Sefton’s Ongoing War 'Against' Nature

 

Alleged ‘conservation’ work (involving ripping into the sand dunes with heavy machinery) within the dormancy of winter is one thing. 

However, this week we saw guys in yellow jackets apparently spraying ("selective herbicide") over large rose thickets on the sand dunes. The mind boggles at what effect this may have on a fragile ecosystem and especially in nesting season.

https://dynamicdunescapes.co.uk/2022/12/rosa-rugosa-removal-sefton-coast/ 

The rose thicket in question was particularly impenetrable. Consequently, there was no way at all that the workers who were spraying it could have been sure that there were no birds nesting within. 

The beautiful dune roses are popular with butterflies, moths, dragonflies, damselflies, and hoverflies. They are also a very attractive to other pollinators, most especially bees.

The green - spinning authorities do not seem to realise that many birds feed off the rose hips and nest each season within the dense thickets. These wild places also provide shelter for mammals.

The beautiful mature mixed scrub of the Birkdale/Ainsdale dune system is very important nesting habitat. It is said to support more than 30 breeding species including seven kinds of warbler. Consider the following:

“About eight pairs of Stonechats breed between Blundellsands and Birkdale but their future is far from secure. ”

https://www.seftoncoast.org.uk/articles/99summer_breedingbirds.html

Above: an anxious Ainsdale female Reed Bunting nesting within Sea Buckthorn, shortly before the bush was felled and burnt by conservation workers.  

Sea Buckthorn is another long persecuted plant that also provides food and shelter for birds and mammals on the local sand dunes. Destroying this wonderful shrub is however it seems an important part of authoritarian conservation policy. 

Above: Sea Buckthorn at Ainsdale. Essential to birdlife yet a favourite target of the officialised conservationist's hit list. 

Above: nesting birds hiding from the unwanted attentions of conservationists, who habitually destroy their vital habitat. 

By razing these vital thickets of rose and sea buckthorn to the ground, Sefton Council and Natural England are wantonly depriving many creatures and precious bird species like the stonechat, linnet, reed bunting, chaffinch, etc, of a safe home.

Above: a male stonechat on the dunes guarding a nest in wild roses that were soon after destroyed by 'conservation' workers.

As for Natural England (NA) - they claim to be destroying wild roses etc to save sand lizards and natterjack toads. 

Nevertheless, at the same time they have been made aware that several legally-protected sand lizards were recently found, close to building work under the Southport Pier. However, the development work continues. This bizarre ongoing situation places serious questions over enforcement of current wildlife regulations. 

https://www.otsnews.co.uk/rare-sand-lizard-rescued-in-southports-ocean-plaza-shop/ 

https://www.otsnews.co.uk/rare-sand-lizard-rescued-in-southports-ocean-plaza-shop/ 

Perhaps the unfortunate sand lizards under the pier are not quite as valuable as ones farther down the coast to NE and the Council, for some strange reason?  

Rather than a genuine holistic concern for all nature within the dune system, could the questionable Council.NE agenda coming to light be more to do with...

  
Following a selective climate-based narrative.

Maintaining budget funding, at all costs.

Turning a convenient blind eye to highly destructive collateral eco-damage

Paying lip service to the fragile local ecosystem.

What the hell are our so-called green ‘conservation’ bodies actually playing at? Moreover, who is paying for their ongoing, and largely futile, war against the sand dune plant life and wildlife that depends on it for survival? I think we all know the answer to this...  

As with the silting up of the local beaches and the extra growth of new species, natural changes will and are certainly occurring. 

Humans, with their limited understanding and subconscious biases, may well lament these changes, yet taking a sledgehammer to crack a walnut is not the answer. 

Mankind must learn to work 'with' nature - not against it! 

Current draconian conservation 'slash, cut, spray, and burn' measures draw up in glass towers fall well short of the real need of care for our local ecosystem.

The desire to protect rare species is a noble one. However, this should NOT mean that other wildlife is harmed, ignored, or evicted in the process.

Conservation duplicity seems to be reaching new heights, as does the supportive propaganda and flawed green narrative behind it.  

Addendum

The Grasshopper Warbler in Southport

Here's another scarce bird needing habitat that's currently being removed...