Sandra Norval’s Blog

This morning I spent a few hours at Roebuck Wood in Stevenage litter picking and cutting back some Hawthorn.

I hadn’t really visited the woodland before, having only walked alongside on the footpath. Why is it, sometimes the nearer a place is, the less likely you are to visit? I now know that I’ve been missing out.

 Chatting with Brian, the Chair of the Roebuck Action Group (RAG) I’ve learned that Dick Turpin used a path through the woods before staying at the Roebuck Inn whilst en route to London. There are trees which are centuries old, lots of ancient woodland indicators and also areas of recent planting, carried out by RAG around ten years ago.

 This combination of differing habitats makes this a wonderful woodland for wildlife, easily accessible with lots of nearby car parks, a network of footpaths and also a cycle path alongside.

 I was quite shocked to learn that this wonderful urban space was once threatened, seen as a piece of land only worth money. It is next to the Stevenage Borough football ground and a planning application was put in to remove the woodland completely.

Brian and a group of local residents weren’t having any of it! They formed RAG, fought back and won. As a result the wood is now managed for the benefit of the community and wildlife and is protected from planning threats in the future.

I am always impressed with individuals who try to make a difference. When those individuals join forces incredible things can be achieved. It is a wondrous fact of humanity that inspiration ripples from one person to the next and RAG is a clear demonstration of this.

Happily nowadays RAG and the council are working together and the site is an important area for the biodiversity in Stevenage. As a Tree Warden I’m looking forward to visiting again next time there is a work party needed.

Brian, and team, I applaud you. If only more individuals took responsibility and didn’t always assume that it was someone else’s job the world would be a much better place.

Hot topic in the news today? Artificial trees, salt sprinkling boats, reflective discs launched into space.

 Have we not yet realised that all our attempts to battle against nature so far have failed to some degree, sometimes disastrously. We need to help nature do her thing, not try and combat the outcomes.

The biggest failing of all these projects is the notion that we are ‘saving the planet’. No, we’re not. We’re trying to save our own backsides from the destruction that we have inflicted on a living breathing organism. Whether you believe in Gaia or climate change is irrelevant, the science clearly demonstrates that something is happening and it’s big.

If we are to survive as a species we need to stop seeing ourselves as something special and recognise the limitations of our own ecology. We are just as likely to become extinct as any other creature and more fool us.

Nature spent millions of years designing her creations. Do we really, truly believe we can do better with our own technology?