Today is a public holiday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, so a quirky item that may interest bird lovers seems suitable…
Brett Westwood is a radio presenter and author specialising in natural history, especially birds. Angela Bywater, EBNet’s former Network Co-Manager who now manages the UK side of the Global Center for Sustainable Bioproducts, spotted this item by him: The Diaries of Brett Westwood – 3. Sewage – BBC Sounds
The programme was first broadcast in January 2015, and is part of a series which revisits local habitats he has been observing for forty years. The reason this one makes it onto EBNet News is because it features a former sewage farm, and reports on the changes in bird life that have occurred over the years since it was in operation.
The recording is available on BBC Sounds until 18 September 2025 – so catch it now if you are interested!
“When Brett was a teenager, sewage was pumped out from a farm at Whittington onto an area of about a square mile where cattle were grazed. In icy winters the fields did not freeze owing to the warmth provided by the sewage and the life breeding in it. Unusual for the West Midlands in winter, a regular flock of up to 200 curlews were joined by a pink-footed goose, pintails, wigeon, and in winter 1976 two spotted redshanks. The old methods of spreading sewage stopped in the 1980s and the curlew flocks have gone but Brett still visits the area, and in recent years has been rewarded with sightings of barn owls and buzzards” – BBC Sounds