Monday, 25 March 2013
I am so fed up
and pissed off I probably should not write this now. Late last year an email
came through about a local grant. Now I have never applied for a grant before
and I suspect I never will again!! The people organising it came out and were
great and advised us on what to do, and to be fair they have been wonderful all
the way through. With help from David and Sally we did the application and got
Robin to do the bits that I knew would make me throw the paperwork in the fire.
We then applied
for planning permission to replace our very old 8 foot wide by 18 foot long
shed, that we have used for decades as a hospital room. It is a horrid room, it
used to house a huge generator when we moved here. The place is very
dilapidated and will eventually fall down and be a health hazard to the staff
probably, the tiles on the side are falling off now, it is far too small and
not suitable any long for taking the injured wild birds that we take in (free
gratis and for nothing with a substantial cost to us).
So it was with
enormous joy that we heard that if we could get everything going and finish the
building by June, we had a high chance of getting a £20K grant, that was a huge
lift to all the staff here, particularly after such a shitty year that we had
just finished. We were all very excited about it.
But things were
not going to be that easy, oh no. Now bear in mind that I am a conservationist
but a realistic one, keep that in mind! We have planted a wood, which will
probably all die in the next ten years because of Ash dieback. We have built a
large pond, we manage the 12 acres for wildlife as well as being a public
facility. We have more small birds living here than any of the surrounding
land, but unfortunately and I never thought I would say that, but I do mean it
now, we have bats as well. I had intended to help them and put up bat boxes
around the place, however that is not going to happen now, not a chance in
hell. I can see why Charlie feels the same. We had both thought about putting
bat boxes on the barns for them, here and in Yorkshire but if we did and then
we needed to do something to the barn we would not be allowed to, so no bat
boxes for us I am afraid. This sort of legislation is completely
counterproductive to conserving and helping bats, in fact I would say it does
the opposite.
After we had
applied for the planning permission, we were hit with the fact that we had to
have a bat survey - £480.00. The chap was very nice, very efficient, but sadly
found about 10 bat droppings in three places. Well now the shit as it were has
hit the fan. I have to have more surveys – see the price going up!!! I may have
to have DNA done on the bat droppings (£125.00). If they are Pipistrelle bats,
which the expert considers they are, there are 2 million of them in the UK, it is found in Europe, South Africa and South
West Asia and its conservation status is least concern, which means there is
not a problem with the damn thing!
This roof, which
we are not permanently removing, but just taking down and replacing had no
winter bats, so it is most likely a summer roost. The building that we will put
up will have a larger roof, it is attached and yes I do mean attached to
another identical roof, so if by chance we upset a bat, it can move 8 feet to
another part of the damn roof. I am very happy to put up whatever bat
mitigation is required, special tiles etc. etc. If we had done the building in
April it would have been finished before the bloody things wanted to roost
anyway. We may lose the grant, we have had to pull the planning application so
when it goes in again it will be another six weeks, after the next survey which
has to be done in May. The effect on the bats would have been negligible in
April, however I doubt we will start, if we even get the grant and are able to,
before July. We have had three buzzards, two sparrowhawks, one barn owl, one
goshawk and a Kestrel in during the last two weeks and we are absolutely
stretched with them all, so I have to say that there goes any affection I might
have had for bats, or any assistance I might have given them in the future.
And want to know
the best bit, technically you are not allowed to apply for a bat license to
disturb the little dears until you have planning permission to do whatever it
is you want to do, but you won’t get planning permission without the licence.
What fucking moron worked that one out!!!!!
Then Charlie’s
bank in Yorkshire has told Charlie that my credit rating is not good because
when I moved my bank account over to Lloyds, (where we have paid in our funds
since 1967) I did not give them identification to prove I am whom I say I am!!!
I have only known some of the people down there for over 4 decades!!! However I
am obviously a dangerous risk to the world and am trying to launder money.
Believe me if I had any it would not be going into the bank!!!! So I had to
take my driving licence and a utilities bill down, but I took one that was too
old – it has to be in the last three months. So as you can see, life has been
frustrating.
However Carl
Jones’s has a pair of condors and they have laid, last year they broke their
egg, so this year, he decided not to risk the first egg and brought it here. It
is huge!! We are incubating it and hoping that all will go well and it will
hatch. That will be great stuff and good experience for Holly. The Stellers
managed to hatch one chick by themselves, sadly they lost the other egg, but
they are rearing their own baby plus a Bald Eagle for a friend. The Palmnut
vultures have laid an egg, so fingers crossed for that one.
Just to put the
cap on things the weather is bitterly cold and we have snow on the ground and
it does not look like it is going to change for Easter which is particularly
scary financially I have to say. I did win £5.10 on the lottery last week, but
that is not going to help a great deal.
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