Travelling To Orkney…..From ’Wild Justice’….….’Wild Service’…. From The RSPB…..
by Bernie Bell - 08:20 on 29 June 2024
Travelling To Orkney…..
Cold mercury ramp
trimmed with whitecaps
ferry jumps waves
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Heavy seas crossing the Pentland Firth tonight but I kept my nerve and my stomach.
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From ’Wild Justice’….….
“Ahead of the general election, we publish three guest blogs from environmental leaders; Caroline Lucas, Ben Goldsmith and our very own Chris Packham. The three pieces are very different but each will give you a different view of how the environment should fare after the general election.
You can read all the previous 36 opinion pieces, find an up-to-date index of blogs, plus links to party manifestos, by clicking here.
Today's new General Election opinion pieces:
Guest election blog - Labour by Caroline Lucas
Guest election blog - Recent past and impending future by Ben Goldsmith
Guest election blog - You can bet on this! by Chris Packham
Wild Justice depends on donations to do our work.
You can donate through PayPal, bank transfer or a cheque in the post - see details here. You are our source of funding and a donation today would also feel like a vote of confidence in what we are doing.
That’s it for now!
Thank you,
Wild Justice (Directors: Mark Avery, Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay).”
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’Wild Service’….
I haven’t mentioned the book ‘Wild Service’ for a while, as some of the pieces are a bit ‘off-pat’ – not inspiring me to write about them. But an article entitled ‘Cairn’ ( I can’t work out who wrote it – possibly one of the Editors?) was bound to appeal to me and on reading it I found that it has echoes of what I was saying in the following piece…
https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/04/26/theres-cairns-and-theres-cairns/
..in that it describes the different kinds of cairn, and different reasons for cairns being raised. It’s short and to the point – the point being that cairns bring us together, hold memories…
https://theorkneynews.scot/2024/03/25/a-scapa-surprise/
They are a very ‘human’ thing, but, to quote from the article in ‘Wild Service’..
‘…cairns, from the Gaelic word for a ‘heap of stones’ are not one thing.’
Another quote…
‘….the sheer meditative concentration it requires to balance a rock in an improbable position on a pile of others’
Brings to mind…
https://theorkneynews.scot/2018/08/10/someones-been-busy-at-skaill-bay/
Also at Hinderayre – see ‘Building by the Bay’….
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=16440
The article in ‘Wild Service’ ends with the words…
“A cairn is more than just a sign that says ‘I was here’; it is a testament reminding us that being here, in the wild open spaces, is intrinsic to being human.”
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From The RSPB……
“Coul Links update
A date has been set for an inquiry into hugely damaging plans for an 18-hole golf course development on the protected nature site of Coul Links in the Highlands.
Thousands march for nature!
Thousands of people united for nature for the Restore Nature Now march last weekend, complete with brilliant banners, parading puppets and the sounds of drums, whistles, chants and song. Together we made it crystal clear that urgent action is needed from the next UK Government to help our natural world recover.
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