Before I start, I want to apologise because this is more of a rant about something that bothers me than an informative blog about the ins and outs of ecology, although it is an ecological issue, and frankly quite a big one. The issue that annoys me so much is litter, and the abundance of it around the British countryside. The presence of litter is something that has always bothered me but the recent changes in lifestyle, particularly those caused by self-isolating due to the coronavirus, have brought the issue closer to home.
I am lucky enough to live in a beautiful rural area of Yorkshire surrounded by open grazing land and pockets of ancient woodland. Therefore, once the coronavirus restrictions came into force I decided that I should take the time I could during my daily exercise to enjoy the onset of spring in my local woodlands. During my morning walks it was lovely to appreciate the sights and sounds of the local area with chiff chaff song ringing through the woodland, wrens calling from the undergrowth and iconic woodland plants such as bluebell, wood anemone, wild garlic and dog’s mercury highlighted by the morning sun across the woodland floor.
The problem is that inevitably when walking in rural areas you will have to cross a road and at that point the beauty of nature is usually spoiled by the laziness and lack of respect of people. Get within 100m of a road, particularly a larger road, and the signs of people start to creep into the woodland. The signs escalate as you approach the road, starting with plastic bottles and cans dropped along the path edge and gradually increasing to piles of bin bags full of litter thrown over fences, smashed small appliances and the remains of someone’s loft based horticultural endeavours.
The other form of litter that I didn’t mention above, and one that really annoys me and probably a lot of other people, is bags full of dog s%&t! I am not a dog owner at the minute but I understand that when you take the responsibility to own a dog you take responsibility for all aspects of the dog, which unfortunately includes anything that falls out of the back of it too. Picking up dog mess is a part of owning a dog and I fail to understand why people bother to pick it up but then rather than just taking it and putting it in a bin they decide to share it with others by leaving it somewhere along their route. You struggle to walk down a footpath nowadays without finding bags of s*%t hung from fences and trees, thrown in the undergrowth or piled on the floor next to stiles. I’m wouldn’t think I was a minority in my opinion that it’s not a nice sight to see, it’s not a Christmas decoration so why do people think others will want to see it hanging from a tree.
Overall, I guess it’s a matter of respect and the general lack of it in this country. Go to some countries and you won’t see a single bit of litter because the people of that country respect their countryside and don’t want it to be covered with rubbish. When we’ve got such beautiful countryside do we really want the views of it to be spoiled just because we couldn’t be bothered to take our litter home and put it in the bin.
