August 2020

So, where have we got to in the process of saving the planet? I heard a saying this morning at the on-line funeral of Uckfield’s wildlife Ranger Geoff Pollard. The minister said that it is not what you own that is important but how much your life matters. We have heard much recently about “black lives matter”. My feeling is that all life matters in some way; from the humble oceanic green plankton cells that make about 70% of our oxygen to the giant top predators, such as lions and polar bears that control populations of the prey that they eat. Every living thing is part of a food web, and we humans are blessed with the intelligence to manage life on earth. So how are we doing?

Geoff Pollard was the Ranger managing Uckfield’s 2 Local Nature Reserves and other wild places such as Boothland and Nightingale woods. Geoff was doing something professionally that maybe we could all be doing in aspects of our lives. Sadly, he died suddenly at work. When we choose our purchases, we can try to see if they are from a sustainable source. We can avoid using pesticides unless it is truly essential. We can manage our gardens sympathetically for wildlife.

I am writing this from France, at a Bergerie Landaise, which is essentially a shepherd’s house in a field with a small copse of elm trees. We are trying to manage this site as a sanctuary for wildlife, which made it difficult when we arrived here this week after 6 months without human intervention, 3 of which were in lockdown due to COVID-19. The outcome is that the field has grown a fine crop of hay, the harvesting of which I am taking a break from to write these notes. Hay making is a sustainable way of interrupting natural succession from grassland to woodland which humans have been doing for thousands of years. Many animals, such as earthworms, butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, bush crickets, lizards and snakes, moles, mice and voles, house sparrows, buntings and herons (yes herons love to hunt moles on grassland when they cannot find a fish), harriers, owls and kestrels, hares, rabbits and foxes have adapted to this practice and adjust their lives accordingly. Having trees nearby allows many more species of bird, such as blackbirds, thrushes, doves, finches, several species of titmouse, treecreepers, woodpeckers and orioles to join the throng.