I see two things noted down for another blog, one is George Monbiot, a radical green environmentalist and the other is 'Slow the Flow' the art of slowing the waters down that run down the side of the hills in Caldervale to join the rivers down below in the valley.
The valley floods with a regular beat but people do fight back, installing new paved flooring, stripping back the plastered walls to the stone or brick, bars on wheels, so that when the flood water rushes through, all they have to do is scrub down the surfaces. There are many volunteers who plant trees and work on the hills, old and young they create dams and swales to make the flow of the little streams zigzag down the hills and soak into the soil under the trees. Communities work.
I had seen the same sort of work at Pickering to stop the waters from the moors gushing down into the town and flooding. Slowly but surely beavers are also being introduced to wild places around rivers to start their damming exercises.
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| Little 'brown jobs' disappearing. The Twite or though Google kept finding 'Twitter'! |
I hears on the radio this morning the sad fate of the twites, and laughed at their name, but the presenter in a few words described his sorrow at how the loss of the seeding wildflowers due to farming practices had caused their decline. A small brown bird with a blob of red on its behind. Nothing much to write home about (or even blog) but this little creature was on the way out. I have even read of elephants evolving without tusks, will they beat the Earth decline though I wonder.
Still I headed this blog with 'hope' because even as they bluster and promise us the world at the latest conference, and then dine sumptuously after having flown or driven in cavalcades of cars to show their earnestness, we must cast these useless politicians aside and actually do something useful ourselves.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/06/twite-or-pennine-finch-on-brink-of-extinction-in-england
Isn't it a strange thing that over here in the East rivers that once were deep with enough water for boats are now just a trickle and yet there's plenty and too much water flow in the North west
ReplyDeleteComes of living near to Scotland Sue. Up North as they would say. But water/rain is attracted to certain landscapes I think.
DeleteIt would also be good to see that water producing hydro-electricity.
ReplyDeleteThe problem though must be that the fall of water is not strong enough, and of course when the rain falls. I think that tide or wave capture is the next hydro sustainable energy experiment to look out for. Especially as we are surrounded by the sea.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
Wise words Thelma. Coincidentally I have a builder here today tidying up an outside drain for me(and making a jolly good job of it too) and he comes from Huddersfield originally and he was chatting about the flood water in the Calderdale area from all the streams runing down the syeep hills.
ReplyDeleteIt was on You and Yours the other day about flooding. This district has become quite popular in the media, my daughter reckons there are Guardian journalists around Hebden Bridge, and then there is an offshoot of the BBC in Salford, Manchester. Builders are like gold now of course, and don't even mention plumbers ;)
ReplyDeleteWe have almost killed all the Monarch butterflies due to farmers cutting all the milkweed which is their primary food for caterpillars and the primary nectar as well....AND the conservation seems to be working!
ReplyDeleteTwo slightly opposing things Tabor. Conservation does win out in time of course but bringing back species that are low in number is a precarious thing. I love the gatherings of the Monarch butterflies, it is so sad that we unthinkingly allow such things to happen.
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