By the carpark
By the carpark
Where the wood one stood;
By the stream
Long since culverted in;
Where the new housing estate now stands
On what used to be a marsh,
A vole hides among the rubbish.
Near the runway
For the new airport;
By the side of the new field
Reclaimed from wasteland;
Alongside the new road
Bringing travellers to and fro;
On the roundabout
That used to be a copse,
A tiny mouse shivers
Under a newly planted shrub.
Opher 18.4.2016
By the carpark
I was sitting on the bus going back to pick up my car. It gave me a higher view over the hedgerows into the fields beyond. I could see all the new builds.
As we approached the town there was more and more. New estates were springing up. The trees, streams and ponds were disappearing along with the remaining patches of wasteland. Even the word wasteland betrays the attitude. If it is not being built on or used for agriculture it is wasted.
So where do the voles, mice, hedgehogs, newts, frogs and toads go? Is there space foe the lizards, slowworms and snakes? Are we sanitising the countryside of insects?
I looked out over the fields and all the birds I see are pigeons, crows, magpies and sea-gulls – the scavengers. They are having a fine old time.
But how far can we continue pushing nature into the periphery before it runs out of room?
Is it all going to be ploughed fields, manicured lawns and ornamental shrubs?
How many creatures are shivering in the wreckage of their homes?