View From The Shed by Volunteer Shaun - IT WAS DEFINITELY NOT ALL FIELDS ROUND HERE

IT WAS DEFINITELY NOT ALL FIELDS ‘ROUND HERE

Nature reserves tend to fall into two distinct categories. Firstly there are the ones that are all about preservation - they try to maintain the natural health of a particular landscape and habitat that has been in place since time immemorial and, without which, certain species might not survive. A few examples that immediately spring to mind are ancient woodland, salt marshes, certain coastal conditions, reedbeds, that sort of thing. These kinds of environments are being lost at an alarming rate along with the creatures that call them home. Losing one of these habitats equals extinction for them, it’s that simple, so you see why it’s important that we preserve these places.

And then there’s the second type of nature reserves, those that are more based around the delicate arts and sciences of reclamation. These were once clean, healthy parcels of land with thriving natural wildlife networks, but then along came mankind’s Industrial Revolution and, from a natural world point of view, things went to pot. I’m simplifying dreadfully here not least of all because social history never was my strong point at school but bear with me, I’ll get to the point soon, I promise.

So the coming of heavy industry utterly destroyed many of the habitats that lots of creatures needed to exist. They had no home, so their numbers plummeted. But things tend to be cyclical. In some cases that industry was deemed no longer cost-effective or necessary and man, the only creature that even knows what an economic bottom line is, closed some of those industries down. The land may have been turned temporarily into a natural deadzone wilderness, but once that kind of work ceases, nature will always quickly attempt to reclaim the land - and organisations like the RSPB are more than willing to give Mother Nature a helping hand.

Our  own Dearne Valley sites fall into this group. At one time the industry was so dense here that the River Dearne was declared biologically dead and our beautiful valley had earned the unwanted reputation as “the most polluted area in Europe”. Mining has been going on in the area since the Romans were here. Even I’m not that old, but back when I worra lad it were all pits round here with the odd farm thrown in to brighten things up a bit. Generally there was very little green to be seen. Beside the coal mines there was the biggest rail marshalling yard in the country. It wasn’t pretty, and those aren’t the only non-natural ways in which our land has been misused over the last century or so. At various times in our history we’ve been home to anti-aircraft barrage balloons, a prisoner of war camp, an airstrip and, of course, many pits of varying depths. King Coal was very much the ruler of our little bit of England.

Manvers Main

But that was then. As has been well documented, we’ve cleaned up our act massively until now we’ve been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a high accolade worth celebrating. There are now otters in the valley too, a sure sign of a clean water system, and of course it’s home to the RSPB Old Moor reserve where bird spotters spot birds and playing children play at being children with not a single thought given to the fact that this was once a desolate wasteland. But perhaps such thoughts should be given. After all, shouldn’t we celebrate our clean-up act and learn our history well so that we can pass on those lessons to our future generations?

Last year we held a series of events to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the RSPB’s management of the site. They went well. So well in fact that we’ve decided to do it all again this year.

Alvin Hickling, our wonderful historian, has unearthed even more stories and history over the last twelve months so we’ve included those in our new Heritage Exhibition. In addition to the display from last year we have added:

• Some short video clips showing what life here was like in the mid-twentieth century;
• A detailed map from 1776 when the Marquis of Rockingham purchased Old Moor from Colonel Anthony St. Leger (who incidentally used to train some of his racehorses in the area. Yes, he was that St. Leger);
• A collection of fascinating diaries from people who lived on the Old Moor farmland in the early 1800’s;
• A ceremonial sword from the West Yorkshire Yeoman Cavalry who’s “best swordsman of  1877” lived on the land;
• A display of mining artefacts relating to the Dearne Valley, relevant due to its association with this year being the 40th anniversary of The Miners’ Strike (these kindly loaned by the Maurice Dobson Museum at Darfield).

Those who see me at Old Moor’s Welcome Shed and ask what birds can be seen on the reserve on any given day will know that I never, ever, guarantee any sightings. I’m not stupid and I know that if I do promise something then the birds will go out of their way to hide and make a fool of me.

But just for once I’m going to break my rule. Our Heritage Exhibition will run in the classroom in Old Moor’s courtyard from 27th March to 7th April. Please come and have a look if you can, especially if you’re a local. I absolutely, 100%, totally guarantee that you’ll learn something new about the area. 

And you know I never guarantee anything.

This weeks sightings