Great Spotted Woodpecker

While yesterday I really just wanted to stay in bed, I had to be up and out early, as I had to meet up with the welder who was going to secure the tubs to the tracks for us (The Friends of Chopwell Wood). As my regular reader will know the Friends’ have just refurbished these coal tubs after a stolen car was dumped on them and set alight. One of the effects of this was to partially break the welds that ensured the tubs couldn’t be rolled along the short stretch of track that the friends laid previously when the tubs were first installed.

This work was needed as if any children, or adults that had left their brain at home, should get the tubs rolling, it could cause serious injury, each of the tubs weighing about four tonnes. However it was a relatively simple task for the chap who did the work, and my role was purely that of banksman. You will be surprised just how many people seem to want to get very close to industrial or dangerous processes. But one look at the mouse and they turn tail and head off in the other direction.

With that done I was able to start getting through some of the letters and correspondence that goes with promoting Vice in the wood. I doubt that this month I will complete my allotted tasks, but who knows I may still be able to pull something resembling a rabbit out of that cap. Part of the difficulty is that I accept one part of some task and then all sorts of other matters arise. Or as in the case of the Bat Survey, I am asked to do a little bit more in addition and its often the practical aspects that have to be completed by a certain date or at a particular time.

It sometimes feels as if looking after the wood is like a full time job. That said it is great to have the opportunity to be out in the forest as it is a great place to work and play.

However, this sometimes makes it difficult for me to write my Journal or to keep up with mail etc but recently in an anonymous comment, I was asked by an American reader if we have Red winged Blackbirds over here? Well better late than never, I have to say that we don’t, we do have Black Winged Blackbirds, but we just call them Blackbirds. I am hoping that I can get more images of the birds we have locally, and in this the new digital camera is paying dividends as I have been able to snap a few pictures that had I just been using my film cameras I could never have taken.

After today’s rest I have another very busy week ahead but while it will be busy, I will enjoy just being out in the countryside in my patch, I hope you will get as much enjoyment from the open spaces where you all live too.

The Picture is of a Great Spotted Woodpecker that I came across the other day.

A New Season

It is remarkable the difference that a few days can make as the seasons turn. Just a few days ago it looked as if there was autumn hint just around the corner, today it looks as if the season has really started in earnest.

The start of autumn marks an important anniversary for me too as its one year since I moved to my village and fell in love with my forest. And what a year it has been. If last year someone had told me that I would be living my life as I am now doing, I would not have believed that person. While living in this former mining village has had its difficult moments, where I was living was far worse. It was a very deprived inner city area, which was so depraved that in the morning I could look out of my window upon the view of people injecting drugs, openly, in the street. It was so rough that it was impossible for the town to get twinned, but I believe it did have a suicide pact with Beirut.

Thus moving to this village was and has been a breath of fresh air for me. I have always been in love with the natural environment and had I not been able to reconnect with nature in the way that I have been able to do, then I think I would have gone mad. Not in any metaphorical sense, but very much in a literal sense. I already had to take anti-depressants, what I called my happy pills, as I had to live in conditions and an environment that no human should have to live in. But that was then, now I have a beautiful forest on my doorstep, and I have encountered so much wildlife that I have to remember that my old life and living space is still only ten miles away.

The other positive aspect of the move to this village has been the reawakening of my creative sprit. While I tried hard to retain previously, it almost impossible to be creative when all you can see is destruction and destructive people around. As I have said before its far easier to destroy something than to create something.

That’s not to say that there are not destructive forces around the village, but fortunately they are still in the minority. Nor am I saying that living here is some kind of rural ideal, it is far from that. But I would rather live with the beauty of the countryside and wildlife than in some inner city hovel.

The picture is of the reflected wood in the Derwent River.

The Challenge of Rural Poverty

I have just discovered from reading a friends Blog that Hilary Clinton was a republican but became a Democrat after seeing the poverty and deprivation of the inner cities. While poverty is distressing where ever it is, it was not until the industrial revolution and urbanisation that poverty became noticed.

Previously poverty was something that was hidden away, not because it didn’t exist but because it was a rural problem. With families disbursed around the country, and I am not just talking about the UK, it was something that politicians and the wealthy could ignore.

The difference between the poverty of the cities and that of rural areas was always about the ability of people, mainly men, to work. As in the past most men worked on the land in the countryside, anyone reasonably fit would always find work. Although wages were very poor and housing conditions could be bad, in the old rural economy it was rare for people to starve.

Even the first agricultural revolution, and improvements to farming and agriculture, the situation never altered for the poor labours. It was not until the start of the industrial revolution that real grinding poverty and destitution started to surface. This was caused in two ways primarily. The first being the small craft produces of goods that were put out of business by industrialisation and the second the poor itinerant workers who moved to industrial jobs with the promise of better wages that working on the land.

What industry and urbanisation brought was usually very poor housing and wages that were only high if you worked extremely long hours in dangerous conditions. In the countryside (and I know this is a generalisation) if a man had an accident he would be looked after by his kith and kin, the community, even the employer/landowner. This was never the case with industrialisation, as to the factory owners the labour force was just part of the economic cost of running the factory. Any man who could not work was useless.

Thus urbanisation brought us unemployment. In the countryside of old, even old men could be useful as rat catchers or would have valuable skills that ensured they were never totally economically inactive. Further, it was rare that anyone in the countryside was ever injured so badly while working that they could never work again. This was not so in the urban environment as a man could end up crippled or maimed for life in a factory or mine. That is without even thinking of the families that lost the breadwinner if someone was killed.

Then there were the effects of improvements to industry and industrial processes. Many businesses still close down today leaving people without work because someone else has found a new or cheaper way of making something.

Therefore, poverty always appears to be worse in the cities than in the countryside. However, we only need to look back to the dust bowl and depression years to see that poverty was just as bad in rural areas as it was in the city.

Now if we look at the situation in this century, in this country in the countryside there is extreme poverty, much worse than in any city. The greatest problem is that of housing. Because the countryside can be a nice place to live, people have bought second homes, or else they buy nice places to let out as holiday lets. Thus making it imposable for local people to buy in their own areas. Not only that but rents have become unrealistically high again preventing poorer people from being able to afford to live in their own villages. Add to that difficulty the lack of transport, public transport in many rural areas is a joke and often far to unreliable to allow people to travel to work. Therefore personal transport becomes an essential part of rural life, even for people who are in minimum wage jobs, just to keep the job.

The transport difficulties would not be such a problem if there were local jobs, but with fewer jobs on the land, and an increasing reliance upon the tourist pound, most jobs local to any rural community will be low paid seasonal ones.

The difference between rural and urban poverty is simply that it’s the urban poverty that gets noticed, while the poverty in the countryside no one even wants to think about it.

Encounters with Bats

Wherever I go, no matter whom I talk to, people do have a love of wildlife. People remember their own encounters with wildlife and can recount when and where they saw something or other.

Last Night I was lucky enough to go out on a “Bat Walk” with a real expert, not only on Bats but on Chopwell Wood. The event was organised by the Forestry Commission and there were over fifty people who turned up for the event. The weather and conditions were perfect for watching and it was a beautiful moonlit night. Even walking across the woods to the assembly point was a great experience with the soft golden light of the evening painting shadows across the landscape.

Going on any event like this does pose a dilemma for me, as while I am there to learn myself, I am also there as a representative of the Friends of Chopwell Wood. Therefore, I cant just be like a little kid who is excited by the experience, I have to remain, a bit at least, like a responsible adult. That doesn’t stop me enjoying the experience of learning.

While I do have some pre-existing knowledge, it is always a joy to garner more from others that have an in depth knowledge of their topic. I did learn quite a bit, and I also realised that I knew more than I thought I did too.

Last night we saw half of the six species of bats that inhabit Chopwell Woods; Common Pipistrelle, Nocturnes Bat and Daubenton's Bat. The Last I spent half an hour trying to photograph, unsuccessfully I suspect, but I will have to wait until I get the film processed. I went towards home with a real buzz and a spring in my step. It was a good job as it was up hill all the way in the dark.

Stopping off in the pub on the way home, I was asked where I had been, upon telling people, I was regaled with other people’s accounts of their encounters with bats.

A Late Summer Meander

While often when this mouse wanders about the countryside it is with a purpose, there can be nothing more delightful that just experiencing the feel of being out in the open and enjoying the stimuli around you. Yesterday, as the weather was dry and hot, it was great to hear the seedpods on the broom as the sun dried them and they popped open spilling their seeds. Or the soft scent of the flowers as you wandered by.

The colours of late summer are there to remind us that autumn is nearly upon us. Yet the too provide a visual delight to the wandering eye. While not as full as the orchestra of spring, the songs and calls of birds still fill the air.

The days of late August are a time to relax and enjoy the sun.

A Shared Love of the Countryside

Today has been a rather interesting day for me as I am to become a local countryside ranger. As the readers of my previous Blog will know, but my new reader will not, I am actively involved with trying to do my bit to help look after the local environment and the countryside I love. Further rather than just complain about this or that not being done, I get involved with taking practical measures to keep the natural environment a great place for the flora and fauna as well as for the people who I share it with.

This lead me to apply to become a local countryside warden/ranger, the titles are interchangeable as the only real qualification is to be foolish enough to want to get stuck in to doing the messy work. However, for this I have had to undergo a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check. Now I have nothing to hide nor anything to fear, as this purely about child protection. The only difficulty is trying to get all the dates right of when I lived at different addresses. As my life has been somewhat peripatetic get those details right can be difficult. For people that stay in the same place all their lives, it is no problem, for me it is. I don’t always have the best memory for dates and an anniversary as it is (Is that why I am Divorced?) therefore trying to remember that sort of detail is difficult to say the least. But with that done I can at least start doing more practical conservation undertakings.

Then quite by chance I got on the bus to go home and found my neighbours on there too. I have not that long moved to my present address and I am lucky to have some good, no great, neighbours. They are an elderly couple, and while on the bus from talking I discovered that we shared an interest in wildlife and the countryside. Further they now understand why I have been seen wandering about in the early mornings or late at night looking like an extra from Springwatch!

This is not the only bit of practical conservation work that I am involved in either, as this weekend, there is a task that I am leading for another organisation called the “Friends of Chopwell Wood” (FoCW). It will be the first one that I have lead for this organisation, but I have lead tasks before when I volunteered with the BTCV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) in London. However, this will be a whole different ball game as with the FoCW we only have a small core group of volunteers to carry out the practical work, and we never know if any of member of the public will turn up to help. Incidentally if anyone reading this wants to help you are welcome to come along to Chopwell wood we meet at the forest classroom at 10 am. (Blatant Plug over)

However my activities today has prevented me from getting out and taking one of my regular wildlife walks. I am lucky as I do live in a wildlife rich environment, and while there is no guarantee that I will see wildlife, I must say that I normally do see something worth commentating on. It was this fact that initially prompted me to start keeping an on line journal in the first place.