Out and About - Winter 2021

Out & About environment

major issue that is affecting our local streams, as well as coastal waters and larger rivers. Shortages of treatment chemicals and the greed of shareholders have led to the government permitting water companies to discharge raw sewage into our rivers. I haven’t the space or inclination to go deeper into this topic and I have no wish to become a political person, but I urge you all to investigate further and to protest via the many petitions that are being circulated. Raw sewage is the death knell for many tiny and invisible species. These are the ones that drive the food chain. On a motionless autumn morning of fog and silence, when even my dog Ella was still, I hadn’t the heart to break the spell by starting the chainsaw. My own personal and noiseless world was damp and chill, but too close and intimate to feel entirely real. The air was animated by life and by movement as if by a fleeting thought. I saw nothing, heard nothing and knew that I was no longer alone – 20 seconds, 20 minutes or half a working day may have passed but I didn’t move. The sun finally revealed my companion. A Great White Egret hunted in front of me for 10 minutes. I could have poked him with a yard brush. Lucky me. Seeing wildlife up close and personal

generally takes real skill. Capturing it on film is a whole new world of skills. My tips for seeing wildlife are simple. Go to interesting places at quiet times. Hang out by the water’s edge at first light. Be still and be drab. Don’t buy expensive camouflage, just look at where you need to hide and blend in. Hide your face. The human face and The autumn sun finally revealed my companion. A Great White Egret hunted in front of me, all unaware, for 10 minutes body shape scare wild things. Still, patient and drab. Everybody who ever sat O Levels is thinking of their English teacher. I am finishing off this piece at the end of October. The trees are about to shed, but they are still green. I am still losing pints of blood to midges. There are no acorns this year and the menace squirrels are hoarding conkers. There is precious little fruit for the winter thrushes (fieldfare and redwing) because of our funny, freaky spring.

This isn’t a message of doom. It is as chance to see how nature works. Go and stand in a hedge, remember my words about stillness and begin to truly see wildlife. n Eater of ducks, cats, dogs and small children, the pike is possibly the most vilified British animal alive today. Before the return of the otter, she may have been the Kennet’s apex predator. In modern parlance, she was part of a suite of apex predators. The heron, the cormorant, man and mink all took their toll, but nothing is as rock steady as a mature female pike. She may be four foot long, carry more than a million eggs and be capable of swallowing a coot. Keepers used to destroy her on sight. I treasure her and a few lucky rods get to fly fish for her on Barton Court waters. The skills, equipment and flies are outlandish and the fish are more fickle than a teenage daughter. It is a perfect combination for fly fisherman. We almost despise our own successes. If we catch a fish that meets our criteria, we haven’t set the goal posts high enough.

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O&A WINTER 2021