Tag Archives: COVID19

Is it my imagination?

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Is it my imagination, or are the birds louder, the insects more buzzy and does the air taste sweeter? Out on my bike for my once-a-day exercise break, I glory in the lack of background noise from traffic, the roads and skies quietened by necessity.

Sometimes I pedal down to the Broad, not too far from my house, to enjoy the peace that water brings. I’m alone there aside from a few dog walkers; usually it’d be packed with picnickers and boats.

It’s fun poking about, looking at the tracks and signs animals have left. I’ve yet to find Otter footprints, but have seen signs of their feeding. I’m sure there must be a badger set somewhere close by, but as yet it alludes me.

Spring flowers are bursting into life, which is helping me learn to identify new species. The flowers and warmer weather no doubt account for the large clouds of insects I pedal through, although I wonder if the cleaner air and reduced traffic are also playing a part in their increased numbers. Insects are such a vital foundation for trophic cascades and ecosystems, it would be wonderful to see their numbers recover. I sat and watched a bumble bee buzzing round the Broad for several minutes the other day.

As well as Salhouse Broad I sometimes cycle down to the River Bure, opposite the Ferry Inn on the other side of the water in Horning. There’s no one drinking and eating outside the pub, aside from gaggles of ducks and the odd swan.

On the home front I need to get out in the garden more, but remain pretty occupied with work. Did manage to get a bit of bread braking done, and was very happy to find Hedgehog scat in my garden; I think one might be visiting my pond at night.

Things are a little busier in my house than normal as I’m now playing host to 2 cats, 2 bearded-lizards, and an additional human who have all joined me for the ‘Lockdown’.  The cats like finding places to lounge in the sunshine, and seem content. It’s good to have house guests, as although I’m always happy in my own company, I’ll probably start to go slightly mad if this goes on for several months. I’ve also fixed up my big off road touring bike to explore local trails, and been carving spoons to practice my bushcraft skills; the course has been paused for obvious reasons, but will hopefully continue come Autumn.

As well as keeping on top of my natural history study, it’s been fun to try to improve my photography skills. I’m conscious I’m lucky to live where I do, and am able to get out on my own into the countryside and nature. There’s a  very low risk of bumping into anyone else, and if I do it’s easy to maintain several metres distance. I’m trying to post up a few photos on my Instagram and/or Twitter accounts from my daily exercise jaunts.

The Broad still has the greatest draw for me, although the Mallards do not obey social distancing rules.

It won’t be long until the Bluebells are out, carpeting the woods round here in colour. Definitely something to look forward to.

For the time being the Daffodils, Marsh Marigolds, Lesser Celandine, Stitchwort, Dead Nettles, Wood Anemones and countless other plant species I don’t know the names of are bringing colour to the landscape. Also, going on a walk can be quite a slow process now, as I keep having to stop to try and ID plants or animal tracks; Fallow deer example below I think.

A bit further on from Salhouse Broad is Ranworth Broad, another beautiful spot currently devoid of most humans. There are waterfowl aplenty to be seen, and I’ve spotted an elusive Kingfisher flitting about a couple of times; the brilliant blur of colour as it flashes past.

 

When I’m out in the countryside it feels like being out in a time warp. There are so few human based sounds and sights compared to normal, it sometimes feels like it could be a hundred years ago, or more. Nature seems to be thriving and I can’t help thinking it’s doing us all good (‘all’ being all inhabitants of this planet) to slow down a bit, COVID19 impacts notwithstanding. I’m hoping that we, as a species, can learn from this crisis. Maybe we can stop our relentless pursuit of economic growth, and destruction of the planet, slow down, appreciate what we have, and lead a more harmonious existence; one that might preserve the Earth for generations yet to come.

I’ll end with a bit of film from the Broad, which is mainly to showcase the birds singing.

Stay safe and sane.

Lockdown – so it begins

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Due to being immersed on my Bushcraft course as well as XR stuff, and with work also keeping me busy, I’ve really not had a lot of time to keep my blog up-to-date recently. I think I’ll have the opportunity to keep it more current over the next few months now that, as of tonight, we’ve entered lockdown in the UK. As well as updating on what I’ve been doing on my course, I think it’ll be good to keep a journal of how events unfold with the CoronaVirus and COVID19.

I’ve been working from home for about a week now, having loaded my car with my office chair and desktop setup, and trundled it all back to my house. Whilst it’s good to have the face-to-face contact and banter with team mates in the workplace, which I’m going to miss, I can work pretty efficiently at home; in some instances more efficiently! I am also already pretty well stocked-up with supplies, due to being a bit of a prepper by nature.  At least the lockdown Boris announced tonight might stop some of the panic buying going on; bit worried I’m going to run out of essentials like wine, and sausages. In seriousness I wonder what counts as ‘essentials’? To some people it appears to be toilet roll, which seems slightly ridiculous given you’re at home and there are alternatives, such as having a wash. I believe the Romans used to use a communal sponge on a stick, soaked in vinegar…nice…not sure I have a sponge actually.

So I’ve got tinned food, some flour, some stuff in the freezer, salad growing in the garden, other seedlings sprouting, plenty of other bits and bobs to graze on. I’ve also got a warm and comfortable house, the internet, a TV, my guitar, spoons to whittle, loads of books to read, study to do, and a garden to rejuvenate. In some ways this is a bit of a relief as it’ll give me a chance to catch up on some of the stuff I’ve not got close to doing recently. Who knows, I might lose some weight too, as long as I continue to get in one bike ride a day; although my touring bike saddle post broke the other day, so only got my Trek 1120 off-road tourer, with it’s fat tyres – will be fun though!

Compared with other parts of the world the majority of us are going to be pretty comfortable during this lockdown, as long as we’re sensible. COVID19 is a serious disease, no doubt, however other parts of the world have serious threats to lives going on all the time and they cope; war, diseases that can be far worse, famine, drought, climate change impacts such as super-storms and mass migration. Reckon we’ve got it pretty easy by comparison, although I know it’s going to be comparatively hard for many, and there will be a lot of grief doing the rounds. COVID19 is a bit of a leveller really; it doesn’t care about privilege, status, how much money you have (although of course those with more money are more likely to survive), colour or creed. I’m also hopeful that some of the changes we are seeing start to happen, such as less unnecessary travel, working from home, more home grown produce, and communities really working together, become the norm. The world could certainly be a better place for it; air quality is already improving everywhere, although I’m a bit worried we’re going to see temperatures spike due to a reduction in global dimming.

I’ll attempt to keep this blog going with regular updates and reflections, and I’ll post up some of the stuff I’ve been doing on my bushcraft course over the last few months. It’s been amazing so far, learning more about trees and plants, natural medicine, tree-felling, fire starting, track and sign, crafting, shelter building, outdoor food and water, deer management and butchery. Lots that might be useful over the coming months perhaps!

I’m also pondering setting up a YouTube channel to do a bit of VLOG’ing, but not sure about that yet. I could record me playing my guitar a bit I guess, might be fun, or might make your ears bleed. Or produce a few short lectures on stuff I’ve learnt. I’ll ponder some more.

To end today here are some photos from a couple of walks in the outdoors from the weekend. Nature continues its rebirth as Spring gathers momentum, carrying on regardless.

The above were all down by Salhouse Broad, which is a 25 minute walk from my house. I hope to continue to get down there for a bit of regular exercise, whilst observing social distancing rules. It’s one of my favourite places locally and a brilliant place to sit quietly and reflect, immersed in nature; an angry wren was telling me off on Saturday though (small bird angry syndome). Some more pics from there below; I’m experimenting with different ways of displaying them.

I think Otters use this as a feeding spot – fresh water mussel shells
Badger hair caught on barbed wire?
Salhouse Broad – view from top of hill
Horsetail plant
I think this is Hogweed, but could be wrong

On Sunday I nipped the woods to help with some coppicing work, it being the last chance we’ll get this year as all the trees are starting to leaf now, and birds will be nesting soon. The coppicing is helping with some re-wilding work in West Norfolk. I hope to get back there later this year to see what plants have germinated from the previously shaded dormant seed banks, and to see what other wildlife may have moved in.

Tranquil woods
Turkey Tail fungus – probably
Coppicing done – habitat piles made

Finally, my tomato seedlings are coming on well. As usual I’m probably going to end up with far too many tomatoes, but that won’t be a bad thing I reckon; will feed them to the neighbours!

Tomato plants growing fast now

Tomato plants growing fast now

Take care everyone. And please send wine if you have spare 🙂 (essentials only)