SAT IN Sanders Park listening to the brass band playing, I pondered over Bromsgrove Climate Action’s (BCA) message to readers this month.
Over the past weeks we have seen it exceptionally dry and we have enjoyed a lovely summer with clear blue skies and sunshine.
The downside to this has been the lack of rainfall, with trees suffering from the very dry conditions and trees planted in the park have needed watering. Thank you to BCA volunteers who did this.
Mature trees are losing leaves, and branches are becoming fragile through lack of water.
It has also caused problems for farmers, not only for their livestock but the crops they have planted and expect to harvest.
Pea crops have seen a drastic reduction to their yield. That’s just one example as root crops such as potato, swedes, carrots and turnips will also have been affected by the dry weather but are not harvested for quite a few weeks yet.
This will mostly likely mean an increase in price to the consumer.
In the last few months we have also seen the proposed number of homes that the council plans to build over the next 15 or so years.
The habitats of our native animals – badgers, roe deer, foxes and hedges – are being destroyed in this house-building process, together with the hedgerows and trees which are the habitats of birds, mammals and numerous insects.
Developers need to be planting new trees across estates to mitigate some of the loss.
On a brighter note, BCA have had a busy few weeks with a stall in the High Street last month and stalls at BDHT Fun Days in Catshill and Charford.
Edwina, from our group, said it was lovely to talk to lots of new people and also to engage with the children who were in the most part quite knowledgeable about climate change and the things they could do to help.
The brook in Sanders Park is really clear and free of litter – this wasn’t our doing.
Our next monthly meeting is at 6.15pm on September 11 at Millfields Social Club and we would love more people to get involved then.
We also welcome feedback on what we are doing and want to know if people want another big public meeting like the one which launched our group six years ago.
Feel free to contact us via email at [email protected] or through our Facebook page.
