Readers might note that I focus a lot on the environment. Even my running is about being out under the sky. It is easy to bumble along and not link the many factors that comprise the environment. This came home to me very strongly when Ann and I were on a local run. We ran into a six year old boy, with his sister and grandmother. The boy was in his wellies, jumped into the brook and fished out a stickleback. He looked at it in the jar and told us it was a male, because it had a red colour. We were dumbfounded and complemented him on his knowledge. We also complimented the grandmother on taking the children to the spot. She was adamant that he was the next David Attenborough, that he was so entranced by the environment.

Mood

We ran on, inspired by that young boy. However, we don’t run blind; we use our eyes, ears and senses. Following the drought, we drag our feet through leaves, almost as if it is Autumn. The sun is shining and life is wonderful. That is nature working its wonders on our spirits. Living where we do, that run breaks out onto the coast and we are looking out onto Christchurch Bay for a mile. To say the view is stupendous is to put it mildly. Every day it changes, a new colour, a new mood. All this reminds me of our past experience of the environment. A myriad of interrelated activities.

Bradwell & the environment

We moved to the Peak District in 2020, in a rented barn. Within two years, we bought a house in Bradwell. We moved because my diagnosis with leukaemia in 2018 left me feeling I was waiting for death. The move was to enable us to return to fell-running, over the hills of Derbyshire. It took 20 months before we could run the 10 mile Kinder Downfall race route. I won that race in 1981, so it had memories. We returned to our former life whereby fell-running became the focus of the day. Okay, every other day because we were too old to run every day. It was not a question of are we running, but where? Runs like White Edge became periodic, timed to see Autumn colours or the heather in bloom.

Wildflowers

The wildflowers in the Peak District must be the finest in Britain. In part, this is because the southern part is limestone and the northern, gritstone. By choosing one or the other, you go to a calcium rich environment, or if gritstone, it offers an acidic one. The flowers vary greatly between the two. For instance, wild garlic needs a damp clay soil beneath trees. The orchids, and there were many, were on poor soil, in full sun. The joy of these flowers cannot be overstated. To be on a heather moor, virtually surrounded by the purple scented plants, is an amazing experience.

Trees

Trees perform so many functions for the environment. They add texture, shelter us and birds, and help the soil to regenerate. The trees in the Peak District had to tolerate strong, cold winds. Oak trees tended to shelter in valleys, often alongside streams. That said, they still tended to be stunted. Down in Highcliffe, the oaks love the heavy clay soils and grow big and strong. However, the Peak District oaks supported a high number of pied flycatchers, a threatened bird nationally. No such birds are seen down south. Is that not the challenge, why, on a small island, do such differences occur?

The Neolithic People

The above paragraphs highlight why people, 5,000 years ago, prospered in this country. The soils were rich, ample trees existed and they could build huts. Even the Romans stated that ‘the land is well watered’, water being so vital to their crops. This highlights how we, today, have become so isolated from nature; we don’t feel these things matter any more. However, they do and it is essential to see nature as they did. That everything is interlinked, the soils, the trees, the plants, clean water and clean air. The indicators of this ideal state is insect and bird life. They depend on this ideal and if it fails, their numbers drop. Sadly, they are dropping and we need to reverse that situation.

The lawn

Just about the most stupid thing humans ever did, was to mow grass. I liken it to burning pound notes. Every council in the UK spends vast sums on this operation. We are infatuated with tidiness. In recent years it has got much worse, hard landscaping and artificial grass has replaced many lawns. Councillors, fearful of the next election, turn down proposals to reduce grass cutting. The pensioner vote, those advocates of neat lawns, will not vote for them if they try to hold the line. Few people vote for bugs and spiders, yet they are indicators of a better world.

Autumn Lady’s-Tresses

The lawn tells us such a lot. This orchid loves short grass, and rabbits can provide this. Neither do rabbits spread poisons, which include fertiliser and herbicides. However, the rabbits are few so nature finds a new way forward. This orchid moves to neglected lawns, those full of weeds and looking really poor – to humans. The mower replicates the rabbit, and stops large weeds shading this sun lover. These are often lawns belonging to the aged, too old to do much mowing and harmful gardening. So this orchid, dramatically falling in numbers, hangs on in pensioner gardens. There is a message there, that we all get old and die. Why not leave a legacy, something to improve the environment? Plant a tree before you die!