Despite the efforts of a determined group of volunteers and our local school children, we are still plagued with litter in the Jubilee Wood.
It feels like one step forward and two steps back. Often.
The picture below is one of the unintended consequences of littering. A small mammal, probably a wood mouse, was found dead, trapped in a discarded plastic bottle.
Death is part of the circle of life, and it comes to us all, but when that death is caused by us and our selfishness, then that’s different. That poor creature should have been part of that circle of life but instead it became trapped, frightened and eventually starved to death.
We find a significant amount of lager cans in the wood. This year we have probably picked up over 200 cans and still they appear. These cans are also traps for small mammals, quite a few of which we’ve found dead inside.
And then, we found an inflatable balloon in the Moat Brook – not for the first time. It may have been given as a gift and inadvertently released or it could have been released into the sky to remember someone who has passed away. The reason doesn’t matter, either way it ended up in brook to spend the next 200 years or so, slowly breaking down into microplastics, killing the fish and invertebrates which call that brook their home. The sad thing is, there are much more considerate ways to celebrate someone’s life that don’t involve plastic.
We have done an enormous amount to help nature in Bilbrook and the Jubilee Wood is our ‘Jewel in the Crown’. We are immensely proud of the wildlife which now resides in the wood and we are also proud that so many take pleasure from it. We only wish that people would respect the place and take home their litter and leave the wood as they found it. It’s not a lot ask.
Take only memories, leave only footprints.
