# Conservation and Wildlife



## Flick of the Elbow (18 Jan 2021)

I’ve tried a few searches but there doesn’t seem to be a thread that covers this. I hope you don’t mind me starting a new one.
I am prompted by wanting to share a fascinating interview with Roy Dennis made by the BBC Scotland Outdoors podcast. Dennis was involved in the safeguarding of the returning ospreys in the 1950’s and has played a leading role in UK conservation ever since, most recently in the re-introduction of sea eagles to the Isle of Wight. He has some very interesting things to say about land usage and conservation.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p093tblr


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## biggs682 (8 Jun 2021)

We all need to try harder and do our bit to help things improve .
I for one love to see animals when i am out riding and there is nothing better than riding along a country lane with an owl for company


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## annedonnelly (8 Jun 2021)

There is lots you can do even if in just a small way. Radio 2 have a competition this week around children designing a bee-friendly garden. Even if you've only a balcony or window box you can plant a few pollinator friendly plants. And have water for birds/mammals to drink.


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## mudsticks (8 Jun 2021)

annedonnelly said:


> There is lots you can do even if in just a small way. Radio 2 have a competition this week around children designing a bee-friendly garden. Even if you've only a balcony or window box you can plant a few pollinator friendly plants. And have water for birds/mammals to drink.


Yes, urban and suburban area can be real havens for wildlife with the wide diversity of plants and habitats found there .

So long as things are allowed to grow.

Compared with a lot of the sterile chemically sprayed monocultures found out in the countryside 

Of course if you don't want heavily sprayed monocultures out here in the countryside you need to support farmers like me who don't use chemicals and who integrate their cropping alongside wildlife.

In fact the buglife is essential in keeping soil and crops healthy..

Ideally food production shouldnt be separated out from nature.

They can work alongside each other really well - it just requires a bit of system redesign, and of course support in terms of where and how people buy their food .



Flick of the Elbow said:


> I’ve tried a few searches but there doesn’t seem to be a thread that covers this. I hope you don’t mind me starting a new one.
> I am prompted by wanting to share a fascinating interview with Roy Dennis made by the BBC Scotland Outdoors podcast. Dennis was involved in the safeguarding of the returning ospreys in the 1950’s and has played a leading role in UK conservation ever since, most recently in the re-introduction of sea eagles to the Isle of Wight. He has some very interesting things to say about land usage and conservation.
> https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p093tblr



It was good to see lots more areas of regenerating native trees in the Highlands last week.
Theres still a long way to go , but things seem to be moving in a better direction.


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## Flick of the Elbow (8 Jun 2021)

One of the things I hear about now is about managing land for carbon. It seems to be becoming quite a thing.


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## mudsticks (8 Jun 2021)

Flick of the Elbow said:


> One of the things I hear about now is about managing land for carbon. It seems to be becoming quite a thing.



Yes especially through things such as peat bog restoration. Esturine mud, and many other obscure and wonderful things.

But even us productive farmers can help through minimal tillage, and deep rooting pasture for example..

This is why grazing herbivores can be very good for carbon sequestration..
Their natural actions help build soil.

This is why 'go vegan' to save the planet is an oversimplified inaccuracy.

Grazing herbivores were always here farting and belching methane, and CO2 but their output was balanced up by the greenery, and plant roots they encourage.

Plus their dung supports soil life..
Its a natural cycle.

What isn't natural is vast amounts of fossil fuel being burnt for industrial scale agriculture, animals cooped up in feedlots and being fed arable crops produced by petrochemical based herbicides and pesticides.

I mostly produce veg, but I also rotate chickens round the farm who graze green manures and crop aftermath.

We also make biochar- from the windbreak trees when they need lopping, that locks carbon permanently into the soil, as well as providing a matrix of 'homes ' for soil life of all sizes..

There's quite a lot of us quietly beavering away at all this out here.

Dismissed as 'Ludfite Cranks' "All muck and Magic" for years..

But we've been doing it long enough now to show it works - it always did - but the big ag chemical lobby had far more money to promote their wares , and persuade farmers down that route..

Hopeful the tide is turning towards 'a better way'..
Feels hopeful right now, and it's long overdue.

I'll be representing my organisation at this event in a couple of weeks.

https://groundswellag.com/ 

Lots of shiny new kit being demo'ed of course, which makes it all look a bit 'hi-tech' 
But the basic principals of soil care are timeless


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## biggs682 (9 Jun 2021)

Well done @mudsticks we need more local farmers like you


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## mudsticks (9 Jun 2021)

biggs682 said:


> Well done @mudsticks we need more local farmers like you


Thanks..

The awareness is building, I'm cautiously hopeful.

Food, and farming, and climate change, and ecology, and social justice, it's all tied up together.

I'm glad to say there's a big upswing in youngsters who see all this, and who want to follow in my muddy boot prints .

They just need a bit of help in some cases to get their hands on the land, and get on with it.


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## annedonnelly (9 Jun 2021)

biggs682 said:


> Well done @mudsticks we need more local farmers like you


And consumers need easy ways to purchase from them. Ideally through local shops stocking the produce.

Farm shops/farmers markets are great but tend to involve travel. We need to make produce more available so that when someone needs to nip out to the nearest shop 'cos they've run out of potatoes the local stuff is available. Not pre-packaged stuff that the big supermarkets have held the farmers to ransom over.


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## Drago (26 Jun 2021)

mudsticks said:


> Yes especially through things such as peat bog restoration. Esturine mud, and many other obscure and wonderful things.
> 
> But even us productive farmers can help through minimal tillage, and deep rooting pasture for example..
> 
> ...


Much as it pains me, I find myself agreeing.

The UN reckon thqt the world has barely 4 decades of production left in the topsoil, yet people are calling for less meat and dairy in the name of cutting g carbon. Thats all fine and dandy, but properly managed the livestock is better for the soil than anything and doing away with it is a dangerous step.

Its like tree planting. Sounds great, ties up carbon...but they forget to mention that mass reforestation at the wrong latitudes can affect atmospheric albido is such a way as to actully increase the greenhouse effect. Oops.

Messing with one thing invariably foxtrots up another, so when the peace hippies tell us to stop eating tofu because it is endangering the habitat of the lesser spotted amazonian dwarf ant, we must shake our heads sagely before acting, and not blindly rush out to inadvertently do something that will instead kill the topsoils ability to sustain biological life.


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## mudsticks (26 Jun 2021)

Drago said:


> *Much as it pains me*, I find myself agreeing.
> 
> The UN reckon thqt the world has barely 4 decades of production left in the topsoil, yet people are calling for less meat and dairy in the name of cutting g carbon. Thats all fine and dandy, but properly managed the livestock is better for the soil than anything and doing away with it is a dangerous step.
> 
> ...



Dont worry the stinging sensation subsides after a while.

Thing is with diets, and farming systems, different things are appropriate depending on region.

There's no 'one size fits all' approach

'Good' dietary choices will come with a large dollop of "Well it depends"

Tofu eating isn't 'wrong'.

Nor is, eating the products of pasture fed livestock 'wrong' Its a lot more nuanced than that

I've spent a couple of days this week, at a gathering attended by several hundred sorts of farmers, and food system folk.

There are many different approaches to tackling all these issues, on all sorts of scales, and levels.

I think it's generally agreed that industrial scale, oil based approach to food and farming is part of what's fecking up the planet.

More holistic, soil building, whole system, and more nature friendly approach is beneficial.

Getting politicians, and the general consumer to comprehend all this complexity, can be tricky, though.

People want simple answers..

There are none.


But I think we're getting somewhere..

Too sloooowly, of course for many of our likings , but progress is happening, on , and even _in_ the ground .







There were a couple of robots there, as well for those keen on that sort of tech 🌾


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## oldwheels (26 Jun 2021)

mudsticks said:


> Yes especially through things such as peat bog restoration. Esturine mud, and many other obscure and wonderful things.
> 
> But even us productive farmers can help through minimal tillage, and deep rooting pasture for example..
> 
> ...


When I was an agric student in the late 1950's there were attempts being made to encourage livestock farmers and in particular lowland sheep farmers to plant deciduous trees at a very low density in grazing land.
I have no idea how this worked out as I left farming soon after and got immersed in malting and distilling.
A friend who keeps a small number of sheep was very annoyed when Forest Enterprise felled some trees on the edge of his property. He used them [without permission] for winter shelter for his sheep.


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## mudsticks (26 Jun 2021)

oldwheels said:


> When I was an agric student in the late 1950's there were attempts being made to encourage livestock farmers and in particular lowland sheep farmers to plant deciduous trees at a very low density in grazing land.
> I have no idea how this worked out as I left farming soon after and got immersed in malting and distilling.
> A friend who keeps a small number of sheep was very annoyed when Forest Enterprise felled some trees on the edge of his property. He used them [without permission] for winter shelter for his sheep.


Yes silvopasture, and agroforestry are experiencing an upswing in interest again.

When I was at ag college in the late eighties it was full steam ahead chemical approach.

Soil was just a substrate for standing plant roots in, while you fed plants from a bag.

Your farm was just a 'factory floor'i i got laughed at for talking about organics, or soil biology 

Heartening to see farmers my age now competing with each other for 'how many turtle doves' 0n their farms now, rather than, how many weeds they've obliterated with chemicals X y and z..


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## annedonnelly (26 Jun 2021)

I've enjoyed listening to podcasts from the Nature Friendly Farmers network. It's good to hear that so many are attempting to work with nature and their environment.


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## mudsticks (26 Jun 2021)

annedonnelly said:


> I've enjoyed listening to podcasts from the Nature Friendly Farmers network. It's good to hear that so many are attempting to work with nature and their environment.



They were there too.
I mean it's not like loads of us weren't already going on about all this stuff for decades..

But at last were no longer so easily dismissed as the 'loony green fringe'.

It's quite something when defra comes knocking on your door for input , rather than us bug loving tree huggers, trying to get a hearing from 'the suits'

..


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## twentysix by twentyfive (17 Jul 2021)

There is no doubt in my mind @mudsticks that we need a lot more farmers and big landowners to take your lead. All sorts of things are endangered. I'm constantly reading about birds going on the Red List. I haven't seen a collared dove for ages (they were everywhere at one time). The Swifts that screech every year over my garden (mostly down to wildflower meadow now - I know it's only 1/4 acre but it's the only 1/4 acre I have direct control over) are down to a few now. Curlew populations have crashed - I could go on . My wildlife gardening seems to be working with breeding populations of butterfly, dragonfly, frogs toads, some other (small insect) pond life yet to be identified, slow worm and occasional sightings of lizard. I get moth caterpillars too so I suppose I should do a night moth trap to see what's about. Day flying moths are fairly frequent. Birds seem to breed too but not like they used to. I try with only hedge cutting at the end of the year and putting up boxes. So Robin, Tit and House Sparrow. We have mice too. The bats that used to feed over the meadow at dusk seem to have vanished tho' .

This caught my eye recently. https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk They have a roadside verge campaign. Give your local highways/councils/councillors a kick everyone.


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## mudsticks (17 Jul 2021)

twentysix by twentyfive said:


> There is no doubt in my mind @mudsticks that we need a lot more farmers and big landowners to take your lead. All sorts of things are endangered. I'm constantly reading about birds going on the Red List. I haven't seen a collared dove for ages (they were everywhere at one time). The Swifts that screech every year over my garden (mostly down to wildflower meadow now - I know it's only 1/4 acre but it's the only 1/4 acre I have direct control over) are down to a few now. Curlew populations have crashed - I could go on . My wildlife gardening seems to be working with breeding populations of butterfly, dragonfly, frogs toads, some other (small insect) pond life yet to be identified, slow worm and occasional sightings of lizard. I get moth caterpillars too so I suppose I should do a night moth trap to see what's about. Day flying moths are fairly frequent. Birds seem to breed too but not like they used to. I try with only hedge cutting at the end of the year and putting up boxes. So Robin, Tit and House Sparrow. We have mice too. The bats that used to feed over the meadow at dusk seem to have vanished tho' .
> 
> This caught my eye recently. https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk They have a roadside verge campaign. Give your local highways/councils/councillors a kick everyone.



Well it might cheer you up to hear that a lot more farmers and landowners are picking up an enthusiasm for all things ecology, and environment of late.

That's why there are events that can attract several hundreds of them at one time.

It will take a change in government policy to bring about long term transition to overall better systems though .

And of course enough of the food buying public to get on board with making the necessary changes.

The Newly published National Food Strategy has quite a lot of useful stuff to say about all this - 

As an already fairly radical root and branch, food and farming reformist, I feel it _could_ go a lot further.

But it's not a bad start though, on the whole.

At least the subject is being looked at in depth, in the round, encompassing health, ecology, and social justice, rather than just siloing them all off from each other as if they're not deeply interrelated., .


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## Chief Broom (27 Aug 2021)

Otters seem to be doing OK in my neck of the woods [Brora] not common but i see them on a regular basis. I have a favourite spot along Brora's back shore where otters will suddenly appear out of the gorse and walk across the shingle and then go fishing. They know im there and dont seem bothered, sometimes when ive been fishing in the Dornoch firth an otter has stopped me fishing [as i dont want to hook it!] and wont go away so theyre not particularly timid. For anyone visiting this area i would recommend Meikle Ferry, Brora back shore and occasionally Loch Fleet as good places to see one.


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## mudsticks (27 Aug 2021)

Chief Broom said:


> Otters seem to be doing OK in my neck of the woods [Brora] not common but i see them on a regular basis. I have a favourite spot along Brora's back shore where otters will suddenly appear out of the gorse and walk across the shingle and then go fishing. They know im there and dont seem bothered, sometimes when ive been fishing in the Dornoch firth an otter has stopped me fishing [as i dont want to hook it!] and wont go away so theyre not particularly timid. For anyone visiting this area i would recommend Meikle Ferry, Brora back shore and occasionally Loch Fleet as good places to see one.
> 
> View attachment 606257
> 
> ...


Great shots 😊

We now have beavers living alongside the otters on our local river of the same name.

The beavers are doing good work against flooding, and seem mostly to have been accepted by the riverside landowners..

And even the fisherfolk now that they understand beavers don't eat fish 

Last week I had some campers 'complain' to me that the owls were a bit noisy , at night 

And another good moment was when I wandered up the farm to replace one of the nets that keeps the pigeons off the brassicas .

I was annoyed with myself for having forgotten and expected to find some unscheduled feasting going on.

Turns out I didn't need to worry.

Two large buzzards were patrolling the windbreak trees , looking for voles or something I guess.

Their presence was keeping all the pigeons well away.

Biodiversity in action, and helping me out too .


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## KnittyNorah (27 Aug 2021)

Re otters. A machine-knitting pal of mine lives in a suburban bungalow among a lot of other suburban bungalows, in Cromer. Her hubby is a keen fish-keeper and as well as having a collection of prize-winning koi carp, has quite an extensive water feature in the garden with more 'functional' fish - the non-prize-winning koi carp, golden orfe, and other smaller splashy things. The water-feature fish started disappearing last year and for several weeks it was assumed herons were to blame. Extensive netting was installed to protect their fishy friends, but still they kept going missing. So two game/wildlife cameras were installed to try to solve the mystery.

Not herons. In the middle of suburban Cromer, instead it was an OTTER! Where it had come from - and where it went to once it had eaten all the fish of any respectable size in their ponds - remains a mystery. Norfolk wildlife trust investigated to try to trace the otter via its spraint, but they concluded it was probably a lone young male looking to set up a territory who had arrived by chance, picniced for a while then had moved on to more suitable terrain.


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## mudsticks (27 Aug 2021)

KnittyNorah said:


> Re otters. A machine-knitting pal of mine lives in a suburban bungalow among a lot of other suburban bungalows, in Cromer. Her hubby is a keen fish-keeper and as well as having a collection of prize-winning koi carp, has quite an extensive water feature in the garden with more 'functional' fish - the non-prize-winning koi carp, golden orfe, and other smaller splashy things. The water-feature fish started disappearing last year and for several weeks it was assumed herons were to blame. Extensive netting was installed to protect their fishy friends, but still they kept going missing. So two game/wildlife cameras were installed to try to solve the mystery.
> 
> Not herons. In the middle of suburban Cromer, instead it was an OTTER! Where it had come from - and where it went to once it had eaten all the fish of any respectable size in their ponds - remains a mystery. Norfolk wildlife trust investigated to try to trace the otter via its spraint, but they concluded it was probably a lone young male looking to set up a territory who had arrived by chance, picniced for a while then had moved on to more suitable terrain.





Grass snakes will rob fish from ornamental ponds too.

Naughty things


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## KnittyNorah (27 Aug 2021)

mudsticks said:


> Grass snakes will rob fish from ornamental ponds too.
> 
> Naughty things


My pal was about to suggest that her hubby offer a 'good home' in the ornamental ponds to unwanted fish from his fish-keeping friends, when the predation stopped as suddenly as it had started and the otter apparently moved on.


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## mudsticks (27 Aug 2021)

mudsticks said:


> Dont worry the stinging sensation subsides after a while.
> 
> Thing is with diets, and farming systems, different things are appropriate depending on region.
> 
> ...



More positive progress on this front .

At above event I met quite a few larger landholders who were keen to have smaller, productive, organic fresh food enterprises integrated into their larger holdings, holdings which often produce grain, and other commodity crops at scale, but don't produce 'local food for local people' .

Even to the point that one of them came all the way down from Hertfordshire a couple of weeks ago for a days (paid ☺) consultancy here.

In addition to wanting to promote biodiversity on his farm, he also wants to provide an diversifying opportunity for a new start up business on his farm

Its quite a turn around from back in the day when all the farmers sons at college used to take the p** out of me for "Going on about organics"

Now they're turning up, and wanting my nollige, what's more, they're prepared to pay for it..

I know we've still got a loooong way to go, and many barriers yet to overcome.

And the UK is a small island on a biggish planet.

But there still remains, a small, yet stubborn part of me that retains some hope for the future .


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## Chief Broom (28 Aug 2021)

I loathe jet ski's...


JETSKI
“I must go down to the sea again
To the lonely sea and sky……
Sound of curlew
Sound of gulls
A gentle surf
A lonely beach
Sounds of landscape
Flood the mind
Sounds of seascape
Sounds of peace
I dream along
Ebb-tide running
Sounds of peace
The joy of life
No monitor screen
Or ringing phone
An anti-office
Then they arrive…
Big and shiny
4-wheel drive
From some distant
Tarmac place
Reversing seaward
With its payload
End of silence
End of peace
Hey Man Hey Man
Where you going?
Where you going
With that thing?
Across to Arklow?
Or wildlife-spotting?
Or maybe even
Lobster-potting?
No - not exactly:
Round and round
Is where you’re going
Round and round
And round and round
No great voyage
Destination: nil
Your Mission is:
Go round and round
Round and round
Round and round
Round and round
And round and round
Hassling surfers
Hassling swimmers
Hassling wildlife
Round and round
Round and round
Noisy noisy
Round and round
Pointless pointless
Killing silence
Burning petrol
Spraying water
Round and round
Jetski jetski
Pointless pointless
Well look at you
James bloody Bond
Jetski jetski
Pointless pointless
Misdirected
Round and round
Jetski jetski
Pointless pointless
Noisy noisy
Macho wetsuit
Jetski jetski
Pointless pointless
Mindless mindless
Polluting polluting
Jetski jetski
Jetski jetski
Jetski jetski
Round and round….
I must go down to the sea again
To the lonely sea and the sky
And all I ask is a guided missile
And some fuel to make it fly
And the launcher’s kick
And the rocket's scream
And the vapour-trail a-snaking
And the wonderful sound
From over the waves
Of a jetski disintegrating.

Author unknown


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## mudsticks (28 Aug 2021)

Chief Broom said:


> I loathe jet ski's...
> 
> 
> JETSKI
> ...



There's a lovely beach near here, no facilities, just cliffs, pebbles, and sea.

You have to walk a mile or so down through NT land to get there.

Just occasionally, you'll get someone on a jet ski venturing round from one of the towns along the coast.

To shatter the peace.

You can feel the other beach-goers taking out their imaginary sniper rifles to pick him off


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