picus viridis) called out its slightly mocking laugh.

Mayflies, part of the ancient group Palaeoptera, which also includes dragonflies, danced above the surface of the river, and along the embankment. They moved gracefully up and down, as though on invisible wires. On the opposite bank, a tree grows out over the water, and light reflected from the surface of the river played upon its bark. I turned my head, and a Woodpigeon (Columba palumbas) was busily and quietly plucking blossoms in a tree not too far away.

And then there was me, not too far away from all the grey and glass of the town centre, but far enough that people were a distant background noise, and none were in sight for a while. It was a cool and pleasant afternoon.

 Fishing line and floats found discarded. (Photo from personal collection)

Sometimes, when I am out walking, I find myself thinking it a shame there aren't more people out amongst the trees and by the river. However, then I notice that, rather than flowers adding their vibrant colours to the grass verges, it is plastic and aluminium that poke out from amongst the green. Or I stumble upon a pile of unwanted odds and ends. Or, as yesterday, I find fishing line and floats left by the water. I hadn't planned on any litter picking, but I found it quite easy to bag up the offending litter and dispose of it properly. I am that odd sort of person who can find random bits and bobs have found their way into his backpack, and an empty sandwich bag that had no purpose being in my bag served as an ideal place to keep the line before I could dispose of it.

I disposed of the line fairly easily. And, as I said, given that I had not gone out with the intention of doing any litter picking, and I had not taken the line out there myself, it really rather raised the question as to what stopped the fishers from disposing of the line themselves. I mean, given the ease with which I was able to undertake the task myself, I can only come to the conclusion that they were either inconsiderate, lazy, or stupid. Perhaps all three. But maybe I am being mean, and some rare emergency pulled them from their fishing and they were in a rush, and therefore forgetful . . .

Anyway, that was really the only mar on the Spring riverside walk. There was other rubbish, of course, and some of that rubbish was depressingly close to bins - we love to pat ourselves on the back for being at the very tippy top of the food chain, and embrace that position to excuse our disgusting laziness. Some of us, anyway. The rubbish is a problem. Maybe next time I will pack some plastic bags and gloves into my backpack, so that I can give something back to those stretches of path that have given me all they have.

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Do you know the way in John Bunyan Country?

 

The River Great Ouse, Bedford. (Photo from personal collection)

Sitting on a bench beside the river, I eat a wrap that I bought from the Tesco store not too far behind me, and I munch quite contentedly on the imitation hoisin "meat", made from pea protein, and spring onion. Before me, the river is quiet, a couple of coots (Fulica atra) passing by. I think that they consider coming over - maybe I have something they might like - but they don't. There's a fisherman on the other side of the river and I wonder if he'll take care to remove any rubbish he has with him. I hope so. I am going to - finishing my food, I put the cardboard and film container into my backpack. Before standing and continuing on my way, I look around me. The path behind me is as quiet as the river; tree lined, yellow leaves litter the muddy footpath, and sounds from above promise the presence of squirrels and something corvid up there. I do quite like a quiet path.

After ten minutes or so of walking, the path thankfully not too muddy and churned up, I arrive at Cardington Lock Bridge, and I am on my way towards leaving Bedford's Priory Country Park. There is an information board about the engineer and the building of the lock on my right as I leave the park, but I don't stop to read - I have before but the information hasn't really penetrated. I am not particularly interested in engineering. I am more interested in the waterfowl - Canadian geese, swans, Egyptian geese, moorhen, coots, etc.

I was once in a relationship with a young woman who could not understand why I enjoyed walking so much. She didn't see the point in walking muddy footpaths to nowhere. Because, she was right, there never really is a destination. It's just about the walking, the journey. When I left the flat earlier, I knew where I was going and I knew the route I was going to walk, I have walked it before, but I wasn't heading out to get somewhere. It's about what you might see. Perhaps that's hard to understand for anyone that has to have a destination to their journey, but I think the nature and wildlife lovers will understand - the keen photographers that will sit for ages, camera poised, waiting for that perfect shot; the birdwatcher in their hide, binoculars round their neck, a notebook and pencil in front of them, watching quietly; the gardener that is constantly maintaining their garden and watching for the visitors to come. It's not about the destination, it's about the experience, about being in the moment. As I walk, I watch the nature - river, sky, trees, birds, etc. - about me, and in my mind I consider that relationship I had with that young woman, amongst others. I wonder where she is now, if she's okay, the conversation we might have now if were walking together . . .

Leaving the park, I am heading in to a short stretch through a modern business park. There's a few cars in the car parks and some that pass by on the roads that connect the various buildings, but it's otherwise quiet. Amongst some trees I hear some rustling in the leaf litter and imagine that it is probably a grey squirrel. Stopping and looking for it between the trees, I think I spot it but, as I concentrate on the shape in the leaves, being very still, I realise it is actually just some piece of rubbish. I can't tell what it is exactly, but I am not particularly surprised that there is rubbish there. I have mused sadly on the fact, along a number of footpaths, that rather than flowers adding colour to the green grass and hedgerows, it is the lurid plastic wrappers and drinks cans. I pick up what I can, when I can do so hygienically and safely, but I don't blame those people that just walk by - you'd be stuck all day in some spots and barely make a difference if you stopped to pick up everything you saw.

The business park and some roadside walking behind me, I am making my way towards Cardington, an attractive village with a church, a pub, and some old cottages grouped around a village green. If I had a companion, I might suggest walking into the village proper and see about having a drink at the pub, but I am walking alone today, so I turn right along Harrowden Lane, and away from Cardington village. The fields on my left are made a little more significant than other fields might be by the famous Cardington hangars that sit on the landscape. Their history of great significance to the village of Cardington but, I'm afraid, the thing that sits forefront in my mind with regards to these sheds is their featuring in the opening of Christopher Nolan's 2012 Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises - sorry, I'm a greater film nerd than I am a history nerd.

The hangars are pretty familiar to me and I don't really pay them much attention. Instead my eyes are drawn by two birds in one of the fields I am passing - Egyptian geese (Alopochen aegyptiaca). They are, in my opinion, quite pretty birds. They are pale brown and grey in colouring, with a distinctive brown patch around their eyes. Their feet and bills are pinkish in colour. According to the RSPB website, they were introduced as an ornamental wildfowl species but escaped and now breed in a feral state. I only began to notice their presence in Bedfordshire about four or five years ago, along the river. My view of the pair in the field I am passing is broken by hedgerow and eventually I lose sight of them.

Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca), beside the river in Bedford. (Photo from personal collection)

Road side walking takes me by fields and farms. There is some significance for me here, along this stretch of road; this is where, only a few years back, that I saw and heard a lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) for the first time. It's peewit, call that I had heard overhead, had been new to my ears and I was very excited by this new experience. What a joy to discover that you can still feel joy and excitement for something so simple! 

Following my route, I am taken along more roadside, I see more fields, and more farm.

Eventually, I am walking through a small meadow and then along a tree lined path. Like the path I walked earlier, beside the river, this one is littered with leaves. However, it is also littered with rubbish here and there - in the trees I see rubbish of all sorts discarded. It's saddening. It's frustrating. It's angering. I've heard it said before that if our buildings and works of art were treated with such disrespect, great efforts would be made to restore them and to see that such injustice could never be done again. When it comes to our nature and wildlife however, we seem quite happy to leave it be and let the merest slap of the wrist be enough as a deterrent to would be ruiners of our natural spaces.

Rubbish spotted by the stream and park on the way in to Elstow - in this blogger's opinion, a shameful sight. (Photo from personal collection)

Elstow, with its old timber-framed cottages lining the main street, is picturesque. On warmer days than this one, I would head to the green and rest a while perhaps. But today is cold, and grey, so I carry on. Walking through Elstow, passing the pub, the post office across the road, and people's homes, I come into Bedford. And, from here, the walk does feel a lot more town than village, a lot more urban than rural. There are less trees and more concrete. The path I am walking is lined with shops, petrol stations, takeaways, etc. Useful and fun, but nowhere near as beautiful as the river and the trees and the sky. At least in my opinion. 

There are still things to see. A dog - I love dogs! - gets my attention when it comes to the gate outside it's home. It's a brown Labrador and seems friendly enough. I put my hand to the gate, not sticking my fingers through but just letting my fist rest against the metal bars of the gate. The dog licks me sheepishly, I look up from the dog, over the waist-high gate, but see no people there. They ought to be careful, I think, dog thieves aren't as gentle or careful as I am, and all I want is to say hello. 

Back in town, I head towards home, stopping at shops to pick up something for dinner. It's odd to go from the quiet rural footpaths to the much more densely populated town, sort of jarring. And I don't know if it's sad or not that more people don't make use of the muddy paths. After all, the quiet and solitude on those paths is part of the appeal to me and, as some of the rubbish and littering indicates, the paths might already be getting more than enough of the wrong sort of attention anyway. 

There's joy and sadness on those footpaths. I wish for more of the first and less of the latter as I head home.

Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this read, you can support me with a coffee on ko-fi.com - the caffeine fuels my walks, before I return to my keyboard to tell you all about them! Thank you!

Discover how to create spaces for wildlife in your garden with FREE materials!

 

European garden spider (Araneus diadematus), drinking from a raindrop on the underside of some garden furniture. (Photo from personal collection)

Here, on this little nature blog, we've looked at ways in which one can create spaces in their garden for nature before. It isn't a new topic, and it is one I may return to again. Garden space in the UK covers more land than all of our nature reserves combined, so if each of us set aside just a portion of our gardens for the benefit of nature and wildlife it would make a real difference.

In this post, we will be looking specifically at some of the ways in which one can acquire the materials for creating spaces in their gardens for free!

1. Facebook, Freegle, Freecycle . . .

I know that Facebook is a tad problematic for some, and with good reason, but it is the social media platform on which, in my experience, it is easiest to reach local people. And I have discovered a number of pages on the platform dedicated to either selling items cheaply or items that people are prepared to give away for free. In a world where people are trying to be more conscious of the impact they have, people are quite happy to give away items they have no use for themselves, rather than throwing them away.

Freecycle is a nonprofit organisation whose purpose is to divert reusable items from landfills by encouraging people to pass on or "gift" items that are still useable to others. You should also see Freegle, which works in a very similar way. If you sign up to the site, you can then leave a post to either state that you are looking for something or that you have something you are willing to give away. If you need a bird box, put a post up and wait. You never know, somebody might have one that has just been sitting in their shed for a while. If you want to create a space for insects, a "bug hotel", you may need materials such as logs, pots, or bricks; items that some people have sitting around, materials surplus to jobs they've had done, and would be more than happy for someone to come and take away for them!

Link to Freegle - https://www.ilovefreegle.org/browse

Link to Freecycle - https://www.freecycle.org/

2. Flytippers and litterbugs!

I love to go out walking but I hate, hate, hate the litter and piles of rubbish I find along some of the routes I take!

However, perhaps there is something in those piles of rubbish that might be useful to the gardener wanting to create a space for nature . . . Hmm . . .

Okay, so sifting through another persons rubbish might not sound appealing but, as mentioned above, sometimes, when you want to create a space for nature, all you need is materials such as brick, wood, or pots. Now, unfortunately, some people, rather than disposing of items properly, or signing up to sites like Freecycle, will dump their surplus materials on the side of a road or country lane. I hate it, as I said, but before reporting it to the local council, are there materials there that might be useful to you, and can you transport them safely?

I wouldn't encourage you to just grab hold of anything you have found if there's any doubt in your mind about hygiene and safety (certainly don't go digging into piles of rubbish with your bare hands!), but if you stumble across some planks of wood or something similar and it would make an ideal addition to your bug hotel, for example, why not?

You'll be taking care of two problems at once essentially - removing rubbish and creating space for nature in your garden!

3. Leaving things be

One of the easiest ways to create space for free is to do nothing, or a little less of something.

For example, leaving the lawn mower in the shed or mowing less of your lawn, letting grass and flowers grow instead. After all, nothing knows how to create space for nature better than nature itself - it did just fine before we came along, and I imagine it'll do much better once we're gone!

If you've fruit bearing trees, let the windfall stay where it is - moths, butterflies, birds, squirrels, foxes . . . plenty of wildlife will enjoy the meal. Allow things to be a little untidy. 

Of course, to enjoy our gardens, there will be a need to create some tidy areas (for playing sports, space to just sit and enjoy the garden, etc.), but people are starting to ask the questions, "Is there really much beauty in the dead monoculture that is a perfectly manicured lawn? Or, can at least some of that space be given to our wildlife that is in need? Isn't a garden full of life better for everyone?"

Doing nothing, or a little less, is sometimes the best thing that you can do. And, it's free!

4. Jars, candle holders, pots, pans, broken barrows . . .

Okay, so this one isn't technically one hundred per cent free, since you probably paid for these items when you desired or needed them for their original purpose, unless they were a gift. But, once the jars have been emptied of jam, or the kitchen pans have been replaced, why not reuse those items? Give them a new life and help nature out?

You don't need a garden to help nature, and if you have a balcony, why not take some of those emptied jars or candle holders, clean them out, and use them to grow some wildflowers? Fill the jars with some peat-free multi-purpose compost, pop in a couple of seeds (depending on the size of your container), and you've created a home for flowers and a space for nature. 

This practice of recycling can be very useful for the gardener that is conscious of nature and wildlife. A broken wheelbarrow can make a pretty good trough for a mini meadow, or maybe even a miniature pond (just remember to allow for the fact that little creatures will need a means of getting in and out of water).

Before you throw away some of the items that have outworn their original uses, get creative and ask yourself if those shelves, the empty jars, or that broken wheelbarrow can be repurposed.

If you have any ideas yourself, or if you have put into practice any of the above suggestions, I would love to hear about them in the comments. You could spark someone's imagination!

Thank you for reading - if you enjoyed this piece, you can buy me a coffee on ko-fi.com. The caffeine keeps me searching for materials and pottering around in the garden, before coming back here to write al about it! Thank you!

Do you ever feel like you're fighting a losing battle?

 

Rubbish left on a green space beside the river (Great Ouse) in the town where I live.

The most colourful things that I can see in the grass are the plastic containers and drinks cans as I walk along the path beside the river, the gaudy packaging designed to catch the eye, but I would prefer to see flowers there instead, and I and the other walkers, or people sitting on the grass with friends, just carry on, leaving the offensive rubbish where it lay.

I care, don't get me wrong. But if I stopped to pick up every scrap of rubbish selfishly and carelessly discarded I would lose a whole day, and still I would not make much of a dent in the problem. In the past I have even taken some bin liners and a litter picker with me, full of good intentions, to try and "do my bit". But still, I can fill a few bin liners and come away having barely made a difference. And what's the point when there'll just be more rubbish there tomorrow?

It's definitely a problem.

Once, again when I was walking by the river, I stopped and pulled this takeaway container from the water, concerned because the birds on the water looked to be eating it . . .

Takeaway container I saw floating on the river; birds on the water appeared to be eating tearing at the box and eating it

You know, the river in my town, and the embankment where people walk, has locally been referred to as the "jewel in Bedford's crown". But I think jewels get treated better than this.

I love walking by the river. I love spotting herons, Egyptian geese, and cormorants. I love the green spaces and the trees. I love the willows. And I love the swans. I love the little thrill of seeing something amphibious. Or even a grass snake. And, oh, I even saw an otter there once, I think (it was dark)! And the kingfishers - turquoise and fire-orange bullets with wings! These things are our national treasures as much as anything else you could care to name.

There are some borough council workers that patrol the town centre where I live. They hand out fines and issue warnings to people that drop cigarette butts and ride bicycles in the town centre (they possibly have other duties, but I couldn't tell you what they are), and I sometimes wonder if some of them might not be put to better use as a deterrent to those who litter along the the river, or those who fish illegally. I think a deterrent is what's needed; the evidence seems to suggest too many people do not value the green spaces we have.

Apparently, there are some for whom nature has no obvious value or worth, and so they treat it poorly. It doesn't matter how much you spend on trying to educate or breed compassion, they can't be reached that way, so you have to deal with the problem with punishment, I'm afraid.

My little local problem is indicative of a greater problem. I see it when I read about water companies fined for the ways in which they dump raw sewage in our waters (and still make a profit despite the fines); I see it when I read about ancient woodland being destroyed for HS2; I see it in the figures reported indicating declines in our wildlife populations (with human activity being the overwhelming cause for). 

There are so many studies which suggest all the ways in which nature is good for us. It saves us money. It provides us with food. It provides the water that is essential for our survival. It cleans the air that we breath! The information is there, and still there is an attitude of, "Yeah, but don't we have other problems that we need to deal with?"

I sometimes feel as though we are sitting in a burning house, fighting over things we've been arguing for centuries (literally centuries!), going around in circles, and it's all just going to fall down about us. Maybe we'll value things differently when the house is gone and we're wondering where we are going to live.

There's a chance I have lost a few readers by now - nobody likes a rant - so maybe I should humbly posit a few solutions to these little problems of mine . . .

• We need to invest more time, money, and effort into environmental, conservation, and wildlife work. The sad truth is that some people just don't care about nature because it doesn't put money in their pocket. So, let's create jobs that work for nature and pays people. There are enough companies out there that have polluted our land and waters, and fudged their numbers (Southern Water, I am looking at you), making money to the detriment of nature. Let's balance the scales.

• Can we stop being soft on wildlife crime? Can we, please? We are losing the animals that are an iconic part of our landscape, and with criminals getting away with nothing more than a slap on the wrist (and some activists suggesting the police often seem to be on the side of the law breakers), we need the deterrents! 

• Specifically for my fellow Bedfordians, I think it would be nice to see some of those Bedford Borough Council employees that stalk around the town centre out in our greener places, being a deterrent to those that are making a mess of our green spaces and our waters. Our "jewel in the crown".

• As individuals, those of us that care about nature, we need to do something for our own little corners of the world. No doubt you already do, but we need to keep going. Because without you turning up for the fight, we can't hold back the onslaught.

 I was going to end this post with an apology, a little sorry for some of the ranting I have done above. But then I read it back and decided against it. I don't want to apologise for caring about something worth caring about, and I am not going to. If you're still with me, thank you for reading this far!

If you recognise any of the above from your own experiences, it would be great if you could comment or share the post, just so I can see that I am not alone. And, if you found this read of any worth, you can buy me a coffee on ko-fi.com - the caffeine keeps me litter picking, and moaning about how people should know better . . . Thank you!