Rural Britain is devoid of colour as traditional hay meadows vanish.
A new report claims 97% of rural Britain's fields of buttercups, sorrel and clover with a variety of grasses have gone... and you know, I'm in full agreement.
Consumer demand and mechanisation of farming gave us the ability to intensify and purify the crops we could get from our green and pleasant pastures. That has helped make the good ship Britannia more self sufficient for food. Hurrah! The downside is the rise of mono-cultures and the loss of hedgerows. Many farmers work damned hard to maintain the wildlife they get on their land, but they're not exactly encouraged. By the way, did you know, there are some 500 farms in Greater London? Some are very small, but they are just about surviving.
I grew up in the countryside and the fields were riots of colourful flowers, alive with butterflies, bees and birds. These days that countryside is instead a quiet patchwork of single colours - yellow for rapeseed, green for silage, purple for lavender and so on. Now, I live in east London and most of the children in the schools I visit have never seen the sort of countryside I took for granted. They don't know what's been lost, so how can we expect them to campaign for it? It's as relevant to their lives as the Sisters of Mercy are to the Catholic Church.
The strange thing is, that just as I migrated to the city, so have hay meadows. There are several parks, gardens and green spaces that remind of the rolling hills of Herefordshire, which from a distance looked like someone had thrown down a collection of Pollock pictures; green backgrounds studded with splashes of colour. Some have been planted up by us (The RSPB), some by local councils and some by enterprising individuals who've reclaimed wasteland for wildlife and people.
Is it any surprise then that you find 700 or so species in a single urban park? Just think about it. Lots of nectar, lots of seed, lots of places in which bugs and beasties can work, rest and play as a well worn chocolate bar catchline has it. With all that carbohydrate (seed) and protein (bugs and beasties), you're sure to get other critters moving in next door to enjoy the bounty.
Sorry, I have chocolate on the brain this week. We're launching [July 20] a LOVE NATURE Chocolate bar produced in a wildlife and rainforest friendly way via fairtrade producers. Any more right on than this and you'd turn into Thom Yorke. Stay tuned for more on the chocolate!
London's gardens, parks and scruffy bits are never going to replace what's been lost from the big open spaces beyond the M25, but it creates sanctuaries for some of the wildlife that we could otherwise lose. Cast your wild seed on the ground, sit back with a Love Nature bar and cast off any guilt.