Your right to write

Tags

birds, conservation, diclofenac, environment, nature, photography, politics

In recent weeks I’ve blogged about the madness of allowing veterinary Diclofenac in Europe, tax-payer subsidies for grouse moor owners and the enforced disappearance of the Hen Harrier and other birds of prey from our countryside. Positive responses to these came in from many sources: people liked, favourited, commented, followed, retweeted and shared. That’s great and thanks. These all show how many people care about nature and wildlife.

But do our politicians know this? Do they really have a sense of the number of people who care about nature – and the strength of their feelings? I wonder. When was the last time you personally expressed your desire to protect wildlife to your MEP or to your local politician? How many people wrote an email or a letter to their MEP showing their outrage over the licensing of Diclofenac? Yes, some of us will have signed e-petitions but does this really get under the skin of a politician? Does it counterbalance the number of friends and associates he or she may have who favour a more ‘gun-toting/kill them/cull them’ approach to the natural world?

The recent European elections put brand new politicians into the European Parliament. They are – hopefully – keen to represent the opinions of the nation. Our MPs, in whatever country we live, also, we hope, aim to stand up for the electorate’s views. But the question is this – where do they get their ideas of what these views are? Are they based on a general sense of what the people around them believe; their friends and other party politicians and the like? In what other ways are they forming their ideas about the electorate’s opinions?

Well, we know that e-petitions, like this one (which I hope you have already signed), must be responded to by politicians if 10 000 people sign them. It is a way of expressing your view and – if the magic number is reached – of at least forcing a response. That has to be a good thing, even if a large dose of fobbing off can be the result.

But is that it? Is that enough? Should we stop there? We all know that we probably shouldn’t but it always seems such a lot of effort to do more. The bottom line, so to speak, is this – can we really criticise our politicians for some of their decisions when we can’t even be arsed to write to them?

So, what stops us from telling our politicians what we think? Is it:

1.  Who to write to?
2.  What to say?
3.  The time it will take?

In turn: 1. Who to write to? For UK readers, type your postcode into the search at this website writetothem.com and select the recipient of your choice. You can choose your district councillor, county councillor, MP, any of the Lords and, once they take up their positions in early July, the MEPs representing your local area. It takes just seconds to do this! Alternatively find the email or postal addresses of the MEPs for your region at: www.europarl.org.uk.

2. What to say? The trick is to keep it simple. State the issue you feel strongly about and explain what you want your MEP etc. to do about it. Then ask for their opinion and, if you are asking about a forthcoming vote or report, request that they explain how they plan to vote and their reasons. That’s it. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.* Then give your full name and address. If they don’t think you’re a constituent of theirs, your message may be binned. This is not to say that other politicians can’t be contacted, even those in other countries where your concern may be.  For example, I have written and received replies from a range of politicians and organisations in Greece as part of conservation work there.

3. And finally the time issue. The biggie. How long does it take to fire off an email? How many emails, status posts, tweets etc. do you send out each week? Is one more message really too much? Ok, so some extra time may be required (more than posting a comment about Coronation Street on Facebook perhaps), but do you care enough to do it? The time issue really is more about motivation – the ‘can I really be arsed’ factor. Why not write just one letter as a start and see how long it really takes? And see how you feel having done it.

Do we care enough about the loss of diversity in our countryside?

Wildlife needs our help more than ever. Whether it’s an email to an MEP about killing vultures with diclofenac, to an MP about the rich and powerful using our uplands as a personal playground or perhaps to a local councillor about allowing wildflowers to grow on our roadside verges, it’s worth it.

So, well done for reaching the end of this post. I hope you’re challenged to write. If you do, please leave a comment and let me know. Someone once said ‘We get the politicians we deserve’. I’d like to think a few more of them will discover that there are lots of us out here who love and want to preserve the natural world. If you’re one of them then we simply have to do just a little more. Give it a go.

Do we care enough that these are poisoned?

Do we care enough that these will be legally trapped – endorsed by the EU?

Do we care enough that these are shot illegally?

Do we care enough about wildlife crime?

* It’s worth saying that it can be more effective if a specific politician is targeted at the right time, such as when specific organisations appeal for you to write to a particular person at a particular time. Your message may then have even more influence. But don’t let this stop you from writing to your own representative on your own about the issues you care about. Ultimately, the more you write to a politician the more you will be able to build a relationship with them. This is your right – so get writing!

And lastly, if you can recommend anything further about writing in this way please add your comments. The more we can learn how to use our influence the better.

A site for sore eyes

Tags

birds, conservation, environment, Greece, Lake Kerkini, nature, photography

It’s easy to get disheartened in this world we’ve made, where wild things are of so little importance to so many people, where they are shot for fun and their habitats are trashed in the name of ‘progress’. However, there are still places where people are working hard to preserve the wild things and their habitats. Lake Kerkini, in Northern Greece, is a case in point.

This place is simply a bird wonderland. Just an hour’s drive north of Thessaloniki, nothing can quite prepare you for sheer number of birds on and around the lake. It’s nearly 20 years since my first visit and each time is as magical as the first. And so it proved once again last week. I was there to discuss habitat improvement projects with the management staff on behalf of the conservation organisation, Birdwing (www.birdwing.eu) my wife and I run out here in Greece.

The lake, created by the damming of the Strimonas River in 1932, is used primarily as a reservoir for the irrigation of the fertile Serres plain to the south. Its depth changes by several metres during the course of the year as the winter rains are gradually fed out to the farmland below. The surface area increases from about 54 square kilometres in autumn to a brimming 72 square kilometres in June. This means that, for the visitor, the scene is always changing and, of course, the same is true for the birds.

As we walked towards the lake last week the air was full of the songs of nightingales, golden orioles, purring turtle doves, the harsh chatter of the great reed warbler, the mechanical olivaceous warbler, cuckoos and the explosive Cetti’s warbler. Bee-eaters were everywhere, burrowing furiously into the sandy embankments, arrowing into the air as we approached. All this is standard fare for Kerkini and is a banquet in itself, but the quality was turned up a notch by visitors from the east. On the Sunday of our visit there weren’t any, Monday saw a few but by Tuesday there were large flocks all around the lake. Rosy starlings were everywhere! It seemed that every mulberry tree was alive with their movement and chatter.

There is an area of trees to the north of the lake that, as the water level rises in spring, becomes a ‘drowned forest’ as it stands in over a metre of water. This provides a perfect nest site for thousands of water birds, including cormorants, herons and egrets.

A grey heron, wrestling with a very alive, very large snake, reluctantly took to the air as we reached the embankment. At this time of year, along the shore, there are lots of dead branches protruding from the water and almost every one had a heron of some sort on it, often a night heron or a gorgeous squacco.

In the wet meadows opposite, numerous little egrets, a single purple heron, a couple of great white egrets together with glossy ibises probed for food. There were spoonbills with their scything feeding action and several cattle egrets scampering between the plodding feet of the water buffaloes. A lone spur-winged plover waited hopefully for a partner.

Hundreds of great crested grebes were busy on family business, many with nests and some with their stripy young riding on their backs. In the distance black-necked grebes were busy arranging nests out of floating vegetation in amongst the whiskered terns. In the distance we could clearly see the three pelican platforms, each packed full of Dalmatian pelicans.

This bird, one of the largest in Europe, is globally endangered, with a world population estimated at fewer than 14 000. It has undergone massive global declines over the past couple of centuries, a result of wetland drainage, persecution and disturbance during the breeding season. Here at Kerkini, through conservation efforts, artificial nesting sites have allowed over 200 young to fledge this year alone.

Suddenly there was a movement of spawning fish in the shallows in front of us. Within seconds thousands of cormorants and pelicans were thrashing their way across the lake to join the feast. The lake surface was boiling with splashing, diving and gulping birds. Egrets gobbled up fish that had jumped out of the frying pan onto the shore. Within seconds there was quiet as the fish sank deeper. The birds sat, watchful, waiting, knowing that within minutes another shoal would be spotted and the thrashing, squawking and feasting would begin again.

A masked shrike leapt up from the track. A hoopoe flew over with its ‘butterfly’ flight. A lesser spotted eagle rose from a field of poppies. Penduline tits called their mournful ‘siuu’. A tortoise ambled past and a black kite scooped a fish from the lake surface.

 

Kerkini had once again worked its magic – on such a day it’s difficult to think of a better place to be.

 

 

If you’re interested in learning more about Kerkini and other wetlands of Greece, seeing more photos of the birds there and finding out ways you can help preserve and protect them, go to birdwing.eu

Let’s do what we can to keep these places special.