I have read poems from The Thermobaric Playground to the local branch of the Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) on two occasions. The book, published in 2022, opens with a section on my North Devon habitat. There is another section on birds.
The renowned botanist and DWT organiser Mary Breeds asked me to join her in setting up Wild Pages, a group interested in reading books about nature / wildlife. We meet monthly at the Braunton Countryside Centre. I always enjoy it.
Ten or so of us share highlights from a book we have chosen. My latest choice was How to Read Water (2016). I’m most attracted by the chapters on ponds, rivers, streams and even puddles. I love the discussion of the eddies seen in streams and rivers, each one a pattern created by underwater and onland configurationss and totally unique.
When I count wading birds on the River Taw each month, I pause at the end of my beat to gaze at the intricate whorls and eddies, including currents that flow back against the downstream movement of the river, and unexpected passages of mirror flat water. Mary lent me a book for next time – The River’s Voices, an anthology of poetry edited by Angela King and Susan Clifford for Common Ground (2000).
As a member of North Devon Council’s Climate Action Team, I was keen to attend a webinar run by Climate Emergency on Waste Reduction and Food. I was particularly interested in a presentation by the Waste and Recycling Manager of the Vale of Glamorgan.
Their recycling rate is one of the best in the UK at 70% – ours is around 47%. They achieved this by limiting households to three black bags of residual (ie non-recyclable) waste, collected on a three weekly basis. This dealt effectively with the problem of households putting stuff in black bags that should be recycled. Getting it right does take education through leaflets, social media and face to face chats.
Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation are burning topics across England – or should be. We are about to lose, over the next couple of years, the district council tier of local government.
Westminster thinks money will be saved – but there will certainly be a democratic deficit: less councillors representing communities. The admirable Chief Executive of our council, Ken Miles, wrote in his latest blog: ‘The current system of local government has been in place for 50 years and we know it is flawed so being part of the process that will hopefully design something better for the next 50 years is great.’
Well done on putting the best complexion on the changes, which must be very worrying for him and his high calibre staff. The Independents and Greens on our council are campaigning for a new grouping of the rural authorities in Devon, without the cities of Exeter and Plymouth.
We will be talking through options next Monday. The transition is going to be tough but HERE is a bright conversation to lift the mood: Carla Denyer MP, Greens co-leader, in conversation with Nick Robinson
As regards the Trump/Vance bullying of President Zelensky, let us remember that the US has twice – completely outrageously – sided with Russia in votes at the United Nations to mark the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, highlighting the Trump administration’s change of stance on the war and absolving Russia from blame.
So how dare Trump and Vance demand gratitude from Zelensky? POTUS and his Vice are in an amoral and foolish world of their own (abetted by Fox News, of course).
Saturday, 1 March, the first day of Spring, was sensational here. I photographed this newcomer on our summerhouse door:
Saturday morning was spent in St Anne’s Arts and Community Centre in Barnstaple with North Devon Poetry Stanza enjoying a fabulous workshop led by the poet Alyson Hallett. Using Yoko Ono’s biography from her Tate Modern retrospective, Alyson invited us to write our own.
The day’s sunshine gave way to crystal clear skies and a spectacular new moon. We held a Medieval Concert in St James Church in Swimbridge to celebrate the restoration of our Gothic pulpit.
A sell out audience of over 100 enjoyed music on medieval instruments by Steve Styler, left, and Marco Cannavò, plus a Medieval Feast. The delightful instruments really were time machines, taking us back six or eight centuries.
Thank you for reading.
Mark