Dealing with damage and creating something special

While I am a strong believer in allowing open access to the countryside, I also realise that there are some people who don’t care about the environment and come into the natural environment set on causing damage. The photograph of this damaged tree is just one example of the damage that irresponsible people do.

Today, the Mouse and the Chair had to complete the cementing in of the rocks in the Coal Tubs. This was becoming urgent as already the mindless ones were trying to destroy the work already done. Some of the content of the tubs, not concreted in, had been removed and the rocks used as projectiles to attempt to damage the tubs and the work already done.

It would be all to easy to become despondent, but with a pragmatic attitude, we worked to complete the task and ensure that there is little that can be damaged. I personally have never understood the drive or motivation to destroy. I suppose that because it’s easier to destroy something than to create, it must provide the brainless some form of creative outlet.

With that task completed we only need to get our willing band of volunteers to join us to paint the tubs now. You are welcome to join us.

That done, the Chair and myself were not finished as we also had the job of dealing with the wildflower meadow.

As the British landscape is an artificial one, created by thousands of years of human intervention, the traditional wildflower meadow is a habitat that requires careful management. In the past, meadows would have been clearings created when trees were felled to provide hay and herbage for animals and livestock. Because there was no active inputs into the soil from manure, as would happen in a pasture meadow, and the grass and herbage are removed, the soil remains poor and denuded of nutrients. This makes the land poor for growing crops, but a perfect environment for the wild flowers, as the grasses are not able to take over.

Thus with the changes that have occurred in agricultural practice over the last fifty to sixty years, many of the traditional wildflowers have become scarce. By recreating a wildflower meadow, we ensure that the flowers exist as well as the insects and the reptiles and amphibians that feed on the insects. While the biodiversity is much grater than just that, it gives you an example of why these areas are so important.

But, as people no longer keep the odd pig, or a house cow, or even a goat or two, traditional meadows are no longer a part of the agricultural necessity. Thus managing them becomes more labour intensive. Thus the work falls to us volunteers to do the work.

Fortunately, the Friends’ have some good contacts and supporters and we got the woman who has the Alpacas in to cut the hay. But the real work is raking up and removing the hay. That is what the Mouse and the Chair did today.

The benefits to the wildlife were obvious right from the start as there were several common frogs Rana temporaria in the area and as the herbage was raked up they were hopping away to find cover. Also as the ground was cleared a large number of vole and mouse holes were revealed too.

While all of this was hard work, the benefits to the natural environment were obvious and while it is harder to create something worthwhile, that effort is justified.