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Making headlines at T in the Park: the ospreys Making headlines at T in the Park: the ospreys
(2 days later)
Despite music festivals popping up in the most gorgeous locations, we haven’t much wondered what the osprey, for instance, make of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. Until now. For there’s trouble brewing over T in the Park, after Scotland’s biggest music festival chose scenic Strathallan Castle as its new home. The surrounding land happens to be home to a pair of osprey as well as ancient woodland full of bats and red squirrels, and riverside frequented by kingfishers and otters. This is the time when osprey return from overseas to their traditional nesting sites and at Strathallan they will find a cherry-picker adorned with flags, apparently to dissuade the rare birds from returning. (The festival has built a replacement nest further away.) A “potential” otter holt has also been bricked up and banks have been netted to stop kingfishers nesting. This last measure was actually suggested by RSPB Scotland, which at first didn’t object to the siting of the festival provided it took measures to protect wildlife. The RSPBis now accusing festival organisers of a “breach of trust” and now says the osprey tactics are “unethical and unacceptable”, though not illegal. The Woodland Trust is also objecting to the festival, which is selling tickets even though it hasn’t yet obtained planning permission. The badgers of Worthy Farm survive Glastonbury pretty well, but many woodland creatures are far more flighty, and the Woodland Trust says it’s not even known yet exactly which bat species roost at Strathallan. Whatever happens with T, ecologists need to study the impact of repetitive beats on rare wildlife by heroically spending time with both this summer. Despite music festivals popping up in the most gorgeous locations, we haven’t much wondered what the osprey, for instance, make of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. Until now. For there’s trouble brewing over T in the Park, after Scotland’s biggest music festival chose scenic Strathallan Castle as its new home. The surrounding land happens to be home to a pair of osprey as well as ancient woodland full of bats and red squirrels, and riverside frequented by kingfishers and otters. This is the time when osprey return from overseas to their traditional nesting sites and at Strathallan they will find a cherry-picker adorned with flags, apparently to dissuade the rare birds from returning. (The festival has built a replacement nest further away.) A “potential” otter holt has also been bricked up and banks have been netted to stop kingfishers nesting. This last measure was actually suggested by RSPB Scotland, which at first didn’t object to the siting of the festival provided it took measures to protect wildlife. The RSPBis now accusing festival organisers of a “breach of trust” and now says the osprey tactics are “unethical and unacceptable”, though not illegal. The Woodland Trust is also objecting to the festival, which is selling tickets even though it hasn’t yet obtained planning permission. The badgers of Worthy Farm survive Glastonbury pretty well, but many woodland creatures are far more flighty, and the Woodland Trust says it’s not even known yet exactly which bat species roost at Strathallan. Whatever happens with T, ecologists need to study the impact of repetitive beats on rare wildlife by heroically spending time with both this summer.
Birds of a different featherBirds of a different feather
Returning recently for a walk around the village where I grew up, I found the countryside transformed for the better. Rural Norfolk in the 1980s was the apotheosis of industrial agriculture. These days, otters are back by the stream, buzzards nest in the spinney, and badgers roam and barn owls fly over pasture that was once ploughed field. This transformation is owed to two things: EU environmental subsidies and the expansion of shooting, which has encouraged the planting of new hedgerows and copses. The RSPB’s conservation director Martin Harper incurred the wrath of many animal lovers this weekend for noting the good conservation work carried out by some farmers with shoots. It’s been misreported as the RSPB supporting shooting, which it doesn’t. Instead, the charity pragmatically backs the conservation efforts of some low-density pheasant shoots (the industrial scale of many is a big negative) which have helped revive rare birds including the grey partridge, cirl bunting and stone curlew. Perhaps the RSPB is being naive – conservation charities are routinely seen by their hen harrier-killing opponents as a soft touch –but ultimately the countryside benefits if conservationists and farmers can work together.Returning recently for a walk around the village where I grew up, I found the countryside transformed for the better. Rural Norfolk in the 1980s was the apotheosis of industrial agriculture. These days, otters are back by the stream, buzzards nest in the spinney, and badgers roam and barn owls fly over pasture that was once ploughed field. This transformation is owed to two things: EU environmental subsidies and the expansion of shooting, which has encouraged the planting of new hedgerows and copses. The RSPB’s conservation director Martin Harper incurred the wrath of many animal lovers this weekend for noting the good conservation work carried out by some farmers with shoots. It’s been misreported as the RSPB supporting shooting, which it doesn’t. Instead, the charity pragmatically backs the conservation efforts of some low-density pheasant shoots (the industrial scale of many is a big negative) which have helped revive rare birds including the grey partridge, cirl bunting and stone curlew. Perhaps the RSPB is being naive – conservation charities are routinely seen by their hen harrier-killing opponents as a soft touch –but ultimately the countryside benefits if conservationists and farmers can work together.
The feudal BroadsThe feudal Broads
Related: Kingfisher-spotting for free on the Broads | Letters
I went canoeing in Britain’s newest national park last week. The Norfolk and Suffolk Broads has been a de facto national park for 25 years, but this year belatedly changed its name to the Broads National Park. Apart from its unfortunate acronym (Enjoy the BNP!) this amazing watery kingdom has another problem. The government defines national parks as areas of “protected countryside that everyone can visit” but the Broads’s waterways are riddled with “private” and “keep out” notices and even gates across some dykes and lakes. While the stranglehold of privacy-obsessed landowners has been broken on the coast (thanks mainly to the National Trust, which owns 742 miles of it, and the construction of national coast paths in Wales and now England), there still seems little expectation of public access along riverbanks and lakes. Hopefully the burgeoning population of canoeists and kayakers can challenge this outdated aquatic feudalism.I went canoeing in Britain’s newest national park last week. The Norfolk and Suffolk Broads has been a de facto national park for 25 years, but this year belatedly changed its name to the Broads National Park. Apart from its unfortunate acronym (Enjoy the BNP!) this amazing watery kingdom has another problem. The government defines national parks as areas of “protected countryside that everyone can visit” but the Broads’s waterways are riddled with “private” and “keep out” notices and even gates across some dykes and lakes. While the stranglehold of privacy-obsessed landowners has been broken on the coast (thanks mainly to the National Trust, which owns 742 miles of it, and the construction of national coast paths in Wales and now England), there still seems little expectation of public access along riverbanks and lakes. Hopefully the burgeoning population of canoeists and kayakers can challenge this outdated aquatic feudalism.