Not just Covid19, the weather as well, but the almost incessant dull grey cloud that has been over us along with the damp and wet conditions that come with it, which in itself has induced a form of additional lockdown for me, has made for me 2021 a difficult year.
As many of you will know, after my accident back in February 2015, because walking the hills and moors is no longer a viable option, I have turned to wildlife and landscape photography which still gets me outdoors and also a very interesting and pleasant hobby to get in to.
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| One of the first photos of 2021, a magpie finding breakfast on a sheep before the first lockdown of 2021 was implemented |
In my last annual review: Peak Rambler’s Ramblings; 2020 a testing year for all! I opened with the following:
“What a year 2020 has turned out to be.
For me, a daunting start to the year, which saw me relinquishing more of my independence, started off with surrendering my HGV, PSV, Motorcycle and full car licence categories, purely for automatic car licence only.”
I also stated that I didn’t see Covid19 settling down in 2021:
“I don’t anticipate the travel restrictions ending anytime soon, and even with the vaccination availability slowly gaining momentum, I feel the Covid19 virus will hamper our ability to move around for the next year or so, but it will settle down, and we will regain the freedom we enjoyed before Covid19 in good time.“
For me, this year seems to have been a continuation of more freedom being removed from me, something that has been gradually happening since my accident back in February 2015, though it did seem that things were starting to turn around for the better.
I’ve talked before about the Cold War years, and my thoughts, and the following I’ll never forget, when I started work back in the late 70’s as a trainee mechanic, my mentor was a superb guy, what he didn’t know about cars wasn’t even thought about at that time.
His life skills were probably second to none as well. But one thing he did say that came back to haunt me, and remember, this was during the Cold War years:
“Son, now the Cuban Crisis is well and truly over, we are probably living in the safest times that mankind will ever live in. No one will ever intentionally press the button to activate a nuclear war. We’ve had chemical warfare, napalm, mustard gas, agent orange and others, but one thing that is yet to come, is biological warfare.
That one will be the killer, that’ll be our World War 3!”.
Toward the end of last year I deactivated my Twitter account, which I have since re-opened. There are some very good people I know through Twitter, and it was nice to be able to meet back up with them.
However, it still seems bent on forcing me to take up lists and follow accounts of which I have no interest in whatsoever.
In fact, generally I’m finding tech in any form these days to be dictoral and that is not a good thing. We as humans have learned how to think for ourselves and something we need to continue doing, and yet today that is being taken away from us, I fear many have lost the ability to think laterally.
I’m being dictated to by big tech, telling me how I should lead my life, and that is something I don’t take kindly to.
But I’m not even a molecule size in this big world of hi-tech today and I certainly feel I’m very much alone in wanting to retain my independence.
I’ve fought and worked hard, and not with that much support to rebuild my life after that IQ Zero ran a red light while I was legitimately on a pelican crossing, which resulted in my lower right leg requiring major reconstruction, taking away my ability to sensibly get out in all weathers and all terrains, either moorland walking or mountain climbing, summer or through to winter (using ice axe and crampons) and the in-between seasons.
I don’t like losing my independence, and I certainly don’t want big (or small) tech dictating how I should lead my life, especially when something simple like predictive/autocorrect text tries to dictate and more often than not, wrongly dictate what it thinks you should be typing!
And that’s simplistic artificial intelligence (AI), how will more complex AI cope?
Currently it doesn’t, because it can’t cope with non-stereotype people where it tries to box me into categories that I’ve no connection or interest with….
Anyway, in other news, my employer offered early retirement to all over the age of 60 towards the end of 2020, which at the time, with the financial package offered, was a good deal, financially.
Emotionally?
With Covid19 restrictions etc, I’m not so sure, I had a good employer and worked with a lot of good people, all of whom I am missing. I feel that if things were not so restrictive because of Covid19 and the incessant inclement weather, I would settle into retirement very easily, after all, it is something we all work hard for.
Recently I heard of yet more development taking yet more of our valuable and fast diminishing countryside being lost to construction, a solar farm of some 300+ acres moving the nearest countryside yet further from me.
Something I’ve said many times before, and possibly in an previous write-up is the questionable location of solar farms.
While I understand the need tailor our reliance on fossil fuels, it has to be at the right cost, and I don’t mean financial costs either. There are many suitable places in our towns and cities where solar panels can be placed high enough to capture the sun, and one such place could be multistorey car parks, where the vast majority of them don’t have a roof on the top level. What better, a roof that helps not only the car park users keep dry when it’s raining (or even snow or hail), but the dependency on fossil fuels.
Many shopping malls could also contribute by having roof mounted solar panels….
From my home, it used to be a 10 minute walk to the countryside, with HS2, now it’s a 30 minute drive at the least, and if this solar farm does go ahead, add another ten minutes to that!
It is only a matter of time before the West Midlands will be one big metropolis!
And the government keep crying about keeping green, by imposing taxes!
I really don’t feel the Government committed is to the environment, much seems to be pure lip service. Because in my view, if they were committed to the environment, then:-
- why has Heathrow been granted a third runway?
- and Gatwick a second runway?
- why is the countryside always being used as the scapegoat for so-called green projects?
So, I have my doubts, and very grave doubts for the future of the countryside.
I’ve recently booked a holiday for 2022, taking advantage of the retirement days and avoiding the peak holiday periods. However, I’m feeling very sceptical about it.
So, what have I done this year?
Not a lot, in fact, I did more last year!
One thing I have decided, I’m not maintaining two blogging platforms. There’s been some big changes to the Google Blogger platform and in my personal view, it’s lost some of its nice flexibility to edit. So, for now, I’ll just be posting to the WordPress platform and post periodical links from the Google Blogger.
However, the existing Google based blogs will stay where they are, but no new blogs are to be posted for the time being.
As a post-accident new found activity to get outdoors and enjoy our fast-diminishing countryside and nature, combined with the fact I do enjoy photography, a first visit to Burton Mere Wetlands had been on the cards for a long time.
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| A general view of Willow Pool, the first pool after the visitor centre |
Then, weather window occurred, and it was a last-minute decision made as I had got up, as normal around 04:00 one rare sunny morning.
I’d heard about Titchwell Marsh, and felt it was worth a days jaunt out, but it needed to be a decent weather day, and yet another, but rare weather window occurred. is an interesting reserve, not just because its coastal with coastal marshes, but also being on the east coast, is home to WWII bunkers, in varying states of disrepair.
It was also interesting to see the many now derelict bunkers from WWI and WWII.
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| A WWII bunker, known as ‘Merlin Perch’ on the marsh land to the east of Titchwell reserve coastal path |
My wife fancied a day in Kings Lynn, not too far away, so I dropped her there and then carried on to Titchwell, before returning for a couple of hours in Kings Lynn with my wife before heading back home.
I had said a return visit to Burton Mere was in the planning, and just waiting for a decent weather day amid the ongoing unsettled conditions that 2021 had been enduring.
It was good to be able to access all public areas of the reserve, and even better, was walking past the Bunker Hide, which was set in a mound alongside the path, and view across a different part of the reserve.
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A collection of swallows, sand martins and some
other species |
For me the highlight to the day was all those swallows, a brilliant day, and with the company of two people I’d only been talking to via a forum.
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| Bee rescue.... |
This was a long overdue visit to Conwy, and a good opportunity to try out a new lens. A few days beforehand I had purchased a Canon 100-400 USM-II lens after seeing the difference people were getting with the Canon lens over the Sigma 150-600 Contemporary.
The Sigma lens was, and still is, a very good lens, with the right camera, and for me when I bought the Sigma, I was using the Canon 750D camera, which I still like very much as far as budget cameras go and worked well with the Sigma lens. However, July 2019 I upgraded my camera to the Canon 5D MkIV.
With knowing Conwy Reserve so well, it was the ideal opportunity, plus good to see things I’ve haven’t seen much over the last couple of years, no thanks to Covid-19.
It was also a good opportunity to meet up with family who live nearby I’ve not seen since October 2019, again, no thanks to Covid-19.
I had made a return to Brandon Marsh mainly out of curiosity to see how things were after some big changes many years ago, which took away the character of the reserve, and I was totally taken aback that it had more or less returned to the old reserve I knew and enjoyed.
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and the photoshoot… |
OK, there were a few changes, like most of the hides had been renamed, but that didn’t detract from a very pleasant return visit, the reed bed that had once been a hive of wildlife activity, then changed to a pool, has been returned to a reedbed.
I have made a couple of very enjoyable return visits, and on two occasions, enjoyed watching and photographing a kingfisher, not an easy bird to photograph at the best of times.
I am seriously considering rejoining the Wildlife Trust that manages the reserve, along with a few other reserves, but that’ll wait until sometime early in 2022.
I’ve also made a couple of visits to another local reserve, Middleton Lakes, which has been very quiet generally and not a lot to report back or write about, though on one of my last visits, I did see a goldcrest, which is a winter migrant here, very small and very hard to photograph, particularly on a very dull day, something which for me, 2021 will always be remembered for.
What for 2022, well, as I’ve mentioned before and in last year’s review, the Covid19 isn’t leaving us anytime soon and with restrictions still ongoing, but hopefully the weather will be a little better and I’ll be able to get out more, and of course, the late summer holiday.
That is assuming things do start to ease and we don’t have another scenario like Covid19 to suppress the world.
I’ll close and wish you and your families a very Happy Christmas, hopefully without too many restrictions, and a Happy New Year.
Peak Rambler
Some links mentioned in the blog:
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