In a new series, Stuart Benn, our Conservation Manager for the Highlands, shares what inspires him about nature and our plans to protect it.
R&B
What makes us change?
I’ve been a birdwatcher all my life but never gave rooks a second thought. Then I read Mark Cocker’s Crow Country and I’ll never look at or think about them in the same way again. I love watching their ragged winter flights to roost staying out until it’s too dark to see. But, I’ve also started counting the six rookeries local to our house for no other reason than I want to and enjoy it though, no doubt, somebody in the future will find the information useful. In North Scotland, now is the perfect time to count – no leaves yet on the big beeches that they favour but the rookeries are in full flow.
One of these rookeries sits right next to a garden centre so gives a good opportunity to combine trips. I know absolutely nothing about garden plants but I do know that I want flowers that are good for bees and butterflies. Trouble was, how would I know what to buy? Step forward Sarah Raven who’d thought about the problem too but did something about it. I’d watched the programme so knew to look for the Bee Friendly or Perfect for Pollinators logos and, right enough, there they were - each little pot with its own idiot-proof symbol (or not). No delving through books or the internet, no asking the staff in the hope that they might know, just having the information available in the quickest, easiest way possible.
Two ‘Butterfly Blue Beauty’ Scabious, a ‘Heavenly Blue’ Lithodora and a Ceanothus later we were back home and preparing the ground. It’s still too cold for insects to be out here in any numbers so it could be a wee while before we see what the flowers attract but I’m sure they will prove popular and make a bee or butterfly’s life that little bit easier. In the meantime, the robin certainly appreciated our efforts!
In future blogs I’ll talk about the ambitious plans that the RSPB and others have for large scale changes in the countryside to reverse the massive declines of wildlife that have taken place. But, for now, let’s celebrate the little but important changes that we can all make - go on!