It's been a while since I've contributed a personal take on any or all things natural at HESC.....
Today's offering is slightly off-topic, but at the same time wholly pertinent.
Most of you reading this will be as interested as I am to learn about conservation projects both nearby and throughout the UK.
Anyone who has travelled through crop-growing areas in Britain must have noticed the oddly sterile feel of a landscape in which there is much growing. Yes, there are verdant fields of wheat and barley, the green turning to gold as the year progresses. There are swathes of yellow early on, from rapeseed. Look closely, however, and you realise what's giving you that feeling of unease - it's because of what's not there, and how the ground between crop plants is mostly devoid of any weed, or inconvenient shrub, to break the monotony of form and colour.
And if you've had time to stop, look and listen, you might also notice the lack of birds, and a very precious sound - birdsong.
Nicholas Watts is a man who noticed. Awarded the MBE in 2006, and the Lapwing award (for a second time) in 2011, he farms on Vine House Farm in Spalding, Lincolnshire.
In 2013 he was awarded the RSPB 'Nature of Farming Award'. Just before that, here in Milton Keynes, I heard him talk about his farming life, his growing realisation that birds were no longer abundant on the lands he worked and walked, and about his efforts to bring them back to farmland on which his family has farmed for generations.
He is a very engaging speaker, passionate about farming, and passionate about birds and nature. His talks are illustrated with fascinating photographs both of the birds on his land, his collected data, and the old and new farm machinery which his family has used over the last 100 years or so.
His aim is to educate and inform everyone about how things can be done differently......
I'm delighted that he's agreed to return to MK to talk to us at here at The Hanson Centre on Wednesday, 12th March. Come along and support him - and us, in our efforts to ensure that HESC and the Reserve are conserved and kept appropriately for the birds, plants and all other things bright and beautiful, including yourselves....!
Doors will be open from 7pm.
Entry is £3.00 for permit holders and under 18s, and £4.00 for non-members/guests.
Refreshments, books, bird food will be available to buy, and the usual warm welcome guaranteed!
As many of you know, seating is limited in the Centre.
If you'd like to reserve a seat:
tel or text 07801 735860, or email michelewelborn@homecall.co.uk
(For more information about Nicholas Watts and his farm, visit www.vinehousefarm.co.uk)
