A slightly different view

As a druid I work closely with the four elements, earth, air, fire and water. So what have we done to or with these elements on our planet? Water is the easiest to look at first. We have oceans, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, small streams and so we have a lot of water on our planet. We have ruined the oceans because lots of our litter goes in there as it is washed down from the rivers and streams. Phosphates from agricultural land and other poisons from factories, as well as sewage run off into the streams and rivers and then into the oceans. This kills ocean life and makes it impossible for us to enjoy the rivers and oceans as we used to.

We have mined and quarried our earth for stones, clay and minerals to use to heat our homes, build our homes and make items for our homes. Some quarries are absolutely huge and the land around them is damaged by the heavy trucks and machinery that works a quarry. Rare earths are mined because we want mobile phones and electric cars. The name rare earths should tell you something, they are rare and so far not recyclable. Old quarries which are no longer used have become nature reserves in many places. Plants are choosy about their soil and some will only grow in certain places like old quarries. But modern quarries are a different thing and are so large you can’t imagine them ever reverting to a good landscape where wild life can flourish.

Where air is concerned we have polluted this too. Smoke, fumes from power plants, cars and other engines have polluted our atmosphere until some areas are so bad that it is difficult to breathe. I was born in the Potteries area and remember the smoke from the bottle ovens. You only put your washing on the line outside when the wind was blowing the smoke away from you. Now the air is much cleaner since an act of Parliament came into place. But where I live now, there is so much traffic that I have to keep my windows closed because of the dirty air outside as well as the noise.

So what about the element of fire? There are various ways of looking at this. Burning things produces smoke which pollutes. Fire itself cleanses the land and allows regrowth but it does harm the life that lives on the earth.

Complicated issues whichever way you look at them all. Would love to read you comments on this.

Getting there slowly

It does seem as if people are beginning to realise that we have to do things differently if we want a better world. I have noticed more conversations and more articles in magazines and newspapers offering advice and giving ideas of how to live in a better way. One thing I have noticed is that nature continues here as before.

First the snowdrops appeared, then the aconites, daffodils and tulips. The blossom started to appear, blackthorn first, cherry and hawthorn and then many others. The butterflies appeared in order, brimstone, peacock, small tortoiseshell, holly blue and orange tip. The birds are nesting and even the squirrels seem to be making nests. And I saw the first large red damselfly of the year on Thursday. So it seems that all is well. However we have a long way to go. Holiday flights and cruises are still popular and not good for the climate and people are still buying large gas guzzling cars.

Another thing I have noticed is what I call electrical pollution. I know that I am what is called hypersensitive to electrical things. I cannot go near pylons or heavy overhead lines and keep away from phone masts as much as possible. Yet houses are still being built under these lines and with pylons in the garden. Recently we have had a large amount of new smoke and fire alarms installed in our flats. Apart from the bathroom, there is an alarm in every room and two in the hall. In the corridor outside there are two on each. landing and 3 of those which you break to call the fire engine. Of course if one goes off, they all do adding noise pollution to it all. Since all this has been done I have felt unwell a lot of the time but improve quickly when I get outside. You can protect yourself against the electrical pollution caused in various ways. I have shungite around the house which does help but may have to look for something else. But to cheer us up here is the photo of the large red damselfly.

A few random thoughts on the natural world around me

The last few weeks seem to have been very busy with appointments of various kinds and setting up a new computer with Windows 10. I did not export/import bookmarks as I have far too many and wanted to start afresh so it took me ages to get into this blog to write a new post!

I planted some strawberries a couple of weeks ago in a large planter bag. One morning I went out to check them and four of them had lost their small leaves and the large leaves were just lying there. Muntjac of course, who love nice new leaves. The two remaining plants have a wire cage around them. All of my planting pots and bags sit on a pallet so my son is going to make a fence to go round the pallet. It is good to see the small deer but he or she can be a nuisance when you have nice new plants.

I have bird feeders in an old cherry tree. The seed feeder is squirrel proof as we have lots of squirrels here. Different birds feed here too, sparrows, blue tits, chaffinches, goldfinches, dunnocks and larger birds such as starlings, blackbirds and of course the pigeons and crows. I also have a peanut feeder which the squirrel loves. He manages to lift the top off the feeder and then gets one peanut at a time, comes down the tree and goes off to hide it somewhere. He or she never seems to eat them!

As there are lots of trees and shrubs there are generally lots of insects and butterflies. So far this year I have seen several butterflies, small tortoiseshells, peacocks and brimstones. There are lots of bees, as my son and I planted a spare piece of ground between some large trees and the stream with wild flower seeds, the year before last. That small piece of ground is now covered in plants, many starting to flower. It should be really good this later when all the plants are in flower.

My little patch of garden has snakehead fritillaries in bloom, tulips in nearby pots and cowslips. There are buds on some of the other plants too. So the natural world carries on whatever I do to it. I would like to think that everybody had a small patch of garden or wild areas where they live that was accessible to them all the time. It is good to be outside and I try to spend some time everyday sitting on the bench near my bit of garden.

A glimmer of light

The hours of daylight are getting longer and it is good to get out despite the weather. I went with my son to one of our favourite country parks last week. Schools were closed for the Easter break and it was good to see children out in the park looking for different trees and plants. The park provides worksheets for children and these are used well. If we start children off taking care of nature and recognising species then hopefully they will take care of nature later. We actually saw a pair of mandarin ducks which are not common. They were brought to Britain from China and some escaped and they now breed in some parts of our country. The male is stunning. (photo at end taken by my son)

It has also been heartening to see how much money has been raised to get legal action in place to save our trees from felling. I have noticed that in other areas, developers are trying to fell ancient trees but are meeting strong opposition. This gives me some hope for the future when people come out to protest at wanton destruction of our landscape.

Perhaps people are waking up to the fact that nature is very important and we need it to stay healthy. The last part of the TV programme about our wild isles is broadcast tonight but the sixth part is only to be seen on ‘iPlayer’ because it is contentious we are told. I can’t wait to view it to see what is shown. I have noticed that one of the other countryside programmes is also taking a look at new ways of growing food and farming.

There is a glimmer of light here and I hope the glimmer soon turns into a large beam of light.

Looking for the light at the end of the tunnel

I have been feeling very despondent recently. I think it is because of all the goings-on in our world. There is a bit of hope though regarding the felling of the local trees as the nesting season has begun and it is illegal to fell trees during this time. It gives the action group time to find and fund a barrister to stop the felling.But the house building continues on a flood plain. That never makes sense but is done all over the UK. But more people than I think are aware of the felling of trees. An old lady, maybe a bit older than me, sat next to me on the bus. Some trees in her area had recently been pollarded. She was worried they might be felled and I tried to reassure here but you never know what councils do behind your back.

Then there is the clean water subject. It is horrifying to see how much sewage goes into the rivers and seas. How much water life does it kill? All those insect larvae can’t survive in polluted water. Some years ago I used to work for the Open University at some of their summer schools. I worked on the water quality project and remember sampling the rivers and streams to see what life was there. Mayfly larvae were a sign of good clean water. We also tested the water in the lab as well. At home I use a water filter. The water here is extremely hard and when I tested it I also found it to be full of all kinds of metals and other contaminants. I have an expensive water filter which takes most of this out but many do not even use any kind of filter process. So if you drink it what does it do to your body?

This week has also been a noisy one. New fire and smoke alarms have been fitted, one in each room and two in the hall. A bit overkill it seems for such a tiny flat. The noise of drilling through concrete was horrendous and added to the traffic noise made life very unpleasant. Now at night when I want to sleep, not only do I have street lights and outside security lights but a small green light on the smoke alarm!. No wonder I don’t sleep well.

But I did get out one day and looked at catkins and spring flowers. It cheered me for a short time but I need more time out in our natural world while we still have it.