Dave Clark, Ornithologist
What a mindblast…Excuse the 60`s vernacular but as a 15 year old impressionable youth, leafing through the Woolies (Woolworth`s) record stack coming across the Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus is a mindblast, especially when you’re sheltering from the mizzle which seem to soak into the clothes and psyche on a grey dull Midlands day with only an afternoon of mind shrinking double maths to look forward to…This fabulously named album (yeppers real vinyl) by West Coast scenesters Spirit contains a track called ‘Nature`s Way’. Indeed, two years before in 1968 they pioneered eco-rock with `Fresh Garbage` on their seminal eponymous debut LP. Within Californian hippiedom they were ground breakers in music and political thought with Joni Mitchell closely following the conservation conversation with the internationally famous ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ containing the classic chorus lines:
“Don`t it always seem to go
That you don`t know what you`ve got `til its gone
They paved Paradise
Put up a parking lot”
Hold that thought, hum the tune, keep it in mind before I lose track and float away on some ’70’s transcendental cloud (oh I wish there was ‘scratch and hear’ technology). There is some relevance to these ramblings both personally and for the ideas transmitted by both artists. Music has a tendency in those formative teen years to stick around and Spirit certainly sowed a seed within this parochial youth, albeit with a rather slow germination period. Joni’s song echoed the loss of nature theme at the heart of Nature’s Way: ‘Its Nature’s way of telling you something’s wrong’ and hinted at a future where a new generation would potentially be exposed to the oft quoted ‘extinction of experience’….if you have never heard a cuckoo, do you mourn it`s loss? It also highlights the need for keeping track of nature, cataloguing what we have and noting any changes that may occur in abundance and distribution, so that instead of mourning we are armed with information to hopefully obviate and manage any negative changes that occur. In my 14 years of performing a monthly bird count in Sydenham Hill Woods Nature Reserve, the data collected does indeed show trends, disturbing as they sometimes maybe, that can provide a valuable part of the conservation armoury feeding into conservation management.
So why do I count? I could say it`s my bit in saving the world from self-destruction, drown myself in self-congratulatory hogwash or I could actually just let you into the secret…I love it. Count, record, log….count, record, log…a mantra that echoes the rhythm of counting, the pulse of the heartbeat, count record log, blue tit, robin, wren…the karma of counting, the slower walking which enables an inner peace where the internal discourse is switched off…count, record, log…… I just love it. The discipline of the count enables the engagement, there’s no phone, headphone or screen to clutter and distract, just the world outside….nature. And then the surprises, like the parakeet imitating the jackdaw, the blackcap fooling me with a rendition of a blackbirds song, a tawny owl disturbed from its daytime slumber, every day, every count, every season and every year there is always something different. Back home the logging proceeds, notes transferred to spreadsheets and the learning and engagement continues. Oh look blackbirds are decreasing, is that just in the Woods? Greater London? Nationally? Is it a rural or urban issue, and why? There’s always something and in these examples lies an interesting dichotomy. I might like playing with numbers and dataset type thingies, yet despite my best efforts to digitalise and enumerate it’s nature’s unpredictability which is the real draw.
It may appear from these meanderings that counting for me is a solo pursuit, yet the process has allowed access to Friends and community groups particularly through bird counting in other Southwark greenspaces. Whether it is as an interested committee member, renegade maverick or Mr. Angry from Dulwich, spreading the word and absorbing new information, working with like-minded people has been particularly enriching, enabling a sharing of knowledge and strengthening of engagement and the benefits that lie therein; the more we engage the more we care. Some shout outs are due here: SNAV – Southwark Nature Action volunteers, Burgess Park Friends, Dulwich Park Friends and Bell House.
But ultimately it is the holding houses for all this data gathering like GiGL who are arguably the most important part of this knowledge sharing and engagement, otherwise all these numbers in little black books are just dust. GiGL acts as a catalyst and conduit and provides gravitas to the collection process. My nigh on 15 years relationship with GiGL has often been just short email conversations with Lyndsey, GiGL’s Community Manager, who I mistakenly thought was an inveterate clubber as I kept receiving replies from her at 2 & 3 in the morning until I realised she lives in Australia.
Recording is now part of my life. It is no longer an adjunct, but something I just do, whether it be formal or casual sending records to GiGL, BTO, ebird and London Bird Club, the binocs n’ little black book are never far away and here’s a hint…always take two pens…
Thank you Spirit n Joni for planting a seed, of which the late germination I take full responsibility, and for GiGL for providing a meaningful outlet for my endeavours. If anyone wants help with bird song, and bird id, please don`t hesitate to drop me a line at: dave@mailbox.co.uk.