HAVE YOUR SAY ON RURAL ISSUES
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LETTER OF THE MONTH
NATURAL JOY
For my 65th birthday, my wife bought me a very good DSLR, which I started to use regularly on our daily walks in the area. A few months later, my wife’s health deteriorated badly and, in December 2019, she was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour and passed away seven weeks later. Her funeral was just before Covid lockdowns. As you can imagine, family, friends and I were devastated by this and it was made worse by the lockdowns and isolation we had to deal with just when we needed family and friends for support.
When the lockdowns were eased, I was able to go out walking locally on ‘our’ walks on fields adjacent to our estate and started to take my camera with me. It seemed very apt, under the circumstances, to walk these paths with the camera that my wife had bought me.
I started to post my photos on a local Facebook page and was pleased and encouraged to carry on with this, due to the lovely comments received, especially from the older residents who were not able to get out themselves.
More camera equipment was purchased, the Countryfile Calendar Competition entered, RSPB joined, along with Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, where, due to my photos, I was asked to feature in ‘My Wild Life’ and my videos featured in their social posts.
The point of this letter is that without the outdoors, nature and photography, and meeting like-minded people, I don’t think that I would have survived beyond the six months after my wife’s passing due to being very depressed and isolated.
So I would encourage anyone and everyone to get out there as much as possible, just walking and watching, with binoculars, cameras or just your eyes, as it has certainly helped me cope with life these last two years.
Editor Fergus Collins replies:
Thank you for this very moving letter and the wonderful photo you sent with it. I hope this provides inspiration for other readers facing similar challenging circumstances.
THE PRIZE:
This month’s star letter wins a Petromax Cooler Bag, worth £119.95. Its effective insulation and great new design keeps provisions cool for up to six days when exploring outdoors, freeing you from electricity. With a compact size, padded strap and carry handles – as well as pockets and a bottle opener – this cooler bag can be taken anywhere. whitbyandco.co.uk
RIVER ACCESS
I read with interest the excellent letter by Cliff Harrison (August issue). I feel Cliff’s pain – we are of that same generation and I have watched access to lakes and rivers become more fraught.
I write primarily from the point of view of an angler. In earlier times, fishing on many rivers and lakes was available to the casual visitor either for the price of a cheap day ticket or, if you were lucky, free. However, in recent years, the accessibility of rivers and lakes for casual angling has dwindled massively: in some places access is no longer possible at all and, in others, is reserved for members of expensive syndicates, with no day permits available. Beyond angling, many footpaths are informally closed by rendering access difficult in the hope that the path will become overgrown and abandoned. Added to this, safe parking is restricted and public transport barely fit for purpose. Nowadays, the countryside seems an increasingly difficult place to be.
However, I have sympathies with these alleged “mean selfish old men”. Many landowners and lessees have found in recent years that allowing open and inclusive access results in serious damage to the waterside – fly tipping, littering, defecating, fires, unauthorised camping, drug taking, abusive behaviour, poaching – need I go on? So keeping rivers and lakes behind gates decked with unfriendly signs is seen by many as the only way to keep things safe and unspoilt. Many landowners will only lease fishing to clubs on the condition that they gate and lock access and allow members only.
The problem stems from declining standards of behaviour in society generally. While there have always been a minority of people who have engaged in antisocial activities, this minority is becoming much larger and at times seems difficult to escape from, unfortunately especially in public open spaces. There is just an absence of that simple quality: RESPECT.
WASHED OVER
I looked forward to reading your feature on top seven shipwrecks to visit. But I was disappointed to see that our local shipwreck had no mention. We have the wreck of the Amsterdam, off Bulverhythe. The local shipwreck museum holds talks at the site when it is low tide, where you can see the timbers. Also, off Pett beach, we have the Anne wreck. However, there are so many shipwrecks around our coast that you can’t feature them all.
Editor Fergus Collins replies:
You’re right, there are many shipwrecks with interesting stories and we could only feature a few. However, here’s a picture of your local shipwreck (left) so other readers can see what they have missed.
REFUGEE INSIGHT
Countryfile’s New Forest episode featuring refugees from Ukraine (10 July) brought home vividly the fear and uncertainty faced by refugees the world over. I was gladdened by how many were so determined to make a new life for themselves in a new country. I felt the heartbreak of families who had menfolk who had stayed at home to fight. I felt for the farmer who had cereal crops he couldn’t get out of the country to sell and of the impact this will have on us and the world’s poorest countries. His stories of farmers being tortured and murdered by Russians were distressing. This was the most informative and impactful episode I’ve ever seen on Countryfile.