I have written before about how and myself and a friend are trying to protect an area of great biodiversity very close to my home in Linlithgow. And, how I have realised am now a (very peaceful) eco-warrior read more here.
The area we are trying to save from housebuilding is 14.3 hectares in size and ranges from a river bank, a lagoon, marsh and heath land, and lots of woodland.
The woodland is home to a variety of wildlife, but exactly what we can’t say with absolutely certainty unless we see it. In come mammal cameras – hi-tech stuff which will take pics day and night when ever some goes past.
The kind folk at MammalWeb! have leant us a couple – but where to put them? Not near paths or where the public might go – some don’t like the idea of being filmed. So, a bit of exploring has been necessary.
When we set up Green Battle Linlithgow (read our Facebook page to find out more) I thought it would mainly be talking to people, trying to persuade them. I have been delighted to realise before you can do that you need to spend a lot of time outside, working out precisely what you are talking about.
So far, we have mapped the area by walking around on obvious paths, permitted and informal. Recently we have had to go into the woods to find somewhere to put the cameras.
My eyes have been opened further to just how wonderful nature is, less than a mile from my house. Once you get to just inside the woods, away from oaths, and look at how far ahead they spread there is a sense of awe.
This is actually a vast space where humans rarely go, usually only to look for a missing dog – and even then, only a short way in. After just a few minutes exploring I have found myself enjoying a genuine feeling of being “in the middle of nowhere”.
Previously this sensation had been in the mountains or the wild open spaces of the Far North of Scotland. Now, I have found it much closer to home.
To know there is this space, busy and bustling (from what we can see on the cameras) when there are no humans around is affirming and makes me think of our space in the world. Yes, we dominate as a species (often in a bad way) but it is good to be reminded that we are far from everywhere, even in the Central Belt of Scotland.
Watch this space to find out about all the animals we have found. But even to see rabbits and foxes mooching about, relaxed and unbothered by humans, is a treat.
