2004 Archive
From the Autumn 2004 Newletter
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Some notes on events of last season
News from Eastfield Road Railway Embankment Reserve.
Mark Tyszka writes:
There were more flowers on the reserve than ever this year - that must have been the warm and sunny spring and then rain in June. The presence of the following were noted: Common Spotted Orchids (some giant spikes amongst them): total 205; Bee Orchids: total 8; Yellow Wort: total 142.
(Thanks to Malcolm and Janet Crawford for these figures, which are totals for all four meadows, surveyed on Tuesday 6th July. Malcolm notes: 'Bearing in mind the lateness of the count the orchids were, of course, dying off and were well hidden by much taller plants which we could not walk into for fear of damage. Obviously there must have been many more orchids than we counted'.)
Large patches of pink Restharrow flowers coloured the meadows at the end of June when we had a field trip. Yellow and red Bird's-foot Trefoil (Eggs and Bacon in old Lincolnshire) is spreading with Common Blue butterflies breeding on it. Mysterious Adder's-tongue was still visible and we discovered five new flowers including Eyebright and Fairy Flax.
Rabbits are spreading again and occupying there old warren areas - a good thing, as they graze to produce a short sward, and extra habitat for insects and less for us to mow. There is only one snag - they will sit on the anthills and stamp their feet to warn of the Red Fox prowling. Maybe he will catch a few and restore a natural balance?
But what do the ants think of all this - we only found one active ant hill with fresh soil brought up to the surface. Will they fight back ?? Come and see.
The scallops we made during the winter work day by clearing hawthorn have been a success so far. The stumps were treated and have not re-grown. We now wait for flowers from the meadow to re-colonise. We shall encourage this by spreading hay on the bare ground to spread the seed.
Malcolm and Janet have been doing a monthly bird survey this year and there is now an increasingly long list of bird observed on the reserve, 17 so far. They have also seen 7 different butterflies - the freshly emerged ringlets were flying in drizzle ! and 3 different mammals (what might be the third one?). Not to mention the two wood mice caught by Louis (aged 7) in a hay pile during the work day in February. We all had a bit of a heart flutter - all three were pretty fast.
Saltfleetby-Theddlethorpe Dunes National Nature Reserve
visit on 19th June.
Jennie Redpath writes:
The day of our outing turned out to be cool and windy. Eleven of us were met at the Rimac entrance to the reserve by Rob Lidstone-Scott and English Nature's interpretation officer Roger Briggs. They marched us up Quarry Hill to view the panorama of both the river Great Eau and fields inland, and the fresh water and salt water washes seaward.
On descent we walked the easy access trail, noting such plants as birds foot trefoil, vipers bugloss and some pyramidal orchids, plus a very few bee orchids. En route we noticed the helpful information boards produced by English Nature. As it was such a cool day there were no butterflies about or dragonflies over the pond, though a pair of Canada geese with young came by.
Later we went up to Paradise at the northern end of the reserve to view the Trust field recently cut for hay and with the hope of seeding as a wildflower meadow.
Our thanks to Rob Scott and Roger Briggs for explanations and guiding us around this important part of Lincolnshire's Coast for Wildlife.
Jennie also writes about the open day at Bridge Farm, Snitterby Carr on August 7th:
The day was really hot in the wilds of rural Lincolnshire by the canalised river Ancholme. Bridge Farm is an organically managed farm very much in line with the ethos of the L.W.T. The whole afternoon was a delightful affair. Two of us manned a Trust sales and literature table. Quite a few Trust members came our way, though only one I believe from the Grimsby area.
Ed: A wonderful £60-worth of Trust goods were sold at this event; thanks to Patti Philips for inviting us. The relationship between farming and wildlife is an important aspect of conservation, so note that we have a speaker on this topic on November 8th.
Thanks to Carolyn Lovely who stepped in to guide a group round Waters' Edge Country Park in Barton on 15th May, owing to the illness of the booked guide.
Thanks also to Clifford Jukes for leading the Tetney Blow Wells walk, and to all who have taken part in the summer outdoor events.
'One World Fair' in Weelsby Woods on July 11th:
Your editor apologizes to Jennie, whose camera broke just after she took a photo of me learning to juggle, after expert tuition by the very talented 'Earthbound Misfits' (I may not have remembered this name quite correctly but you get the gist; two very talented lads - see them if you can).
Thanks to all who came to man the stall, and brought things to sell. This sexist phrase leads me on to....
Our regular begging spot: appealing women:
It wouldn't be the usual newsletter if there were not a short paragraph somewhere trying to worm its way into the conscience of all who read it: so again, we appeal to all who would like to take a walk AND. help wildlife at the same time (much better in this respect than golf!)
We need people willing to distribute Lapwings. in the following areas: West Marsh; |
PLEASE, PLEASE. consider this: The committee is a small group, and at our last meeting we had a bit of a laugh as we noted its gender bias - just one active man among us! The ladies - and Alan - invite you to consider whether you would like to join us. No one is pushed into doing things they don't feel up to, and since we are not as yet any kind of dating agency, we don't mind at all if you are female! And we'd probably be contravening some regulations under the Sex Act if we appealed for men in particular. So please, think seriously about whether you could make a practical contribution to our cause in any of these ways, and let one of the committee know. With the sad loss of Sylvia, we are lacking financial expertise. |
"On Coming Home."
One appeal that has borne fruit is that a member has written in with an account of his personal experience of wildlife. He has a love of trees going back to his childhood, and many will share his views. Ray Hume writes eloquently (slightly condensed for space reasons):
"In December 2003 my wife and I moved into a spacious semi-detached house in Grimsby. Nothing remarkable about that, perhaps, except for one thing: immediately behind the back garden there's an extensive area of mature woodland. It's known as Weelsby Woods.
"Back in the 1950s, on the outskirts of Stourport-on-Severn, my sister and I were raised in another spacious semi. Immediately behind the back garden was a small area of mature woodland, long before the days of the dreaded Dutch Elm Disease. 'The copse' as we knew it was made up of English elms in the main, with a couple of super old yews and one or two other species.
"We were lucky kids; we spilled right through the back door and into the wild. To me it always felt more like home than the house, and I reckon we spent far more time in it than today's kids spend with their computers. We built dens, above and below ground, played all the usual hide-and-seek type games, and above all immersed ourselves in its wildlife.
"Before I was ten I could easily recognize all the woodland birds by their songs and calls, and I got pretty good at knowing which caterpillar would turn into which moth and when. All the happiest childhood memories centre around this now-gone-forever place.
"To have arrived, as it were, back home after forty-odd years away, goes some way towards explaining the enormous excitement I now feel every time I look out of my new bedroom window.
"Weelsby Woods, being an urban. woodland area, suffers all the usual abuses - litter, dogs, motorbikes - but get up early, and you have the place to yourself. The dominant species is ash among the many natives, with ivy-covered oaks, beech, lime, and a sea of bramble and ivy which is marvellous for songbirds, and nearby are other good wildlife sites: fallow fields, allotments and a cemetery.
"We have a very simple garden: just a lawn with a few shrubs, but because it's next to a wilderness it absolutely teems with action, with abundant tits, sparrowhawks, tawny owls, woodpeckers, stock doves and squirrels.
"In this mad new digital world there's a lot of disenchantment: a whole lot of stress everywhere, and for every neurosis there's some new therapy or self-help book on offer. As someone who's tried a few remedies, take it from me, there's nothing quite like a wood."
Ed: Many thanks for that, Ray, I think it will stir up many memories for a lot of people. I am sure that Ray and all L.W.T. members would want to think that this kind of childhood experience could be enjoyed by more children in the present and future; one of our coming talks will be of interest to all who love woodland - see January 10th.
In the meantime, let us all make efforts to encourage tree-friendly attitudes as well as trees themselves. A recent article in the Guardian spoke of fears among some urban folk that trees constitute a danger, i.e. on the grounds that people can hide behind them with a view to springing out and harming others. It would be sad if all we had were 'lollipop' trees in our urban woods. The answer, of course, is for more decent folk to be out there walking in them.
You'll have seen the title of the shelves in modern bookshops 'Mind, Body Spirit'; looking over our newsletter, with references to evening meetings, outings, working parties, therapeutic woodland, I think that the world of wildlife offers something in all of these areas of life.
Nic Lance, who gave us a great talk last season on the Luttrell Psalter, has sent me information about sources of natural alternatives to the usual modern petro-chemical based paints.
This is The Green Shop, Bisley, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL6 7BX. Tel. 01452 770629.
E-mail: enquiries@greenshop.co.uk
and also a website:
They have paints for all kinds of situations, inside and out, walls, floors and fences.
There is also a local supplier of Green Paints at Lock Farm, Alvingham, Louth, Lincs, LN11 7EU. Tel. 01507 327362. They will match paints to colour swatches you send them.
Is yours a household that likes to recycle everything, up to and including your own hair? If so, you'll be interested to hear that the Trust has facilities for collecting used inkjet printer cartridges for recycling at a profit. Bring yours to our next meeting; there may be an element of competition between Area Groups to see who manages to collect the most! Oh, and just put the hair on the compost heap; we aren't collecting that!
Have a happy and fruitful autumn - your editor, Viv.
vivrowett@aol.com
From the Summer 2004 Newletter
By the time you read this, we'll have had our AGM, and we hope that any members who might have been bored by it (there's no phrase in the English language 'As interesting as an AGM', nor 'As beautiful as an airport') were restored by the talk on the Luttrell Psalter which we hope will have followed it. (It's really difficult writing about past events in the future!)
Thus, all of us who are on the committee that you will have voted for hope that those of you who've attended meetings have found plenty to interest you; we are always open to new ideas as we plan the next year's programme.
That brings me round to the subject of 'What on earth goes on in the wildlife group committee meetings?' I'm sure it will come as no surprise to you to hear that a recent one began with several of us noting a sad decline in one species, a cause for much concern.
This particular species had been regularly seen everywhere from around the second world war onwards, perhaps every six months or so by some of us, but now it was felt, is becoming more and more scarce, and people were prepared to travel some distance to see one now, much like visitors from afar coming to see our American robin, now sadly recycled in the usual way of the wild.
There was talk that this species was being driven out by a related species with a much bigger bill, which apparently is helpful in the rearing of its young. Then of course, we had to leave the subject of NHS dentists and get down to our real business of arranging talks and walks!
[If you spot one, please tell me! - Sue]
Spotlight on Jacqueline Cooper
It's an unsurprising fact, when you think about it, that many people who really love and understand the countryside, and work hard to keep our country 'green and pleasant' were often born and raised in towns; glimpses of a wilder hinterland beyond home territory lead on to a passion to know more about it and work to preserve it.
This is true of Jacqueline Cooper, who is perhaps Grimsby & Cleethorpes groups's longest-serving member. I asked her:
How did you become interested in wildlife?
'I was born in Middleton in Lancashire, where we had a yard rather than a
garden, and I used to think how lovely it would be to own a tree. The only
green around was the park - lots of geraniums, alyssums and lobelias in rows -
which I hated! (I only began to like geraniums about 20 years later, when I saw
them in Austria.) There was a very stark divide in Lancashire between the town
and the countryside, and I just had an in-built liking for the countryside.'
How was your interest encouraged?
'When I was about ten, I was given a book called 'By Seashore, Wood and
Moorland'; it was a terrible book! But it didn't put me off, and I was greatly
helped by Players' cigarette cards of wildflowers. My parents were amazed when
we went on holidays, and I knew the names of flowers other than just our local
buttercups, daisies and bluebells.
A real turning-point came in the general strike of 1926, when all public transport came to a halt, and my father bought a motorbike in order to get to work in Manchester. After the strike, he kept the bike, adding a side-car. I used to ride pillion with him, and we'd go out into the countryside; Hardcastle crags stands out as being especially wonderful.'
I hear that you passed this interest on to your daughters;
tell us a little about your family.
'My late husband Cyril took an active part in committee work with the Trust
[see obituary in Lapwings, January 03]. We married just before the war; he
could remember hearing the call of the corncrake in his youth, having been
brought up in the countryside.
Three daughters were born to us, who all became interested in wildlife. Deborah, in particular, is a botanist working in the Yorkshire Dales; she has produced a technical book which records her survey of the flora of Wensleydale.'
Presumably it became possible for you to live in houses with
gardens rather than a yard?
'Oh yes; and from 1967 till 1984 my long-held wish to live in the countryside
was granted, when we lived in Hatcliffe, in a house we had built on the site of
the old water-mill. Particularly wonderful was the fact that I used to be able
to look out and see three water voles at once in the stream.'
You've been a magistrate, a guide commissioner, a
councillor, judging 'Best-kept Village' for the CPRE... yet still with time for
the Wildlife Trust!
'Yes, I managed to help run the shop when we had it in Abbeygate, and to help
man the Trust caravan at open days at Croxby Pond and Brocklesby, co-ordinate
the magazine distribution as well as attending meetings and supporting it
generally.'
What aspects of nature are dear to your heart now?
'I love all aspects of wildlife, flora and fauna; as well as the water voles I
mentioned, especially memorable was seeing nine badgers at once in Dixon's
Wood; but my initial love for trees is still strong, and I long to see more
trees and hedges everywhere, and verges full of wildflowers - with those big,
cultivated daffodils kept firmly in their place in towns and villages!'
Thankyou, Jacqueline, for telling us about yourself, and for all your work for the Trust over the years. We hope to see you at meetings for a long time to come.
All the best to you; hope to see you at our summer events and new season of talks in the autumn.
Viv Rowett - vivrowett@aol.com.
From the Spring 2004 Newletter
Bouquets.
Our autumn meetings have been well-attended; if you are a reader who has not been to one of our evening meetings, why not give it a try? We have plenty of room at our splendid venue at Grimsby Town Hall, for which we continue to be grateful.
Thanks are due to John Kneeshaw for his interesting talk on Venezuela, and to Geoff Trinder, who came up trumps with a talk on the Galapagos islands where he had spent a recent holiday, standing in for John Hankinson, who was to talk on badgers, but was unfortunately ill. We send our best wishes to John, and hope to hear him in the future.
A big thankyou too to Vic Adams, who is our tea and coffee man at these meetings, taking over from Dilys and her late husband Geoff.
Thankyou too to all those who deliver 'Lapwings'; we still need help in the Immingham area, and a new organizer for Lapwings distribution, with own transport, to take over from Julie Wood after September 2004. Julie will help any volunteer get the system up and running in the changeover period.
It's wonderful that our appeals for helpers have been so successful lately. You'll notice at the top of the page that there is a website address; this is our NEW LOCAL WILDLIFE TRUST WEBSITE! If you haven't already discovered it, do pay it a visit. It's been designed for us by our webmistress, Sue Mitchell, to whom we extend congratulations and thanks. (Aw, shucks! - Sue, blushing.)
If you look at the site, you'll see there all the information that is put out in this newsletter, and also the kind of thing that the Internet does best, like links to other sites of interest, and information in visual form. It's in its early days, and will be continually kept up to date, with new features appearing over time. It's a great way to get information across almost instantly, so do keep an eye on it.
We're one of the earliest local group websites, so it's good to be in the forefront! Sue has put a lot of time, effort and thought into how the website is presented, and I think you'll agree that she has done a super job; the colours used are specially created, and Sue has even given thought to such things like the needs of anyone who might be colour-blind, thus italics, as well as colours, are used to highlight features. So a big 'thankyou' to Sue.
If you have anything that you think might be suitable for the website - it might be pictures of unusual wildlife near you, or just something you want to say - send an e-mail to me, Viv, and we'll take it from there. Bear in mind that I'm not on broadband, so no huge files to me please.
Comments on the layout of the website, or any problems encountered on it, direct to Sue, via the website.
Congratulations to Andrew Dennis, who, you'll recall from our last newsletter, runs an organic vegetable and fruit box scheme from his farm at Kirton near Boston.
His scheme has won the 'Organic Box Scheme of the Year' award, and was given the award at a splendid ceremony at the Dorchester Hotel in London, all white gloves and chandeliers! Those of us who receive a regular box will not be at all surprised at this. Do keep supporting these local initiatives, including the Farmers' Market on the third Friday in the month in Grimsby.
...and a brickbat: 'Confetti'.
A concerned local churchwarden contacted us recently, to tell us that at recent weddings, a product marketed under the brand-name 'Confetti' has been thrown over the bride and groom. What's wrong with that, you wonder?
Well, this stuff, despite its name, is really intended to be scattered on tables as the small print indicates. It consists of small metallic shapes, much like the proper paper confetti, but because of its material, is not at all biodegradable, and is turning up in owl pellets in the churchyard.
It even is unpleasant to the happy couple, as it tends to cut the skin if it gets into folds. (Or in the eye, too, I imagine! - Sue.)
If you see this stuff being sold in this misleading way, please point it out to the shopkeeper. Churchwardens and clergy, please forbid its use. Why people should want such a hazardous material on the table is beyond me. And as for the weddings, why not revert to throwing rice?* Just make sure it is not in a tin, but is rather the loose kind.
A recent bride told me it was painful if thrown with a strong underarm thrust; perfect an overarm technique instead, so that the rice gently falls onto the couple from above like rain, and has more chance of getting down to the inside of their clothes. The surplus falling to the ground will feed the birds!
*Point of information: rice isn't too good either. I know of a bride who died after her feet skidded on uncooked rice and she fell backwards, cracking her skull on a stone step. - Sue. 8'-(
Spotlight on Alan Avison.
The great thing about being interested in wildlife is that not only do you get to appreciate much more about our surroundings, but you also get to meet some lovely people; we are very fortunate in Lincolnshire as a whole, there is a good bunch of talented and dedicated people involved in the life of the Trust. In our own area, I'm putting the spotlight on Alan Avison, who is our representative on the Lincolnshire Trust's central council in Horncastle. I asked him a few questions:
Alan, what made you interested in wildlife in the first place?
'My interest in wildlife started at a very early stage of my childhood, having been born and brought up on the Earl of Yarborough's Brocklesby Estate, and having had the freedom to roam through woodland and parkland, and around the lakes of the estate. On my adventures, I would see such things as fallow deer, red squirrel, and would hear woodpeckers. I would walk through fields yellow with buttercup and other meadow flowers.
I attended the local school, which had a nature table, and had the privilege of knowing Reg May, one of the best known amateur naturalists in Lincolnshire, who was also our local postman.'
And how did you find your way into the Trust?
'I have been a member of the Trust for the last twelve years. My interest was rekindled while working at one of the local oil refineries, and in particular the area I worked in, I came across a diverse amount of wildlife. For instance, I found the bee and common spotted orchids. I rescued a Great Northern Diver and a Great Crested Grebe.'
That's amazing! It's not what people expect - you think of those industries as being inhospitable to wildlife, generally. What did your employers make of this?
'I tried to influence them to protect certain areas of interest, and they responded favourably, where feasible. I persuaded them to donate a minibus which was used on site to the local conservation group (the Kestrels), who at that time had no transport.'
That just shows how we can have a real effect on the local scene. Besides being on the local Trust committee and the Council, what kind of work do you do for the Trust?
'I have done some biological recording, of flowers in particular. I have produced some short films for the local television station which entailed going out and actually filming, and then doing the editing in the studio. The first film we did was on Bradley Woods, and then we did one on the river Freshney. I also help organize fundraising events.'
Is there anything you feel strongly about? Changes you'd like to see?
'I'm very concerned about the mismanagement of roadside verges, which are the last remnants of the original grassland of our county. They are usually cut too early in the year, not allowing the flowers to reproduce seed.
They are abused by fly tippers (and there's no need for it - NE Lincs council provides a very good free service for waste collection and disposal) and burnt-out cars.
One particular roadside verge runs between Swallow and Croxby Pond, which has a good mixture of flowers, including Harebell, Scabious, Salad Burnet, Common Toadflax, and among these were dumped at varying intervals at least forty car tyres, I guess from some garage who didn't want to pay a levy on disposal of the tyres.
These verges are also excellent habitats for a great diversity of species because they are free of the agricultural influences such as sprays and fertilizers - they are "unimproved grassland". Well, there's nothing like finishing off with a good old moan.'
Thanks for all of that, Alan. [I've always thought it odd that the very best grassland from a wildlife point of view is called 'unimproved'! Perhaps it should have another name that would make it more obvious to the general public why it is so important - such as 'undamaged grassland'. Viv.]
Bits and Bobs... 2004
Do keep up the good work with refusing unwanted carrier bags in shops; Clifford and Eileen Jukes urge us to re-use the ones we already have on shopping trips, and I see that some shops, e.g. M & S, are now selling inexpensive, long-lasting 'proper' bags.
Perhaps give 10p a time to the Wildlife Trust every time you go out and end up having to accept a bag because you've forgotten to take one; an advance on the 'swear-box' idea!
Do you ever have a wildlife problem that you can't seem to solve? Say, you've found a species of something, animal or plant, and you just can't identify it? (I found an interesting group of rather aggressive-looking caterpillars once, and not being sure that I had identified them correctly, killed them all as they seemed similar to something said to destroy orchards in a trice. I feared for my crab-apple jelly crop!)
Or you've found something injured and you don't know what to do for the best? If so, Roger Goy could be your man. Roger contacted me recently to tell me about the website helpline he runs. Click the direct link below to view:
Wildlife Helpline National Service
He will endeavour to help out with information about species identification, or where to find an appropriated wildlife hospital or service. His service was launched in 1990, and has won Local Environmental Awards. Not surprisingly, Roger attends the occasional wildlife quiz evening held in our area.
By the time you read this, we'll have had our talk
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by Nic Lance, about a 14th century Psalms manuscript whose margins were used to depict Lincolnshire rural life in exquisite detail. If you didn't manage to get to this, you'll be interested to hear that a new museum is soon to open in Lincoln, just below the Usher Gallery.
Nic hopes that this museum may be able to house the British Library 'Turning the Pages' facility on the Luttrell Psalter, in which the latest computer technology enables you to get as close as possible to 'turning the pages' of this wonderful artefact.
The Luttrell Psalter is like a Lindisfarne Gospels for Lincolnshire. (I have hopes that Lincoln Cathedral may show an interest in displaying the manuscript itself at some time in the future. If the idea takes off, remember you saw it here first!)
Thinking about how we can learn about wildlife from all kinds of sources - from cigarette cards to psalm illustrations - I was very struck in this season of wildlife talks by one aspect of Mark Tyszka's talk on butterflies and Mike Squires' on the weather; that is, Mark referred to several poems in which butterflies featured, and Mike included in his talk slides of paintings of all kinds of subjects, which depicted clouds and other carefully-observed weather phenomena.
An interest in wildlife is not at all a narrow subject, but one which takes us into all areas of life and culture. It is being recognised more and more, lately, that an environment in which wildlife can flourish is also one where humans can best flourish too, and be inspired to do the things that only humans can do, poems, pictures and music. (In case anyone takes a sharp intake of breath here, apologies to all dolphins, whales and other cultured animals.)
I'd like to recommend a book at this point which I managed to pick up very cheaply from one of the book club offers that turn up occasionally: it's Stefan Buczacki's 'Fauna Britannica' (London, Hamlyn 2002).
This is a big, comprehensive book which majors on doing what Mark and Mike did - helping us to learn about nature, and at the same time to see how deeply ingrained in the human imagination are the animals he tells us all about, as he recounts folk-tales, customs, poetry and recipes involving them.
RECIPES? As they say, when you're in a hole, stop digging, so I'd better leave it there before I get voted off the committee and sent to a work-camp which turns repentant caterpillar-destroyers into fit members of society again.
But before I go, spare a thought for the English apple and the orchards they grow in.
Why would a Somerset farmer grub up and burn an apple orchard - given that old orchards can often contain scarce, ancient varieties of apple, as well as being havens for nesting birds, and support mistletoe? The answer is not that most farmers don't care about the environment - rather, that they may not be able to afford NOT to grub them up.
A report in the Guardian of Monday March 29th explained how 'if felled before January 1st, orchards will be classed as "farmland" and be worth an automatic yearly £340 a hectare, in perpetuity; but any left standing will be worth no more than the land value and, crucially, will not be considered for farm payments.'
Hopefully, the government will successfully challenge the European commission on this.
Think about how apples feature in our culture - and this summer and autumn, try to support the British apple grower and if possible, buy local and maybe more delicious apples (6,000 varieties have been recorded in England, yet supermarkets concentrate only on eight), even plan to plant apple trees yourself (many are available on dwarfing root-stocks). To whet your appetite, perhaps 'visit'
Brogdale - Home of the National Fruit Collections
for a peek at the home of the National Fruit Collection at Faversham in Kent, which keeps 2,300 varieties of apple going; they also provide various services such as soil analysis and planning help for new orchards.
I've mentioned Common Ground before, the organisation which links nature and culture, and promotes an autumn 'apple day' celebrating the apple in all kinds of ways. When did you last see a really old orchard? We must keep the ones we have, and provide for more in the future. We can support wildlife in ways both direct and indirect - including with our teeth, if we can afford to keep them!
Some years ago, a friend asked me whether I was right to be so concerned about wildlife and the environment; weren't there so many people suffering in the world whose needs should come first?
It's become clearer over the years that when the environment is misused, not only does the wildlife suffer, but people do too; everything is interlinked. Food produced under organic and fairtrade systems is more likely to mean that the people who produce it are healthy; how much rubbish we produce, and what we do with it, has a direct effect on the quality of the water, air and land that all living organisms depend on.
So there are three things to mention here with these thoughts in mind:
1) We are trying to make sure that at our meetings we use ethical ingredients. As well as Fairtrade tea and coffee, we are hoping to use the milk called 'White and Wild' which was launched in April 2002.
This is produced on farms both organic and non-organic, but all of which have to set aside at least 10% of their land for wildlife habitat management. 3p of the cost per litre goes to the farmer, and 2p per litre goes to the Wildlife Trusts. You can read more about it on:
There is a link to this site from:
Wildfile... Incorporating the Unofficial Wildlife Trusts
2) In or committee meetings, we've been talking about carrier bags - you just can't seem to get away without them! One member manages to refuse most of them, but it takes real dedication. We came up with a few ideas:
Existing collections of carrier bags from under your sink could be taken to charity shops and church fairs etc, where they can at least be re-used. Tesco still have a carrier bag recycling bin, but you have to search for it.
Shops can make sure that they use biodegradable ones (e.g. the Co-op does), and customers can ask for these if they are not available. The best thing of all is to refuse them, and to take your own shopping bags. Remember the string bag? I've also made some bags for family use which are made of strong but light poly-cotton, and just fit in a pocket like a carrier bag does. Further suggestions are welcome!
3) I don't know if you worry about the plastic ring things (I think they are called 'closed loops') that hold beer cans etc together? Like carrier bags, they are not good news to animals, as they can get caught in them, and larger animals can eat them. There is a ring recycling 'tree' where you can put them in Grimsby central library. Profits (how do they make any?) go to St. Tiggywinkles, the Wildlife Hospital Trust.
I keep my eye open for useful websites, and have found a very good one: it belongs to:
The Centre for Alternative Technology
There is a lot of information on this site, and also a very helpful service where you can ask a question on environmental subjects, which will be replied to by experts, that is if you haven't managed to find the answer already on the site.
I asked them about the plastic carrier bag issue, and was sent a good article, which I'm making available on our own website. The CAT also has a website shop, where you can get all kinds of useful things - e.g. cloth bags. Two websites concerned particularly with waste are:
and
The second one can help you find details of the nearest recycling facilities to you by tapping in your postcode.
If you were following the story of my mice in the last issue, you might like to know what happened next. They became very adept at abseiling down just about anything to get to the bird feeders, and eventually we smelled that funny smell one morning in the utility room, so out came the trap, and over the next week, we caught FIVE mice!
Now all we have to tackle is that funny tapping sound we get from one of the bedroom ceilings, and why the loft insulation finds its way down into the climbing rose.
[Um, rats...? Eeek! - Sue, speaking from experience.]
I hope you are all composting away. I see from the latest issue of Natural World that soon the EU might put a ban on composting kitchen scraps. I'm intrigued: when is a scrap not a scrap? Will it mean that a carrot is OK to be composted if it never went into the kitchen? If it got cooked, but not eaten, will it not be allowed out in the garden again? Is the (uncooked) peel OK? And what kind of uniform will the Compost Police be wearing? Something made from recycled carrier bags, perhaps!
I leave you with that thought, and hope to see you at some of our forthcoming events! Viv Rowett. (vivrowett@aol.com)
Avoiding the Plastic Bag
by Lucy Stone
Taken from Clean Slate, CAT's membership magazine
Why should I bother – bags are so small and light?
Here in the UK we use eight billion bags a year. That’s 150 per person. We currently only recycle 7%, the remaining 7.5billion are left blowing in the wind or in landfill. Litter is not only unsightly but can be very dangerous to wildlife that gets trapped inside bags or accidentally eats them. As with any industrial process, bag manufacture uses energy and releases carbon dioxide. If the UK stopped using plastic bags completely we would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 155,000tonnes every year.
Plastic is a by-product of the non-sustainable petro-chemical industry (plastic bags use about 33.7million gallons of oil a year). This industry is highly polluting – not just the headline grabbing oil spills such as the Exxon Valdez. According to US coastguard figures such spills account for only 5-12% of the oil spilt at sea. Most of the yearly, 2.5million tonnes of oil pollution is from land (via drains, etc), ballasting and washing of tankers and deliberate illicit dumping. Oil excavation has also led to environmental and social disruption (for example in southern Nigeria).
The good news is that reducing the number of bags we use isn’t difficult. For example in Ireland last year they introduced a 15cent (10p) tax on plastic bags and immediately usage dropped by 90%. So all we need is a little encouragement.
Why not continue using plastic bags and just improve our recycling?
Although recycled plastic bags use two thirds less energy in manufacture, it's still wasted energy. We also need to take into account the energy used transporting the bags from the factory to the shop. It would be a lot better if we also reduced the number of bags we use.
Isn’t there such a thing as degradable plastic?
There are various types of degradable plastics available that require different environmental conditions to degrade (either sunlight, bacteria, chemicals or macro-organisms). These conditions rarely occur in landfill sites which is, unfortunately, where most of our plastic ends up. Without the correct conditions they will either not breakdown or will breakdown anaerobically – releasing methane gas in the process.
Vegetable starch can be used to make bio-degradable bags, for example Sainsbury’s are trying out bags made from tapioca. And CAT’s mail order catalogue supplies bags made from corn starch that can be used to hold your kitchen scraps. As long as these end up in your compost heap, and not in landfill, they are a very good option.
Also any type of disposable option uses energy in manufacture and results in waste. It is estimated that the average life of a single give-away carrier bag is only 3 minutes before being discarded. Don’t forget the priorities; Reduce, Reuse then Recycle before Disposal.
But how should I carry my shopping home?
There are a number of options. The simplest short-term answer is to look in that kitchen drawer that’s overflowing with plastic bags from previous trips to the supermarket. Simply take some of these with you on your next visit and reuse them – again and again. Once they’re all ripped and torn (and in the recycling bin) you’re going to have to find another, longer term option.
Such as?
Many supermarkets now sell heavy duty plastic bags that will last a lot longer than the flimsy freebies. They also often supply bags made from recycled plastic – encouraging the use of recycled materials is as important as recycling. Or how about a cloth bag or basket? Rather than advertising your local supermarket by carrying their bags everywhere you can choose your logo – or not. CAT’s mail order department sells organic cotton string bags. What about your granny's old shopping basket?
But I forget to remember the bags until I’m in the supermarket….
Well that’s a start. At least you are aware you’ve forgotten something. Try refusing their bags anyway. After a few trips with cans of beans balanced under your chin maybe you’ll start remembering not to forget. Or ask them for a box that they'd probably be throwing away anyway (you can then re-use, recycle or compost it)
And what else can I do?
It’s not just the carrier bags at the check-out that cause environmental concern. Much of our food is over packaged. Always look for the least packaged option and ask yourself whether another layer of protection is necessary. Does a bunch of bananas, with protective skin already naturally there, need its own plastic bag too?
Further advice:
CAT’s free information service can be contacted on 0845 3308373 (UK), 01654 705989 or info@cat.org.uk
Waste Watch provides advice on waste reduction and recycling. Tel: 0870 243 0136, Fax: 020 7403 4802. Email: info@wastewatch.org.uk; website:
And finally, rounding up the last few things that come to mind:
Geoff Trinder, of the wonderful wildlife garden at Epworth, is, I see, doing a few things for the WEA, the Workers' Educational Association which runs many interesting courses.
One is an evening - December, 5th - on creating a wildlife garden.
Many of the WEA courses look as if they will be of interest to our members, so pick up a brochure from the library. There's also a web-site:
The Workers' Educational Association
Speaking of web-sites, it's worth a look at:
for information on how to preserve and enhance the tree heritage of our land.
Another site I like is:
This organisation defies description, really. It links the environment with the arts, and aims to try to preserve local distinctiveness - in other words to prevent that process whereby every part of the country seems much like any other.
One thing they promote is 'Apple Day', which is October 21st. There will be events in Lincs, and some places, I see, have a competition for who can produce the longest piece of apple peel. This must surely be a good antidote to anyone suffering from an excess of computer games.
I don't know whether I should be worried, but there are mice in my garden who seem to be able to abseil down the string I hang the bird feeders from.
They love my 'lard and birdseed surprise'. I've tried to outwit them by using very long, very slippery string, but this seems to make the feeders spin round fast when a bird lands on them - though the birds seem to cope.
I'm hoping that at least the local owls will be kept happy by these little residents, who are actually quite amusing when they run along the fence, just six or eight feet away from the room where I am sitting typing now - but not in here!
If anyone has any hints on the best way to 'manage' the mouse population, I'd be very grateful.
I mentioned in 'Previous Events', that a local firm makes things out of recycled plastic. It's Ecofurn (Louth) Ltd, John Fenely, Montrose, Mill Lane, Legbourne, Louth, Lincs, LN11 8LT. Tel: 01507 604156.
What they make is garden furniture, from plastic ‘timber' which is of course rot-proof and needs no painting. Having seen some at the Waltham fair, I can say that it looks extremely sturdy, and things can be made to your own specifications.
(A question: Would you like to know what happens to all the things we put out at the front gate for recycling? Perhaps hear someone from the council tell all, even give us a guided tour of what must be a pretty huge compost heap somewhere near us, what with all those brown bins full? Watch this space.)