The Competition is now closed, but blog readers can still send me articles/essays/comments on the subject below if they wish.
31st July, 2015. The Entries have been read and carefully thought about by members of Halifax Scientific Society Council.
While all of them were considered excellent, and it was hard to choose, most votes went to . . . . . Entry No. 2 written by Linda Kingsnorth, Mammal Recorder for HSS.
With many thanks to all who took part. Charlotte Weightman, also of HSS and Philip Marshall of Todmorden, a member of the Upper Calder Wildlife Network were the other two.
All three gave us much food for thought. Linda's is also a challenge to us to spring into action.
Do you have any thoughts on the way the Natural Environment is being looked after by the Authorities in Calderdale?
If so, why not enter this competition? It's free to enter and the prize is a field guide of your choice up to the value of £16.99. Entrants must be registered members of
HSS, UCWN, CBWG or CBCG, i.e the Calderdale Groups concerned with wildlife conservation.
Deadline for entries was mid-day tomorrow, 21st June, but as I have been busy, I have extended it to mid-day on Thursday 25th June. It can be short or long, but please refrain from any libelous or inflammatory statements. (Over long pieces might turn off the judges.) Please email them to me at steve.blacksmith@gmail.com.
It's not so much for the prize, but to encourage people to set down their thoughts and feelings about Wildlife and the Natural Environment in Calderdale. You can have your say about any part of Calderdale, not just Council owned land.
Entries will be read and the winner decided by the Hx.Sci.Soc. Council members. (NOT Calderdale Council Staff.) Prize allocated by end of July 2015.
This competition is prompted by the 10 -page document which dropped in to some of our inboxes on 21st April from Calderdale Council's Business and Economy Department outlining many new proposals for Cromwell Bottom Nature Reserve.
SB photo
Please see below three entries already received.
ENTRY No.1 (Name supplied which will be added after judging.)
Everyone Needs a Home by Charlotte Weightman
We have voices. We
can speak. We can discuss, put our point
of view, argue our case. Wildlife
can’t. But wildlife is the most
optimistic of living creatures – they want to live, to reproduce, to continue
their species, and will do their utmost to do so. Look at the way brownfield sites suddenly
spring into life with often the most extraordinary array of plants. But if the specific habitat of a specific
creature is taken away – by man’s intervention – then the optimism of a part of
our natural world will be extinguished.
We are fortunate to live in an extraordinary area of England
which has, within a relatively small area, a huge mixture of landscapes, and
thus of wildlife. You can be high on the
moors with its own environment, assemblage of birds and plants and yet within
10 minutes be down in a woodland and river area with a completely different environment
and range of species living there. We
have woods, wetlands, marshes, moors – all of which sustain very different
forms of wildlife. We in the South
Pennines have the only nesting colonies of Twite in England. We are also extraordinarily fortunate in
having an industrial past – and present.
This means that vehicles carrying goods from other parts of the UK as
well as abroad, bring into the area ‘hangers-on’ – seeds attached to vehicle
wheels, insects hitching a ride in a cab.
After all, this is the way that Oxford Ragwort reached all parts of the
UK when it escaped from the botanical gardens of Oxford, seeded near the railway
lines and from there in the late 1800s, was carried to all corners of the UK. No other Borough has this breadth of
diversity within such a relatively small area.
It is vital that we keep it.
A respect and interest in wildlife has to be generated very
early on in life. A friend of mine is
very knowledgeable about wild flowers – her grandmother taught her the names
and species when she was a little girl.
Another friend learnt all the names of British butterflies – and in
Latin too! – when he was 14, and now, over the age of 50, he still remembers
them. My own family of brother and
cousins all love gardening – our maternal grandmother was a keen and
experienced gardener and delighted to share her knowledge with us when we were
children.
It often takes a situation – or a person – to make you
realise that you are living in an area of very special and unique wildlife
interest. For years, I would drive down motorways
and catch trains to urban environments for work and spend my free time walking
and cycling, but only relatively recently did I realise how many thousands of
different types of grasses there are, or
what a shrew sounds like when scuffling through the undergrowth. For me, my eyes were opened through a change
in career, but not everyone can do that.
We have to have respect for the countryside, but we needn’t
necessarily know everything about it. We
can have respect for a surgeon, but we needn’t necessarily understand
absolutely everything about the operation he or she is about to perform – we just
want to know that it is being done properly.
And so with a refuge for wildlife. At Cromwell Bottom, a team of experienced and
dedicated volunteers, along with key members of the Calderdale Countryside
Services, have put in a tremendous amount of energy and work into making
Cromwell Bottom and especially the North Loop into an area which nurtures and
safeguards wildlife – some of which is unique to this area, through its
previous associations with brickwork factories and the conditions to the soil
that these produced. It is a Nature Reserve,
not a park – and should not be turned into a park.
Create a climate of
pride
Success breeds success.
Be proud of the fact that we do have this extraordinary landscape within
Calderdale and thus a unique assemblage of wildlife. Too often, we are fed dire stories of imminent
extinction, but if the general public is told and shown how things can be
improved, how they should act around wildlife and how, as Yorkshire people, we
are ensuring that our wildlife does have a chance, then we can all take
ownership and pride in what we have achieved.
But it has to be explained why it is so essential to have an area which
isn’t basically a park, and which respects the needs of wildlife. Wildlife and its intrinsic relationship with
ourselves also has to be very clearly explained – why it is so necessary to
preserve and nurture what we are fortunate enough to have in our locality.
Generational gifts of
knowledge
An inspirational teacher, a grandparent or uncle or aunt, a
family friend, can help stimulate the lasting interest of a young person in
wildlife, its history and culture and why we need to care for it. Through the proposed educational recourses
for Cromwell Bottom, this could be achieved – through organised safaris
(looking for different plants can be an adventure in itself!) and open days for
clubs, schools, grandparents. But it
does have to be carefully managed so as not to overwhelm the wildlife
inhabitants. The Cromwell Bottom group already work with young people, and this
could be extended through Champions for Wildlife who could visit individual schools
to tell them about specific aspects of wildlife. Resources permitting, an inter-school
competition could be set up to create their own ideal nature reserve.
A case for studying
University departments, including PhD students, frequently
need to carry out quite lengthy experiments and observations – I am currently
involved with one for the University of Sussex on pollination – and make great
use of so-called Citizen Science – i.e. they get the interested general public
to do the tasks which need a wide range of data collection. The Cromwell Bottom site could have a
university or agricultural college link up which would ensure that areas of the
site were kept specifically for the nurture of wildlife and thus gain the
accreditation of being linked with a seat of learning and research.
Healthier lifestyles
using the countryside
Whilst the inclusion of cycle paths, more footpaths and a general
wish to get the public into the Great Outdoors can only be applauded, this must
not be to the detriment of the fragile but intensely important wildlife that
lives there. By alerting the public to
what they are passing through, they can be made aware of the fragile but optimistic
mosaic of wildlife beneath their feet, around them and above their heads. But just as you would not want the general
public to have unlimited access to, for instance, a crèche, or an intensive
care ward or a workplace carrying out sensitive work, so to should this apply
to a nature reserve, and one which has been specifically created to care for
and encourage delicate and sensitive organisms who have no voice of their own
to state their case.
The Star of the
Reserve
One species could be made into the ‘star’ of the Reserve –
it could be the means of communicating messages to the general public –e.g. ‘The Tawny Owl says……’ – in much the same way
that other organisations use fictional creatures to get over their point about
nature conservation.
Shout it from the
treetops!
Just as plants in some garden centres include bee friendly
stickers, so too could local businesses endorse the Nature Reserve as a very
special place to be treated with enormous respect. Regular articles could be written (by
volunteers) for local magazines such as Go Local! to keep the Reserve to the
forefront of people’s minds. Social
media could be used to a much greater extent – putting out good news
stories. A celebrity (who knows, Chris
Packham could be asked – he can only say no!) could be used whenever there was
an especially newsworthy story to promote.
Everyone needs a home
We all need a home, and that includes not just humans, but
wildlife. And like humans, wildlife has
different needs, different requirements, different criteria. And, like us, they don’t take kindly to
people just barging in and sitting in their back yard, making a noise and
disturbing the arduous task of bringing up a family. Let the wildlife have their undisturbed area,
and let us humans have ours with cafes and coach parks, but with the privilege and opportunity to observe the
wildlife home in a very controlled manner – through guided walks, through
specific study times, through education.
In summary
We have a voice.
Wildlife doesn’t. Let us speak on
behalf of wildlife – we want the Cromwell Bottom site to be used sensitively
for the benefit of wildlife and kept as a Nature Reserve with limited,
controlled access for educational purposes to the general public - and not turned
into a park which benefits humans, but not the wildlife which shares our
landscape.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Entry No.2 (Name supplied which will be added after judging.)
CALDERDALE - A BETTER PLACE ALL ROUND
Linda Kingsnorth
Calderdale is a
beautiful part of Britain and we should be proud to live here, however, there
are ways we could improve it and make it a showcase area for all its residents
- and at little cost.
We are already lucky
enough to have some rare species, wild areas, moors, nature reserves and open
spaces, but we could lead by example by adding to this and creating a valley
with a difference.
With climate change
being a huge challenge for the world and with the decline of many species, not
least of all the bee, who we rely on so heavily, there are changes Calderdale
could make which would help both and which we could pride ourselves on.
Todmorden has
‘incredible edible’, which is an amazing project bringing plants, flowers,
seeds and food to birds, bees and humans, what a good start.
Something that could
be considered to add to this throughout Calderdale could be the making of a bee
friendly corridor stretching along the valley from Todmorden to Elland. It’s a
big challenge but is it too big? Not for us surely.
Areas of bee friendly
flowering plants - bee worlds - could be created along canal side, in gardens,
parks, nature reserves, community centres, roundabouts, cycle tracks, in window
boxes, on bus shelter roofs - green roofs - stations, farms - this is only
limited by people’s imagination and creativity - we could show other areas what can be done if
you care and council and people work together.
In addition to this,
reducing our contribution to the climate problem and air pollution, which is a
rising, worrying problem, needs serious consideration. Maybe Calderdale Council
could reduce their use of petrol/diesel driven equipment for cutting verges
etc. Not only are they polluting and emission giving they add to noise
pollution in peaceful areas. Let’s go back to the traditional methods in some
areas, back to scythes and sickles - healthier all round. Reducing verge side
cutting and the cutting of grass in parks to 1m from the path/road side and
leaving areas to grow for wildlife and flowers would enable this to be less
arduous.
Encouraging farmers to
reduce their use of harmful neonics which are harmful to insects, wildlife and
more would be a helpful thing to do if possible.
We have a chance to
shine nationally as a ‘green’ area that cares about the environment it supplies
to its residents - and not just the human variety.
Set a standard for
others to follow - lead the way Calderdale!
contacts:
_________________________________________________________________________________
Entry No.3 (Name supplied, which will be added after judging.)
From Phillip Marshall
-----------------------------------------------------------
Can
I suggest the places with the most potential for wildlife enhancement
are our local woodlands, of which I believe 30% are owned by Calderdale
Council. The reason we have wildflower meadows is because we fenced them
round and called them 'fields'. There is no reason why these
wildflowers should not be a part of our woodlands, which is where many
came from originally. But first of all we have to realise that our
modern concept of 'woodland' is far removed from any version that has
existed for millennia.
We have lost the plot
on what a woodland should look like. After thousands of years of
frequent disturbance by people and large wild animals, we now have a
situation where it is officially recognised that our woodlands are
shadier than at any time in history. Not only that, they are also static
and lacking in the disturbance that a wood requires in order to thrive
and regenerate. Calderdale Council commissioned a report 30 years ago
from the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, which advised that
Calderdale's woodlands were derelict, even aged, excessively
shaded, with poor habitats and urgent action was needed if they were
to survive long term.
I have yet to see much
happening in the woods since then and I doubt any present Councillor has
even heard of this commissioned report. Where some management has
occurred it has been done in a half-hearted manner and lacks the
optimism that you can have trees as well as wildlife. With woodland
management it is necessary to do enough to make a difference, to avoid
the perception that trees are removed but nothing has changed.
The
disappearance of flora and wildlife from our valley is not helped by
obsessive tree planting in areas that are already good habitats. Many of
these new 'woodlands' will end up emulating and perpetuating the
present derelict ones, when the new trees are planted too close together
without any design, or future purpose. Soils will be shaded and
wildlife and flowers inhibited. Déjà vu all over again!
Opening
up existing woodlands by creating gaps and clearings, by coppicing and
pollarding suitable trees, is a quick way to get birds, butterflies,
bees and flowers as well as good tree regeneration. The whole process
provides good differential age structure within a wood. There is far too
much 'up there' in our local woods which oppresses life on the ground.
It is also bad for the trees. You look at any woodland edge habitat of
trees grading into scrub and grasses; it is here you will find the most
species. If birds and butterflies don't like it, you can be sure
something is wrong. We need this woodland edge within. Also, don't
forget that most woodland soils have not been disturbed by deep
ploughing, or had any inputs such as nitrogen, or sprayed with
chemicals. This is unusual for any soil in modern times and they will
have dormant undisturbed seeds just waiting for more light to appear
once again.
The reason why wildlife numbers and
species are declining is because we have made them homeless and starved
them to death. Create the conditions within our woods and within a few
years the difference is amazing and believe me you would be amazed.
With
the vast increase in numbers of deer, from near extinction a couple of
centuries ago to now having more deer than at anytime in history, it is
time for the old practice of pollarding to be brought back from near
extinction. Most of our ancient trees have lasted so long and create
such impressive living monuments because of this practice. The browsing
teeth of innumerable deer cannot reach the re-growth and their lower
crowns are just the right height for nesting birds and the decay is good
for beetles and fungi. Fungi are not necessarily bad for a tree and
most are of benefit or even essential for the health of a tree.
If
people wish to plant trees, then concentrate on putting feature trees
back in the landscape to replace all those ghosts that are quickly
disappearing. You don't find ancient trees within ancient woods. Our
Valley's old landscape trees are not thought about and are often treated
shamefully but we will miss them when they are gone.
If it
is thought a new wood is essential, leave trees out of the scheme and
instead plant Hawthorn, Blackthorn and Brambles----all else will follow
in a succession of species and age groups that cannot be done by
planting a 'Tubeville'.
Finally, just think of
the huge areas of valley woodland in Calderdale, 30% of which is
Council owned, and then consider the potential for a corridor of trees,
woodland, shrubs, birdsong, butterflies and flowers along the whole
length. Just get on with it.
