Litter has to be one of my pet hates. There’s absolutely no need for it, and in my eyes represents disrespect and carelessness. But for me “keep Britain tidy” is a concept purely for humans (and their pets) it’s not something that should be translated to nature. And yet there seem to be people who think it should be.
Our society seems to have become obsessed with keeping everything, including nature, neat and tidy – possibly a result of our health and safety/claim culture. Dead branches need to be disposed of, brambles eradicated, muddy paths replaced with tarmac. But that’s not how nature works, and nor should it.
The last couple of years, I’ve been saddened to see large areas of undergrowth “cleaned” out along the local river footpath, to make it more “pleasing to the eye”. Unbelievably, this usually seems to take place in winter when small birds and mammals are relying on the “unsightly” ivy and brambles for shelter in freezing temperatures. I’m not adverse to managing an area, but in this case, the heart seems to be ripped out of the area, leaving a lot of wildlife no choice but to move somewhere else.
Exposed
The reason for this rant, however, is because of what I witnessed last week. I was walking home from work along the canal and heard the distinctive sound of chicks being fed. I stopped in my tracks and from the corner of my eye saw movement in some ivy on the wall. It was a female black blackbird feeding her brood.
I stood and watched, as she delivered their meal and flew off to hunt for more. The delightful sight of wobbly heads with bulging eyes and large yellow gapes was left behind, and for a moment I was in awe, with a big grin on my face, feeling excited at what I was witnessing.
Then reality struck. I shouldn’t be able to be watching this nest with such ease. I widened my gaze and realized what had happened. Whoever the wall belongs to had obviously decided to tidy it up – clear all the ivy and other creepers off it. In doing so, they’d exposed the nest, leaving it open to the elements and predators – it was less than 6ft off the ground and barely had anything covering it. In fact it was a miracle it was still there at all.
Needless to say, a few days later, when I returned to that spot, the nest was empty.
Respect
I totally appreciate that people want, and need, to manage areas, but so often it seems to be for people and not for wildlife. Just a little forethought is all that’s needed. If they’d just left it for another few weeks, the chances of there being an active nest there would have been reduced, and no harm would have come of it.
I suppose the chicks could have survived, and you could argue that if they were taken by predators, well “that’s just nature”. But nature wasn’t alone, it didn’t expose the nest, people did. When will we ever learn that we don’t own this planet, nature does, and it’s about time we all started to give it the respect it deserves.
(End of rant. And relax…)
