The sun was forcing its warmth through the Autumn air as I strolled down the rocky path to the beach. I past a man in a blue coat, and greeted him cheerily. He growled a response and glared at me for apparently disturbing him. My afternoon day dream collapsed around me as I once again remembered where I was. I am back on the mainland, and this isn't a place where you have a good chat with everyone you meet, this isn't a place of shared experiences, of community. It is all too often a place of individuals and suspicious looks. But in my head I was still on Skomer and still in the mindset of saying hello to everyone, and ready to answer questions and chat about wildlife and island life.
I don't mind admitting I was really nervous about moving out to Skomer. It was understandable given the remoteness, lack of beach and waves, wondering if I'd be able to grow a relationship I'd just started. But what really surprised me was how anxious I felt about leaving the island. The stress of uncertainty about leaving dates and times due to the weather was something I'd grown accustomed to during my months on Skomer, but there was something else gnawing away at me. I was scared I'd become institutionalised.
I'd spent six months in less than a five square mile area with no cars, no shops, no cash machines, no adverts, and not many people. As the engines flared on the RIB taking me off the island, and seals splashed under water I realised I was nervous of "normal" world feeling alien. It hadn't taken long to adjust to Skomer, in part because we were all busy with work. But it felt like it might take more time to re-adjust to the mainland and to its concepts. On Skomer you do things yourself, you realise that the island could become a pressure cooker unless you respect and assist you fellow island residents, and you always take a minute to enjoy the view and breathe the fresh air.
On the mainland life is rushed by the trappings of modernity. Instant information and instant service has fuelled the growth of a society of individuals. People are in it for themselves. This realisation took me a while to get used to, and is in complete contrast to the necessary community spirit that developed on the island. I think I have adjusted to deal with the mainland again, but I fear I do not enjoy interacting with many of the people who inhabit it. Perhaps island life has in some way radicalised me. I do not yearn, as some environmentalists and communitarians do, for a less technological, more agrarian society. Technology has and will be part of the progress of society, but I fear its course is currently guided not by communal and social goals, but by capitalist need for individual profit.
Perhaps we should run a course on Skomer for app designers, Apple executives and the Tory cabinet...
Wednesday 22 October 2014
Monday 13 October 2014
Brussels, Borders and Birds
The turnout for the last European elections was low in the UK. This was entirely predictable, as we are fed a diet by the British media that depicts the EU as an unaccountable, centralising, bureaucratic monster that serves Germany and France. The election ended in a backlash against the EU, with UKIP sending their first MEPs to Brussels, resulting in the Conservatives scrambling to appeal to voters by promising to claw back powers from the European monster. "George slaying the dragon" and all the rhetoric of the anti-EU lobby has acted like a dark fog, obscuring the sensible debate on why we're all better off as part of a reformed European Union.
All this anti-EU debate clearly effected the new EU President Juncker. His appointment of new Commissioners seemed to be guided by appeasement of countries that had been the most noisey in their nationalist clamour. But he lost his mind at some point and appointed Karmenu Vella, from Malta, as EU Commissioner for the Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. Malta is the site of a yearly massacre of migratory birds by so called "hunters". Birdlife Malta and many other NGOs have been lobbying the EU to take legal action against the Maltese government for allowing this hunting to continue despite it flouting EU conservation laws. I'm going to hazard a guess that a Maltese minister probably won't take action against his own government and country....Did you vote in the EU elections? No, then some of the blame for the insane appointment of Vella, is yours. It's mine too, I didn't register for postal voting this time around. It won't happen again.
So what on earth has this got to do with Skomer Island? I'll make a couple of presumptions off the bat about you, dear reader. Firstly I am going to presume that because you are reading this blog you care about the wildlife of our island. Secondly, and related, is that you'd probably claim to care about the "environment" as a whole; landscapes, habitats, forests, wetlands, natural resources. If those presumptions are correct, then I think you should read on and let me explain why I think you should be staunchy pro-European in your political choices, because it is only through collaboration at European Union level and above that we can really protect and conserve all wildlife, from you back garden birds to the birds of Skomer.
Skomer Island may be a small island, a geological needle in the global haystack, but it is internationally important for its breeding seabirds. It's an important piece in the puzzle of European bird life. This puzzle is made up of many islands, headlands, wetlands, forests, heaths and mountains that line the migratory routes of birds. Starting with Malta and Sicilly, our migrant birds follow ancient routes (routes that are also used by other desperate migrants, compelled to travel north by any means in the hope of finding a more fruitful land - but that's another blog). These routes cross many national borders; a swallow could pass through six or more countries on its way to summer in northern Wales. Our guillemots could spend time fishing in the national waters of the UK, Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal in one year. And of course our Manx Shearwaters cross international borders, international time zones, and even the equator on their way too and from the River Plate estuary. But it's not just these Skomer specialists to consider. Garden birds also migrate into France and beyond in winter. September saw a large passage of robins on Skomer, some of which will winter in southern England, some of which will head into France.
Given the ignorance and contempt for human boundaries from wildlife of all types, one must question whether action on a national level to conserve a species in decline can have any positive response, when it could be factors in another country that are causing the problems? The answer is not much. Recent history quickly taught environmentalists that international cooperation is a crucial factor. The fallout from Chernobyl affected Welsh sheep farmers, Norwegian forests are affected by British sulphur dioxide emissions, CFC's from all over the globe depleted the ozone layer above the Antarctic. In this latter case, global cooperation and collaboration has worked to eliminate the cause of the problem, if not alleviate its effects. The examples listed are all to do with pollution, but the point is transferable to wildlife - local action is not enough. Conservation strategies need to consider species as whole, and to consider their entire life history, including migration routes, wintering grounds and breeding sites. This cannot be achieved alone.
Since its inception, the European Union has fulfilled it's number one goal - preventing conflict in Europe through economic and social integration. It's remit has evolved, of course, and has included environmental legislation. Politicians and environmentalists from all over Europe quickly realised the potential in the EU to provide an international approach and legislative framework to conservation that could deal with cross-border species and habitats.It has given us Special Areas of Conservation, Specially Protected Areas, the Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds, the Habitats Directive and more. In addition to legal protection, conservation NGOs and local government has benefited from huge amounts of EU funding, especially in Wales.
Yet British politicians want to turn their back on all this progress and go-it alone. If David Cameron is suggesting opting out for the European Convention on Human Rights to cut "red tape" for businesses and re-patriate sovereignty, then what might they do to environmental laws? So my argument is this - if you really care about protecting British wildlife, then it's time to look at the bigger picture and see what we can achieve if we act together. Staying in the EU and deciding on its reform is the most constructive path we can choose. Participating in EU elections will help stop countries like Malta getting away with the senseless destruction of migrating birds, and will make sure that the EU is more responsive to its citizens and the needs of its environments and wildlife.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/27/birds-slaughter-malta-karmenu-vella-europe-environment-commissioner
These opinions are personal and not the views of the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales
All this anti-EU debate clearly effected the new EU President Juncker. His appointment of new Commissioners seemed to be guided by appeasement of countries that had been the most noisey in their nationalist clamour. But he lost his mind at some point and appointed Karmenu Vella, from Malta, as EU Commissioner for the Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. Malta is the site of a yearly massacre of migratory birds by so called "hunters". Birdlife Malta and many other NGOs have been lobbying the EU to take legal action against the Maltese government for allowing this hunting to continue despite it flouting EU conservation laws. I'm going to hazard a guess that a Maltese minister probably won't take action against his own government and country....Did you vote in the EU elections? No, then some of the blame for the insane appointment of Vella, is yours. It's mine too, I didn't register for postal voting this time around. It won't happen again.
So what on earth has this got to do with Skomer Island? I'll make a couple of presumptions off the bat about you, dear reader. Firstly I am going to presume that because you are reading this blog you care about the wildlife of our island. Secondly, and related, is that you'd probably claim to care about the "environment" as a whole; landscapes, habitats, forests, wetlands, natural resources. If those presumptions are correct, then I think you should read on and let me explain why I think you should be staunchy pro-European in your political choices, because it is only through collaboration at European Union level and above that we can really protect and conserve all wildlife, from you back garden birds to the birds of Skomer.
Skomer Island may be a small island, a geological needle in the global haystack, but it is internationally important for its breeding seabirds. It's an important piece in the puzzle of European bird life. This puzzle is made up of many islands, headlands, wetlands, forests, heaths and mountains that line the migratory routes of birds. Starting with Malta and Sicilly, our migrant birds follow ancient routes (routes that are also used by other desperate migrants, compelled to travel north by any means in the hope of finding a more fruitful land - but that's another blog). These routes cross many national borders; a swallow could pass through six or more countries on its way to summer in northern Wales. Our guillemots could spend time fishing in the national waters of the UK, Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal in one year. And of course our Manx Shearwaters cross international borders, international time zones, and even the equator on their way too and from the River Plate estuary. But it's not just these Skomer specialists to consider. Garden birds also migrate into France and beyond in winter. September saw a large passage of robins on Skomer, some of which will winter in southern England, some of which will head into France.
Given the ignorance and contempt for human boundaries from wildlife of all types, one must question whether action on a national level to conserve a species in decline can have any positive response, when it could be factors in another country that are causing the problems? The answer is not much. Recent history quickly taught environmentalists that international cooperation is a crucial factor. The fallout from Chernobyl affected Welsh sheep farmers, Norwegian forests are affected by British sulphur dioxide emissions, CFC's from all over the globe depleted the ozone layer above the Antarctic. In this latter case, global cooperation and collaboration has worked to eliminate the cause of the problem, if not alleviate its effects. The examples listed are all to do with pollution, but the point is transferable to wildlife - local action is not enough. Conservation strategies need to consider species as whole, and to consider their entire life history, including migration routes, wintering grounds and breeding sites. This cannot be achieved alone.
Since its inception, the European Union has fulfilled it's number one goal - preventing conflict in Europe through economic and social integration. It's remit has evolved, of course, and has included environmental legislation. Politicians and environmentalists from all over Europe quickly realised the potential in the EU to provide an international approach and legislative framework to conservation that could deal with cross-border species and habitats.It has given us Special Areas of Conservation, Specially Protected Areas, the Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds, the Habitats Directive and more. In addition to legal protection, conservation NGOs and local government has benefited from huge amounts of EU funding, especially in Wales.
Yet British politicians want to turn their back on all this progress and go-it alone. If David Cameron is suggesting opting out for the European Convention on Human Rights to cut "red tape" for businesses and re-patriate sovereignty, then what might they do to environmental laws? So my argument is this - if you really care about protecting British wildlife, then it's time to look at the bigger picture and see what we can achieve if we act together. Staying in the EU and deciding on its reform is the most constructive path we can choose. Participating in EU elections will help stop countries like Malta getting away with the senseless destruction of migrating birds, and will make sure that the EU is more responsive to its citizens and the needs of its environments and wildlife.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/27/birds-slaughter-malta-karmenu-vella-europe-environment-commissioner
These opinions are personal and not the views of the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales
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