I have swum and rowed and fished and frolicked in and around the River Wye much of my life, the river I loved when I was a boy, where I have rowed boats (and even coracles) that I built myself, and watched the great floods of the sixties bring willow trees and chicken sheds barrelling through the village, floods that resonated with boyhood reading about Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer on the great Mississippi. I have seen eels and salmon swimming in the flooded fields, and found the wooden fishing-fly-towing water kites called ‘otters’ left behind by poachers when there were enough salmon to make poaching tempting. I have risked my life fishing for fingerling eels in the treacherous tidal waters below Tintern, and my children have all swum and canoed on it, eager to see blue-streaking kingfishers. I could have lost my life in it one Saturday afternoon, saving my eel traps from the fast-rising floods caused by the tail end of Hurricane Charlie years ago, floating great rafts of crowfoot down the river like haystacks, tearing at my ropes and buoys. Many of you will feel a similar love for this great river, having camped or canoed or walked along it; some of you will be old enough to remember damsel flies dancing above expanses of white-flowering crowfoot, in the days before the crowfoot was choked by the algae feeding on the chicken effluent. The crowfoot has gone now.
Morning, Richard. Any possibility of getting this blog to Chris Packham via Springwatch? He's stepping back for a few months [rather burnt] and might be very interested in taking this one up. And he has contact with David Attenborough.
Thank you Richard for your tireless research and putting forward a solution to the vast problem we face, Hell, it could even "make money" ! I love your holistic approach and your consideration of the historical and spiritual benefits this would bring. One of my deep sadnesses is that separate bodies don't seem unable to work together, for a common goal, We are all on the same bus, just some want to get off at different stops Richard Fleming you are an inspiration
Quite hard to get in touch with these big names, I think
I'm sad to say I don't think we are on the same bus as Cargill. But thank you for your support and kind words.
Morning, Richard. Any possibility of getting this blog to Chris Packham via Springwatch? He's stepping back for a few months [rather burnt] and might be very interested in taking this one up. And he has contact with David Attenborough.
The higher the profile...
Thank you Richard for your tireless research and putting forward a solution to the vast problem we face, Hell, it could even "make money" ! I love your holistic approach and your consideration of the historical and spiritual benefits this would bring. One of my deep sadnesses is that separate bodies don't seem unable to work together, for a common goal, We are all on the same bus, just some want to get off at different stops Richard Fleming you are an inspiration