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Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Sat Dec 19, 15 11:16 pm Post subject:

Ty Gwyn wrote:

Tavascarow wrote:

Ty Gwyn wrote:

Just goes to show what happens when grazing stock are excluded.

I haven't said they should be, you know I support conservation grazing.
The stock where excluded by the farming community because it made management easier, not from lack of demand.
& one of the main changes is farmers using different worming regimes.
Ivomectin leaves cowpats completely sterile & lifeless.
A lot of the Choughs food is found under cowpats.
Sympathetic farmers are worming their stock when they are off the cliffs so no residues remain when they return.

I never said you did,just pointing out the folly of the reduce the ruminants call by the global warming crowd.

I read the article in your link regarding the worming,
I would imagine the amount of salt blowing in on the wind on them slopes ,that worms would not be a big problem,
When is the grazing period on these slopes?

Using this to justify maintaining global livestock levels is no different to comparing the carbon footprint of a lettuce from Spain & saying all salad is bad for the planet. It doesn't work.
You, Rob & I know it's industrial farming, which happens to be the majority of the industry now, that causes the majority of the problems.
Reducing that will help fight against environmental degradation all over the world & help bring down GHG emissions as well.
As to worming I don't know what common practise is now. When I worked with my dad it was routine worming regardless.
We never sent samples for worm count.
How many do now?
Are farmers keeping their stocking rates & grazing rotations at a level that reduces the need to worm often? I know the answer to that one.
Is mixed grazing practiced so worm burden for one species gets cleared by another (as with horse & sheep)? not as much as in the past, due to specialisation.
All the livestock I saw at the weekend was equine. I know the National Trust use rare breed cattle on their land but don't know how long they turn them out for.

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Sat Dec 19, 15 11:40 pm Post subject:

GrahamH wrote:

Beautiful pictures Tavascarow.

The light levels have given a wonderful soft look.

Why on earth would you want to leave your piece of heaven?

Thank you for the compliment. I think my burgeoning skills with photoshop makes the difference. It was a pretty grey day.

Sometimes bearing witness to how little the majority care becomes a burden.
I live about a mile from where I was raised & have over two hundred years of family history here.
So much is changing for the worst around me, environmentally & economically, & the national political situation is getting to a level where I'm feeling people like me aren't wanted.
I've spent too long in one place & become to rooted for my own good.
Moving to somewhere where I haven't got those ties & can appreciate it without that burden of duty & attachment would be refreshing.
& the world is full of little bits of heaven. Who says we have to limit ourselves to one?
But seeing those birds above Cape Cornwall dragged me back.

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Sat Dec 19, 15 11:52 pm Post subject:

dpack wrote:

rare but rare can easily be mistaken for none

thinking of rare a spring visit to look at the cliffs from portheras (park at chy rose or walk in from pendeen) towards the boat house/pendeen lighthouse(from the beach ) might get you a good place to photo perigines.tis a bit dangeroos so be careful.

When I worked in the pyro industry we had a regular twice weekly gig at Landsend through the school holiday season. That was 1999 to about 2007. A pair of peregrines nested there on the cliffs & we would often see the young fledgling birds perched on rocks. Saw one in a full on stoop dive after pigeons on the cliffs by Lusty Glaze, again when I was working on a firework show. Passed less than thirty metres in front of me before dropping out of site below the cliff. Didn't see if it killed but the explosion of pigeons in all directions & seeing its speed & grace close hand was amazing.
My memory for everyday things is crap. But I will take moments of nature like that to my grave.

Thinking about it I know of a pair nesting in a disused quarry a couple of miles away. Must take a look next year.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15987

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 15 8:27 am Post subject:

Fantastic to get those pictures Tavascarow. Nice the choughs are back too. Not in the same league, but we have nightingales back in our woods after a long time because we are managing them again, again after a long time.

It is hard when you see a place changing for the worse because you have been there a long time, but I think if you care about things, even staying a few years in most places, that will happen. It would mean being a nomad for the rest of your life to not get roots and responsibilities anywhere.

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 15 10:07 am Post subject:

Mistress Rose wrote:

You say that but a nightingale in the woods here would be a very rare bird.
I would love to here their song.
The nearest we have that's common is the blackcap.

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 15 10:30 am Post subject:

Mistress Rose wrote:

It is hard when you see a place changing for the worse because you have been there a long time, but I think if you care about things, even staying a few years in most places, that will happen. It would mean being a nomad for the rest of your life to not get roots and responsibilities anywhere.

What's hard is not being able to motivate the people around me to appreciate & care for what's around them.
People move to the area for it's rural isolation & natural beauty & then disregard it completely.
They treat the likes of me as if I'm a rural bumpkin who knows nothing until they want something.
& the environment around us gets eroded until what was beautiful becomes worthless.
You own your woods. The fifty acres of woodland below me belongs to a couple of builders who just want to ride dirt bikes all over it & don't give a shit for any resident life.
In fact I suspect they would happily destroy as much as possible to make the land more valuable for development.
Getting the rest of my neighbours to realise this is an uphill struggle & I'm beginning to think it might be better to cut & run.
I have played in those woods since I was ten (45 years), The land my dad farmed a mile up the road is being developed as a housing estate.
Everything that I hold precious is being destroyed & it hurts me too.
Like I said earlier detachment would do me a lot of good at the moment.
But the Choughs have made me realise I have more options that North or South. I can go West as well (now I'm sounding like the petshop boys

) I need to do some more exploring & become a gypsy for a while.

GrahamH

Joined: 23 May 2015
Posts: 523

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 15 11:55 am Post subject:

Hi Tavascarow.

I think you may have that feeling of despair where ever in the world you now travel.
I holidayed in Shetland as a teenager for the walking, climbing, birdlife and isolation then returned twenty years later to the same area as part of the team building Europe's largest oil refinery and deep water port.

Progress of Western Civilisation....destruction of the natural environment.

If you do want a complete change you are always welcome here, the guest house is free. Here is not as beautiful as your beloved Cornwall as depicted in your photographs but would be a complete change of scenery and wildlife.

Whatever, do not get too downcast, choughs have returned, a small step, look for the beauty.

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 15 5:46 am Post subject:

GrahamH wrote:

If you do want a complete change you are always welcome here, the guest house is free. Here is not as beautiful as your beloved Cornwall as depicted in your photographs but would be a complete change of scenery and wildlife.

Whatever, do not get too downcast, choughs have returned, a small step, look for the beauty.

Graham that's a very kind offer & if I didn't have my two reprobate canine companions I would be very tempted to accept.
As it is my travels are limited to the EU.

I carry the camera for that very purpose of looking for beauty.
I use it to try to inspire others almost as much as for my own pleasure.
The quote I use for my signature by Mark Twain is like a motto for me.

Nature isn't fixed, it's a fluid medium.
Things come & go & sometimes comeback again, I think it's us humans that are always trying to cast everything in stone & fix it down.
Even without mans influence species come & go, but nature endures.
I think it's human nature to try to control others as well. Evolutionarily we are still hunter gatherers & nomads.
Fixed society hasn't been around long enough to fix in our genes yet.
I remember being told many years ago travel can be a drug & having not spread my wings for twenty five years, I feel my migration is overdue.

I know I'm rambling on again. I'm just one of those people who has always worn his heart on the outside & never bothered to deny.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15987

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 15 4:31 pm Post subject:

I feel the same about the area I live in Tavascarow. Our woods is damaged by too many people walking in it, but luckily there are parts that they tend not to go, so we do the best we can. So many of the places I played in as a child, and where husband and I used to walk when we were teenagers are now under houses or roads. We intend to stay put, so we just do the best we can for the bits we can, and try to educate as many people as possible.

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