The Magpie's Hoard

Bigby update

Thanks to the influx of summer migrants, my Bigby list has grown by leaps and bounds over the past ten days: it now stands at 107 species.

My list was also boosted by recent visits to two cracking nature reserves: Leighton Moss and Potteric Carr.

Leighton Moss must be the easiest RSPB reserve to reach by public transport. The entrance is just a short walk from Silverdale railway station and there's now a bus (dubbed the Bittern Bus, no less) which links the reserve with nearby villages.

Although it's closer to home and in an urban setting, Potteric Carr is a little trickier to access by public transport. The no. 72 bus from Doncaster Interchange stops nearby (outside B&Q on Woodfield Way) but you have to negotiate your way across a couple of busy roads to reach the reserve. The no. 75 bus to the Lakeside Shopping Centre is more frequent than the no. 72. From Lakeside, it's a less than pleasant walk of about 500m along White Rose Way to Potteric Carr - it's shame the council didn't include pedestrian access when they built this road!

Bigby

I've just signed up to take part in The Big Green Big Year birding challenge:

The Big Green Big Year is a BGBY is a Bigby

This is a low-key, friendly bit of birding rivalry that is not especially original but which seems appropriate in these days of carbon emissions and climate change. If you have ever felt even a tiny bit guilty about driving or flying to see a good bird (or several) why not join us in a year of carbon-neutral birding?

There are no prizes other than the glory - but we can have fun and keep fit - and there are almost no rules.

The Big Green Big Year has the acronym BGBY and is therefore pronounced Bigby* ... and it is simply a Big Year in which you only count those species seen within walking or cycling distance of your home. As simple as that, no dashing off to the far corners of the planet burning fossil fuels as you go.

There are two principal categories:

The Walking Bigby - During which you list all species seen in 2008 which have been reached on foot from home. If you were traveling by any other means when seen then the bird won’t count for your Bigby.

The Self-Propelled Bigby - This will allow you to extend your range a bit and include birds reached by either walking, on bicycle or by canoe. Walking Bigby birds can be included.

... and we have added a late entrant category for those who would like to try it:

The Public Transport Bigby - This one has been added by public request ... so long as you travel to your walking/cycling/canoeing site by bus or by rail (but absolutely not by taxi, friend's car or plane) and return in a similar fashion then you are doing a Public Transport Bigby. Walking Bigby and Self-propelled Bigby birds can be included.

As I don't own/use a car, I have registered for The Public Transport Bigby. I will keep you informed of my progress!

Fentastic!

In March 2006 I attended a presentation about The Great Fen Project, a habitat restoration scheme which aims to create a 3,700 hectare wetland between Huntingdon and Peterborough. I was particularly impressed by the ambitious scale of the project, which is unprecedented in lowland England.

Yesterday the Heritage Lottery Fund announced that is awarding £8.9million to The Great Fen Project. This is the largest grant it has ever given to a natural heritage project in England.

Stephen Fry, President of the Great Fen Campaign, said:

“I am so thrilled at this news. The Heritage Lottery Fund has recognised the enormous value of the Great Fen Project and its unique, pioneering approach to this precious, delicate and beautiful landscape.”

De-cluttering the Countryside

Yesterday I posted this picture of the Rivelin Valley on Flickr:

Ms Moll commented that this would be a much more attractive scene without the overhead wires and various other items of visual clutter. Bobasonic volunteered to have a go at de-cluttering the picture in Photoshop and here is the result:

Pretty impressive - especially as it only took him 30 minutes! Here's a list of the changes he made:

• telegraph poles and shadows removed
• overhead cables removed
• TV aerial removed
• Sky TV dish removed
• grit bin removed
• plastic garden chairs + table removed
• lamp posts removed
• skip removed
• fly tipping removed
• washing dryer removed
• pub's external cables removed
• dumpster removed
• Christmas lights removed
• floodlights removed
• blue waterbut removed
• cars removed
• new pub front made from road/wall parts!
• new pub 2nd door made from scratch from pub parts!
• pub signs on pole by car park remade due to cable going in front of it.
• horse fed some polo mints!

The CPRE is backing the Streetscape and Highways Design Bill as part of an ongoing campaign to de-clutter the countryside.

"We are campaigning to urge local highway authorities to avoid urbanising the countryside through excessive use of road signs, markings and poorly designed street furniture."

Whilst some people say that rural economics should take precedence over aesthetics, I believe that the CPRE's campaign is valid and worthwhile. According to DEFRA:

"Countryside recreation and tourism is now a larger industry than agriculture in terms of numbers employed and turnover."

It can therefore be argued that the appearance of the countryside is critically important to the rural economy.

The Myth of the Open Road

An empty road snaking through a wild, rugged landscape is a frequently used image in car adverts.

Sutherland has many miles of spectacular roads, which I'm sure have featured in many car ads. The section of the A894 between Skiag Bridge and Unapool seemed to be particularly familiar.

Of course, for the vast majority of drivers, the open road is a complete fantasy. They are fated to spend their time crawling along congested city streets and featureless motorways.

In search of tranquillity

For the second week of our holiday we rented a cottage by Loch Culag, about a mile south of Lochinver on a quiet back road. It was an exceptionally tranquil spot. Much of the time, all you could hear were natural sounds: birdsong, the wind in the trees, the gentle patter of rain... and the bleating of lambs (which, I have to admit, started to get on my nerves after a while!).

I find that the older I get, the more I value tranquillity. The trouble is that it's a dwindling resource in our stress-packed world.

Much as I love walking in the Peak District National Park, it can be difficult to get away from the sound of people and traffic. Compared to Sutherland, it is as crowded as a shopping mall! We were amazed at how few other walkers we met, even on the most popular routes. Mountain bikers were conspicuously absent too.

Apart from a couple ear-splitting sorties by low-flying military jets, we hardly noticed any aircraft over Sutherland. In contrast, the skies over the Peak District are some of the most congested in Europe.

Now that the National Park is ringed by busy international airports (Manchester, East Midlands, Leeds Bradford, Robin Hood, etc), it is continuously criss-crossed by airliners. A few years ago I heard that a local landscape photographer had given up working in the Peak District because of the ever-present contrails.

There's also a lot of low-level air traffic over the Peak District, which can be very intrusive. It's a particular problem in the Upper Derwent Valley where there's often a succession of helicopters and light aircraft following the route of the Dambusters training runs.

In the first week of our holiday we spent time at another blissfully tranquil spot: Lochan Mor on the Rothiemurchus estate, near Aviemore. It's one of my favourite locations on Speyside and holds very special memories.

However, the tranquillity of Rothiemurchus will be shattered later this month when the estate plays host to The Outsider festival. According to the publicity spiel:

"The Outsider is all about celebrating the good things we enjoy from the land and showing respect for our environment. So naturally we’re encouraging people to be as green and environmentally aware as possible."

Take it from me, there is nothing environmentally aware about thousands of people congregating in a field to listen to rock music.

Taking the scenic route

Getting accurate and useful information about public transport in the UK can be a bit tricky.

Traveline's national public transport information website can be helpful, but it tends to come up with some really daft suggestions. I've just attempted to use it to check the bus service between Inverness and Ullapool. Traveline suggested that I could either catch a bus direct (journey time 40 minutes) or I could fly to the Isle of Lewis, then get the ferry to Ullapool (journey time 6 hours and 45 minutes).

POSTSCRIPT: In reality, the travel time by bus from Inverness to Ullapool turned out to be about 90 minutes.

High Anxiety

I spent yesterday at a seminar which took place in the centre of Birmingham. At lunch-time I ventured out with my camera for some much needed fresh air and daylight.

I found myself being drawn towards the recently completed Beetham Tower, which soars dramatically above the surrounding buildings. According to Wikipedia it's 121.5 metres (400 feet) tall with 39 floors.

I realise that the Beetham Tower is barely more than a bungalow compared to the giants of Manhattan or Hong Kong, but I must confess that I find it a bit scary. Looking up from the street below made me feel distinctly uneasy. The feeling can best be described as ground level vertigo with a hint of post 9/11 paranoia.

Birmingham's Beetham Tower has siblings in Liverpool and Manchester. Not to be outdone, my hometown of Sheffield is about to get its own 32 storey apartment block as part of the Heart of the City project.

Personally, I would be quite happy to live in a city without high-rise blocks. Over the past few years Sheffield has demolished a series of ill-conceived buildings that were erected in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. As I've said before, I'm not convinced that the current crop of developments are any better than the ones that they're replacing.

A year or so ago before the cataclysmic events of 9/11, Liz and I visited Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh. Towards the end of the tour, we found ourselves in a gallery of contrasting images from around the globe. Three of the images lodged in my mind:

• the intricate nest of a weaver bird;
• a group of traditional African houses, built of straw and mud;
• a modern high-rise tower in the City of London.

Alongside these images was a caption: "Temporary or Permanent Structures?"

At first the answer seems clear: built of concrete, glass and steel, the tower block will obviously last longer than an individual bird's nest or mud hut. On the other hand, the home-building traditions of tribal cultures could be seen as timeless; the odds are that they will carry on long after the financial powerhouses of the City of London have passed into obscurity. Likewise, the weaver's nest may only last a few months, but instinct and natural selection guarantee that future generations will continue to construct equally intricate homes for millions of years to come.

Off your trolley?

The Economist has an interesting article about the pros and cons of ethical shopping.

A surprising fact gleaned from the article is that:

"half the food-vehicle miles associated with British food are travelled by cars driving to and from the shops."

Perhaps would-be ethical consumers should be less concerned about how far food has travelled before it reaches the supermarket shelves, and more concerned about their own mode of transport.

Food for thought, eh?

Carnival of the Green

The latest edition of Carnival of the Green is on-line now at Organic Researcher.