working in the land of story 3

Yes I have been back again to Methwold that land of flood and fever, well it was in the early 1600,s now a very productive piece of fenland I cant help wondering what the inhabitants of the area pre drainage would make of it now.

Enough though what about today well this time there are pictures, oh yes.

 Now let this be a warning to you about security of equipment, they are so security conscious they even have guard dogs on the equipment, allbeit small dogs.

And you are never really alone out there, eyes are watching you for any false move.

Has to be the best of many pictures I have tried to take of Common Lizard, it was half eight and the temperature was already 23 degrees centigrade and yet this one is still catching some rays before heading off to hunt or hideup.

There has to be a story or two here from now let alone the original story I keep going on about.

Adults 'make children fear nature' says Chris Packham

A blatant steal from BT this one. Now Chris Packham is not my favourite wildlife presenter but he has a good point to make on this one.

 

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Adults 'make children fear nature'

Wildlife presenter Chris Packham has spoken out against parents who stop their children interacting with nature.

Last updated: 12 July 2014, 10:22 BST

 

Wildlife presenter Chris Packham has spoken out against parents who stop their children interacting with nature, adding: "They have got to be stung, slimed, slithered on and scratched."

The Springwatch host said allowing youngsters to get up close with wildlife should be an essential part of growing up but they are made to feel fear by adults who stop them climbing trees or insist on them using anti-bacterial gel after touching animals.

The naturalist, 53, told The Times he recalled being licked by a giraffe on a visit to a zoo as a child and being ordered to wash his hands and face by his mother. "I had been licked by a giraffe! I didn't want to wash it off," he said.

He added that he has since allowed hand-reared wolves to lick him "many times".
"Wolves' mouths are packed with bacteria which are perfect for healing," he added.
He went on: "This whole process is alien to children because they want to pick it up and touch it. The feel of worms, the feel of a caterpillar inching up their finger, the marvel of a ladybird gyrating round that finger and getting to the top of it turning this way and that and then taking flight; that's the stuff of magic. What are you going to do? Wash their hands with gel?

"When you ask a child to open their hands and you squirt that liquid and say, 'Rub that in,' you are saying, 'You are in a dirty and dangerous place.' And when you say to them not to climb the tree because you might fall out and hurt yourself, you are instigating fear in that child.

"Parents are to blame. Clearly we can't blame kids. They are born with the same innate curiosity that all of us were, but parents have pulled back from allowing their kids to engage with it."

                                                         _______________________

Yes there are some dangerous things out there but as he says children need to learn or be taught sympathetically what is good or bad, fun or horrible, safe or dangerous. Surely that is the role of parents in trying to bring up sensible rounded children who possess intelligence and common sense.

I can well remember my parents and the upbringing my bothers and I had, we got dirty, we got wet, we got cut stung and scratched. But we learnt from our experiences and were encouraged by our parents to carry on doing it.
I have fond memories of the family pulling up at various places on holiday, the vehicle door would open and we were off like greyhounds from the traps into the woods, onto the moors whatever with Mums words ringing in our ears.  Be careful, look after each other and get back in time for your lunch, we invariably did.

first its antibiotics now...........

Well its pesticides. A very interesting story today from Matt McGrath an environment correspondent at the BBC. He is writing following a Dutch study on the effects of a certain agrichemical on birds.

The BBC piece is here; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28216810

So its neonicotinoids again, first linked to Bees now birds and folk are quite rightly asking questions about amphibians and other wildlife. You can bet that the manufacturers and farmers will discredit the report very quickly.

The thing is though just as with antibiotics it costs a small fortune to get a new agrichemical out there and I do believe that some are necessary if we are not to go hungry, but which and are they safe enough. So farmers are caught again how do they get the best yields, cover their costs and get some financial return enabling them to carry on in business, while ensuring that wildlife and more importantly humans are not effected by residues. Using older chemicals with possible different affects is no way forward, new methods of control chemical or otherwise are needed.

Its no good environmentalists saying ban it and manufacturers and farmers saying you cant, we need to work together to find out the truth about effects short term and long term. We also need to look at how we control pests and diseases by chemical or other means.

Who is in the wrong in this one, im still pondering

I was driving back this morning from a bird survey in Essex. I drove past a layby with a lorry just pulling of and standing there where it had stopped were about a dozen men including one holding a young boy. Around them were bundles of what looked like dirty clothes or bedding.

Question; What would you think was/had happened and what would you do if you saw that.

 What did I do and what do I think, more on that later.

Whats in a name and how soon do we forget recent news

On my way to a school this morning a white van appears before me with the business name written on it.

                                                                R Harris, Painter.


I bet he has kept his head down or got a lot of stick lately. Anyway told a couple of folk about the van and both couldn't see what I was going on about, I had to explain it. Have we got so used to getting so much news and scandal that we don't even register it properly.

my mad mind and words

Coming back home this afternoon from a days storytelling at a primary school, I see this lovely old wooden farm barn signs all over it saying pools for sale, jacuzzis paddling etc etc, what was the name of the farm, Wash Farm.

five bells burwell 5th july

Went down to the Five Bells this morning to tell some stories with Rachel OLeary to children as part of Burwell Carnival Week.

A relaxed and rainy morning but bumped into some old friends, Terri and Paul who were entertaining with music and Jig Dolls.

Paul reckons the one Terri was working with could be over a hundred years old, it has had a few repairs courtesy of Terri and is now back dancing.

Food we just buy it dont we

We dont think where it comes from or what it takes to grow it. And excuse me if you know better but too many dont.

A simple field of wheat to make what, bread. Its a big field its kept free of crop pests and weeds and a loaf of bread costs what?

A simple field of potatoes to make what, chips, crisps.Again the field is kept free of pests and weeds but look at the left of the photo that's a huge reservoir because potatoes need a lot of water and the farmer cannot guarantee he will be able to take it from the local rivers. So he builds a reservoir and when its filled usually over winter its his water to do with as he wishes and uses pumps, pipes and mobile irrigators to make his crops grow. And all for a packet of crisps or a portion of chips.

Its too easy to walk into a shop and buy food any food, we expect the shelves to be full and everything to be cheap.

Stopped for lunch and there was Nancy well almost

The other day I was between gardens and thinking lunch so I took a drive by the river in Cambridge till I found somewhere I could stop, and there before me was the start of a story I tell. 

What story, well Nancy the Waterman of course.

working in the land of story part two

Its about a year now since I first wrote about this area and I have been back. The fields are now divided by a bare ribbon of earth, with crops growing right up to that ribbon as reminders of what the land will return too when work is completed.

During the clearance work to create the ribbon through the fields, signs of early human occupation have been found, on ground that would when the signs were left have been dry in that time before the peat developed, a time when Doggerland existed taking Norfolks coast hundreds of miles northwards. The signs are not big or incredible, they are just reminders and souvenirs that remind us we are never far from those that went before, what signs will we leave I sometimes wonder.

and it all starts with reading a book or two

If you know me you know I love books especially books on aspects of east anglian history.

One of our local heroines is Etheldreda who has links to Ely cathedral and other villages closeby. Another local this time a hero is Hereward again with links to Ely.

In both books there is talk of standing on the ridge of land that Haddenham Aldreth and Wilburton stand on and looking out over the fens towards the south and cambridge and beyond. In the days pre drainage the near view would have seen the lush green of reeds and willows intersected by ribbons of water of various depths and widths with perhaps the off large pool here and there. Since drainage though the view is very organised with rectangular fields stretching into the distance all separated by ditches sometimes with a remnant strip of reed or a bit of hedge or a tree or two.

 

I have often wondered what it might have looked like  in the days pre-drainage.

A few years ago at the base of the ridge in Wilburton a solar farm was installed which you can see easily enough from the ridge, then last year work started on extending it.

I had a really good look a few days ago as I was driving past, area has been increased a lot and there it sits a grey blue block of colour contained within the network of regular fields. And what does it remind me of water. And I think to myself can we perhaps now start to imagine what the landscape used to look like using this block as a guide.

Will we again see the army of William massing on the far shore, the men the horses the towers on the causeway. Will Hereward again send fire rushing through the reeds sending men and horse and the ladies in the towers tumbling into the water.

And it all starts with reading a book or two and imagining.