The Green Gathering remains a central part of my life.
For loads more photos and a chance to share thoughts, please pop over to HERE (it will appear Wednesday morning).
I have been going to the festival, which takes place, rather improbably, right beside Chepstow racecourse, for many years. Each time I wonder whether it will ‘work’ … whether I will leave with re-enchanted and re-activated … and so far, so good!
Though I also leave, and currently remain, utterly bedraggled … four nights in a tent in a field, with a long walk to water and toilets. I could blame it on the fact I am about to turn 60 (this Friday!!!) - but there were many older, wiser, and fitter people at the festival!
On two occasions I had people come up to me, recognising me, which always leaves me feeling embarrassed as I assume I have forgotten them … but no, they both knew me from here!! It was so heartening - to have real connection with people who read what I write. Thank you to you both (and to all of you, of course!)
I spend a lot of the festival at the Speakers Forum - a wide range of campaigners and thinkers take to the stage … I have on occasion been booked, and the previous two years I arrived with ‘just-in-case’ talks on a USB drive … so if speakers don’t arrive I can pop up with an offering. This year I came with a talk on hedgehogs, one on Cull of the Wild, and additionally a 45 minute hedgehog stand-up show!! Unfortunately no one was stuck in traffic, stricken with illness, or arrested, and I had to just be a punter!
Hanging around that space means you get to meet some rather interesting people - in particular Zack Polanski. It turns out his boyfriend, Richie Bryan, is a massive hedgehog fan - so I got to share some of the latest research (more on that in a moment) and also, I hope, to help him realise that if he wants a chance at high office … he needs the hedgehog vote! We are many!
I also spent quite a bit of time looking after the spawn of my dear friend Elizabeth. Her two young ones still needed a bit of attention, and as she is integral to the greatest band (ever?) - Seize the Day - and was preparing, and performing twice, I got an excuse to wander around the festival, reimagining my youthful days of being a younger parent (though this time, also with Ogli along for the ride!)
I have seen Seize the Day countless times. I first met Theo from the band in 1992 at the Twyford Down protest against the extension of the M3 - that was a real turning point in my life, being in the company of dedicated campaigners who were willing to put wellbeing and liberty on the line. When Theo met Shannon at the campaign against the Newbury bypass the band was born, with a gently shifting team of wonderful musicians.
Do take some time to explore their music. I know I am biased, but, I still think, objectively as I can manage, that they are very good!
So - back to Zack. I got to tell him the reason behind me joining the Green Party - the first time I have ever joined a political party. And that was because at the last Green Gathering I saw him and Richie dancing and singing along to Seize the Day - they knew all the words. This year he was introducing them - clearly a moment of glee for him - and he explained to the crowd that he is so obsessed with the band that his alarm clock goes off with a random song from their collection! What a way to ‘seize the day’!!
The research I wanted to share - new from Lauren Moore who was doing her PhD with Richard Yarnell at Nottingham Trent University. The title of the paper is a bit daunting… ‘Beyond the Individual: Multisite Population-Level Consequences of Road Mortality on a Declining Mammal’… but the actual results are important and also, rather pleasingly, fit in with what I wrote in my book, Linescapes.
Lauren’s work required over 800km of walking transects, counting roadkill hedgehogs. She found that, ‘Road mortality killed 15.3%–28.6% of the local populations annually and contributed 37.7%–41.0% of total recorded mortality. Losses to road mortality were offset by juvenile recruitment and survival in relatively large (> 36 individuals) populations, but not in smaller (< 15 individuals) populations.’
What this means is that while a larger population might be able to weather the loss caused by roads, smaller populations can quickly slip into a nonviable state - and then disappear.
The whole idea of the Hedgehog Highways campaign can seem a little sweet at times - making sure hedgehogs get into our gardens. But at its heart, it is an attempt to overcome the sort of fragmentation of habitat that busy roads cause. I do recommend you read the article.
And finally - and this really is an ‘and finally’ item … In the German town of Mühlheim am Main, police officers were alerted by a burglar alarm in a supermarket early one morning. Expecting to find a criminal, they found a ‘rather confused animal.’ The police went on to say that ‘In the entrance area of the supermarket, the police discovered who had set off the alarm: four-legged, small, round and obviously lacking any criminal energy.’
Of course - it was a hedgehog! And I love the idea that it was ‘lacking any criminal energy!!!!!’
I plan to publish an article on Thursday that will be far more personal - I hope you don’t mind.