Monday, June 11, 2012

Keep Britain Messy!

I've just (ratheer belatedly) read the article in June Bird Watching mag entitled 'Lost World: how tidying up our countryside has created a fatal mess for our wildlife.' It begins 'we stand on the brink of the first mass ornithological extinction in recent times .... the countryside is sick, and much of it is dying.' It contrasts the profusion of a Constable landscape (or an eastern Polish meadow) with modern Britain and explains why we no longer watch Corncrakes, Wrynecks and Red-backed Shrikes. The reasons: what he calls 'tidiness', monoculture, insecticides. The article calls for a campaign to 'Keep Britain Messy'. Maybe things we know, but well worth reading (even if only while standing in Smiths) and a reminder of why our common passion for birds needs also to be a passion for the environment.

3 comments:

Steve Blacksmith said...

Excellent post. I completely agree.

The same applies to gardens. Since every obsessively tidy-minded gardener has been able to drive to the dump with their prunings, weed piles, etc. there have been many more wildlife-devoid gardens.

Machinary of various new kinds on farms and in gardens are also anti-wildlife. It's usually a case of "I have a machine - I'm going to use it."

Nick Carter said...

Good post

Steve Cummings said...

Sadly, it also applies to Country Parks, canal tow-paths and river embankments with ranch-style fencing, tarmacked car parks, neatly levelled pathways and manicured verges!