How about this as something to celebrate - one of the RSPB founders, Emily Williamson, launched a campaign in 1889 to end the slaughter of birds for fashion. Emily joined forces with Etta Lemon and Eliza Phillips of 'Fur, Fin and Feather Folk' of Croydon, and Winifred Cavendish-Bentinck. They all took a pledge to wear no feathers. After a thirty year campaign, The Plummage (Prohibition) Act was passed in 1921. It was an all Female Society and led to the formation of the RSPB. And now the RSPB are back in serious campaigning mode with their #AttackonNature
In this campaign they have joined forces with the National Trust, WWF, Wildlife Trusts, The Ramblers and many concerned individuals, including some MPs.
"This September, the new UK Government launched a three - pronged attack on nature...the Government set out details of plans to AMEND or SCRAP crucial environmental laws. These laws include the 'Habitat Regulations', which protect our most vulnerable wildlife and green places...they also defend our clean waters, clean air, clean beaches and rivers. The Government announced further plans to create 38 'Investment Zones', which can trash planning rules - meaning housing and commercial developments could be incentivised to damage nature with little or no restiction". (RSPB newsletter 2022). It makes for utterley depressing reading. We know how much nature adds to the health of citizens. We know that we need healthy soil to produce food. We also know that the UK is already one of the most nature depleted countries on the planet. Successive governments talk endlessly about 'growth', but if we do not have healthy, functioning communties, there will be no growth. The RSPB ends their diatribe by saying, 'Don't let the Government do this in your name'. When I wrote to my local MP (Tory), about this issue, he replied but denied everything and accused the RSPB of lying. The RSPB or the present Tory Government - which would you believe?
And so to the continuing story of the False Autumn, brought on by the severe heat waves in July and August and how it is playing out down here on The Lizard. The weather, for the most part, continued to be deliciously warm, with the last few days taking on a more chilly note and even some frosts greeting us in the early hours of the day. When the winds and the rain came overnight the grass got its first covering of the autumn leaf fall. The squash and pumpkins were picked, we had a good crop this year. The sloes continued to adorn the trees, alongside the glorious red berries and leaves of the Rowan trees and yet more red berries and orange leaves, courtesy of the hawthorn bush. The young sweet chestnut trees produced a good crop but we failed to pick them before other members of the community wildlife ate them - no roast chestnuts for us this year. Cow parsley was still growing, marigolds and roses too. The grass never stops growing on the Lizard and our field is looking more lush now than it did in the summer.
The birds have obviously decided that the food is better in the hedgerows than that which we offer on the feeder. Apart from the blue tit and occasional robin, the feeder is empty. My favourite seat at the kitchen table is opposite the feeder and for the last few months it has been alive with a thriving bird community - and the odd rat. I have watched families bring their young, to feed food to them and later I watched as the young learnt to feed themselves. And then one day, they are no longer there. First the swallows and now this, I feel bereft. September is the month for goodbyes, the tourists leave and my own friends and family depart. Mixed blessings. The birds fly off to sunnier climes, the bees and the wasps disappear, butterflies become a rare sight and the land becomes a quieter place. But as I become aware of all the things that are leaving or dying, I relish the moments of warm sun, the solitary swallow, a trace of wild honeysuckle scent - made all the more precious by knowing that none of it will last much longer and winter is moving closer.
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