Last year this site was totally covered in orchids. A walk round on a warm sunny day and we always found grayling butterflies and was a well known site for great-crested newts. The newts carrying protection at the highest level. This year the site is being developed.....more habitat destruction. Will it never end....will people not be happy until we have nothing of the natural world left. It's certainly heading that way and quickly.
Nothing surprises me though. I worked in the Environment Team for 20 years. In the good old days we were a team of 'Eco Warriors' but afraid those days are long gone. I often used to hear the words 'they can go somewhere else' from a work colleague when an area was up for development and I used to say 'there's owls in there'. 'They will have to go somewhere else' was the stock answer. Wonder where the newts have gone?.....that would be a question worth asking. Nothing stands a chance with that attitude. I worked with many stars over the years....a tree officer whose classic reply was 'the only safe tree was a tree that was on the ground'. No hollow or dead tree was allowed to remain - regardless of what was in it (Health and Safety). A building conservation officer that knew nothing whatsoever about bats and their roosts. Another colleague (who is now a volunteer at Alkborough Flats) used to mock and laugh at the public when they complained about habitat destruction stating that wildlife corridors were not necessary and over-rated. This person has for the last 3 years totally destroyed the habitat of breeding cettis warblers, and calls himself a conservation volunteer.
What chance does wildlife stand ? I could write a book.
Acres and acres of habitat destruction
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