Winners and losers

I grew up in a village called Astley, well Blackmoor to be more precise, which has become part of the wider Astley area, about 10 miles (ish) west of Manchester and a similar distance east of Wigan.  I’m spending a weekend there with my parents as it’s my dad’s birthday and they still live in the same house where my brother and I grew up.

The area was synonymous with coal mining in days gone by but the area just up from my parents’ home on South Lane, where my brother and I used to play had long since been returned to nature.  I remember fenced up disused shafts with scary warning signs scattered for miles.

Despite its industrial past and evidence of long abandoned mine shafts, the area was rich in grassland, meadow and pasture.  As kids, we called the area ‘the rooks’ and there was an abundance of birdlife. Top spots at the time were meadow pipit and skylark and the day hunting short-eared owl. The beautiful lapwing also used to nest on the fields just up from where you take a left up towards Hadbutt Lane.  I have such happy memories of listening to the calls of all these birds whilst walking our black lab, Korky or simply lay down in the long grass listening to the skylark calling up on high for a mate.

I think it was some time in the  early 90's that the Forestry Commission purchased the land and began a mammoth tree planting exercise.  Sadly, this had a devastating effect on the resident birdlife, specifically the aforementioned species which are all ground nesting birds.

The area I am specifically referring to is now known as Collier’s Wood, quite aptly named and a nod to the areas’ industrial past.  Now, I’m all for tree planting and rewilding, of course I am but i sometimes think certain decisions are poorly thought out without properly thinking through the impact of the resident wildlife.

Long gone are all the birds I used to love so much, unable to nest on the ground due to the dense woodland. In their place are buzzard, sparrowhawk and even ring-necked parakeet, all common birds of woodland or forest.

Sadly, the birds that have been affected the most here are species that are in trouble and have been in decline for some time.  Most are listed as red or amber on the BTO’s Birds of Conservation Concern. You can read this fascinating yet troubling report here.  https://www.bto.org/sites/default/files/publications/bocc-5-a5-4pp-single-pages.pdf

These birds are threatened all over the UK and my story is simply one small part of a wider crisis of nature and we must all play our part to help our ever threatened wildlife.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not some nostalgic trip down memory lane, harking back to how life used to be, it’s a sad reflection on times past and highlighting how schemes designed to improve our natural environment can often be poorly planned, short sighted and can actually be to the detriment of nature.

I am quite fortunate that I am able to return to this area when I visit my family. Yes, it is still a beautiful place with a variety of wildlife which favours the woodland environment, however I long for those times, some 40 years ago now when the birdlife there was truly special and yet will now never return.

This used to be open fields where the lapwings nested.

Skylarks and meadow pipits once nested on open fields that were once here.

The waterfowl may still be happy.