Autumn in three, maybe four different places if I include Brighton and the Green Party Autumn Conference. So here is to protecting green and blue. I am working on the Marine and Coastal update and we learn about the big trawlers off the coast, out of sight, allowed into British waters but under our improved UK laws dolphin by catch, injuries to mammals must be self reported. But no one does seem to report on the dolphins injured by the vast nets. Sussex Dolphin Project are ready to raise questions in parliament and require all boats to be under CCTV to check. Too little enforcement of environmental law by our UK government. https://sussexdolphinproject.org/
Below the colours of Autumn in Brighton near the pier.
First Autumn walk was in Marple by the Goyt valley with bracket fungus, hawthorn berries and a few last flowers and pollinators. Life has been busy ‘sorting’ after the big move. And final stages on my novel. A last author proof read, a cover design featuring the bee-eater and a lot of agonising over the text on the back of the cover. More in a future post but if you want to go back and take a peek, here is one and also featuring another of Denzil’s Nature Challenge on butterflies if you want a taste of summer.
Next a walk in the National Forest near the new home. Settling in and after having had an old apple tree to look after in London. https://navasolanature.wordpress.com/ But here there is an old alder by a brook at the end of the garden. Delightful until a storm surge floods through. We try to secure the bank from erosion with brash, tied up twigs and branches staked into the bank. We also use more rocks. When the rain falls hard as the other day with Storm Babet the level rises above the sides but seems to go down quickly too. Is this because of a storm overflow further up? I know there is one further down where there have also been sewage discharges. How long do we go on polluting our waterways while privatised water companies still pay out substantial profits? Surfers Against Sewage have a very thorough manifesto that should be adopted by all serious at looking after our rivers and coasts and it will be possible to stop this endless pollution.
Autumn in the Sierra Aracena often brings birds on migration such as the bee-eater, house martins and even hoopoe but these ones do not go as far but like to seek out more resources before the winter.
The colours of the Autumn here near Navasola bring lots of Spanish tourists to the region as this is unique in the south of Spain. And also the chestnuts fall and the harvest begins. This year there has like so much of Europe been lots of storms and thankfully for us here, lots of rain.
So here’s to Autumn on its final stages as we move towards more wintry weather, to Denzil’s Nature Challenge for the month on Autumn colours and to getting my novel ready for printing. The bee-eater makes for a colourful cover.
NavasolaNature 