Right Clothes, Wrong Weather
On a very wet day in the Country Park and the possibility of welcoming new residents there
I’m a couple of minutes’ walk from home when I realise I’ve forgotten my waterproof trousers. It’s only raining lightly and I don’t want to miss the train I’m heading for, so I’m tempted to carry on but if the forecast for today proves correct, I know I’ll regret it later. I go back for the trousers and by the time I’m heading back up the road a few minutes’ later, the rain is already starting to get heavier.
My destination for today is South Norwood Country Park where I’m joining TCV (The Conservation Volunteers) Croydon for a day coppicing willow near the lake. The threat of heavy rain has kept several of my fellow volunteers away so we’re a smaller group than usual. The rain eases off during the morning but returns with full force in the afternoon.
I’m glad I’ve got my waterproof trousers. Glad too that I decided to wear my “best” waterproof that I normally avoid using on volunteer days as I don’t want it to get damaged by sparks from the fire or spiky branches. The old waterproof I have been using has finally got to the point that it’s really not much use in anything but the lightest of showers and I’ll probably need to retire it now. Today is one of those days designed to prove the truth of the saying that “There’s no such thing as the wrong weather, just the wrong clothes”. As my waterproofs are good enough to keep me (mostly) dry It feels good to be outside despite the downpour and I leave at the end of the day with a sense of exhilaration which lasts well into the evening.
I might have the right clothes but that doesn’t stop this weather being wrong. It did get much colder for a couple of weeks, soon after my December post bemoaning the lack of proper winter weather. There were several days of sharp frost and bright sunshine and lots of snow in some parts of the country, including South Croydon. But that’s all gone again now, and today is another of the warmer, wetter days that have been such a feature of the last few months with temperatures far higher than seems right for what should still really be mid-winter. We’re going to have to get used to this. Warmer, wetter winters are as much a feature of the changing climate as the hotter, drier summers we’ve also been experiencing in recent years. It’s a reminder that we are already living in a time of climate breakdown, it is not just something that might happen in future.
One of the main topics of conversation during our tea break is the recent announcement of plans to introduce Beavers to South Norwood Country Park. There’s still some way to go before these plans becomes a reality, but a feasibility study is already underway and there’s due to be a public consultation soon. Assuming that the outcome of these initial stages is that the project should go ahead, the next stage will be to secure the funding and licenses needed to enable the watery landscape of the Country Park to provide a home for Beavers.
The driving force behind the plans is Citizen Zoo, who are one of the key partners in the successful Ealing Beaver Project. They’ve identified South Norwood Country Park as a potential new site for Beaver reintroduction as it shares many characteristics with Paradise Fields, the site of the Ealing project.
It’s exciting to think that there could one day soon be Beavers living somewhere I know so well and can visit so easily.
To finish….
Three things I’d like to share:
You can read more about the proposals to introduce Beavers to the Country Park here.
If you want to know about South Norwood Country Park, you can read my earlier post on the area’s fascinating history and whether it would be better to call it a nature reserve:
And finally this website is really useful if you want to learn more about the benefits of bringing back Beavers and other species.
Nice one Ruth. I've also posted about this on FB. Just us though, not the beavers.