Wales only has around 3 million people (compared to around 60 million people in England). But it’s teeming with wildlife, although like England, birds and mammals and sea creatures have suffered due to loss of habitat, pollution and climate change.
BBC Welsh presenter Iolo Williams is happily recovering after a serious heart attack, but notes that due to his job, ‘death doesn’t affect me one bit. I know that life – a mayfly, an oak tree, a fox or a human – comes to an end’. He says when his time comes, he would like to be placed in a linen sheet and somebody plant an oak tree on him, so his energy will go back to help nature!
Iolo is a big critic of massive offshore wind farms for their effect on nature and birdlife. He’s not a fan of Boris Johnson either, after the latter tried to stop newts being protected for industry and when the former Prime Minister wanted to build a bypass on an inter-tidal zone of saltmarshes, flats and sands along the Severn Estuary’s north coast, Iolo wrote ‘Keep your money-grabbing mitts off the Gwent Levels’.
Sea Parrots on the Isle of Anglesey
Puffins are common on the Northumberland coast, and also on the island of Anglesey (the route that makes you seasick, if taking the ferry to Ireland). These birds spend most time at sea (diving for 30 seconds at a time, using their wings to ‘fly through the water), coming ashore to raise ‘pufflings’ who live in burrows underground (adult beaks are dark grey, only changing to orange during mating).
Despite their comical appearance, our puffin friends are in serious decline, due to climate change, over-fishing and rising sea temperatures (having to dive deeper, to find food). Most puffins lay one egg yearly with the same lifelong mate, then spend six weeks keeping the egg warm, until hatching into ‘pufflings’ which live on oily fish, to survive.
DEFRA is presently consulting on whether to ban industrial sandeel fishing within UK waters, to protect these endangered seabirds. If passed, this act would also protect kittiwakes and razorbills.
Wildlife Gardening on your ‘Patch of the Planet’
Patch of the Planet is a lovely training centre for wildlife-friendly permaculture, run by a couple who specialise in ecological design. Alongside cosy campsite holidays, the courses including caring for soil, grafting apple trees and permaculture design.
The good news if you can’t visit Wales is they offer an online course ‘10 Steps to a Nature Garden with e-books and video tutorials. Create a thriving environment for you, wildlife and the planet, with support from a passionate online community. Access a lesson for free!
Use no-dig gardening and fruit protection bags (over netting, which can trap birds and wildlife). Learn how to create pet-safe gardens (use humane slug/snail deterrents). Avoid facing indoor foliage to gardens, to help stop birds flying into windows.
If you’re a fan of nature, you’ll love the writings of the co-founder’s brother Paul Kingsnorth (who Aris Roussinos called ‘England’s greatest living writer’). His book Real England (covering his travels around our green and pleasant land, looking at how capitalism has eroded what we hold dear) is what first inspired this site!
