Well here comes summer…. unfortunately it's basing its appearance on last year's weather. Rain all evening, and this is a photo of the sun earlier in the day. Not pretty!
The rain did hold off for most of the day, and at lunchtime rather than visit my usual haunts I joined up with some colleagues at work to clear out some of the litter that defaces the local woodland. This is how it should look.
But this is what all too often punctuates the landscape.
As well as bottles, paper, and plastic we cleared old piping, a TV set, loads of broken crockery (!), broken signage and various unidentifiable bits of circuit board. My favourite (in an ironic sort of way) was this. It's a wrapper for a deodoriser called 'Forest Fresh'. Someone's idea of a joke perhaps, or just a symbol of our times: that even in the natural surroundings of woodland we feel the need to 'enhance' our environment through artificial means.
More rubbish will, inevitably, accumulate over the coming weeks, but the clearance is a semi-regular activity and not only does it make the place look a little better it removes all sorts of traps and dangers for local wildlife.
It was a good way to spend a lunchtime. 
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM.
derWandersmann
11 Apr 2013You should plant bear traps in hidden locations, known to you and your friends, to catch litterers.
gdare
11 Apr 2013According to number of black bags, there was a lot of garbage around :irked:
Sometimes I could see warning about fines for littering (in Vancouver area, $2000 to $10.000) but people litter anyway. I hope at least some of them got fined :knight:
Wulpen
11 Apr 2013Yes the garbage Is a real problem
Words
12 Apr 2013Darko, we'll never discover the perpetrators, but it's worth clearing it up every now and then, especially the plastic, glass and metal. I think the birds may bring in some of the paper as nesting material. I've even seen them use plastic bags before. They can be very resourceful. Thankfully we've not had any major fly-tipping there.
Words
12 Apr 2013dW, I suspect much of the smaller litter is blown in by the wind. We're only a matter of yards from the football stadium and that generates a lot of litter on match days (and though they do their best to clear it up some inevitably gets away). Setting up a trail cam would be good though
Words
12 Apr 2013Erwin, I guess it's the price of having access to the countryside. Now this is what I would call a real 'litter picking' exercise. Puts our modest effort in the shade.
SittingFox
13 Apr 2013Glad you were able to help with that. Plastic rubbish is the curse of the 21st century, although I'm not fond of glass either (I had to abandon one footpath after Khamsin cut her paw on one piece).
Words
16 Apr 2013Adele, glass cuts can be nasty. I hope Khamsin recovered quickly. Plastic was high on our list of items to collect, and tin cans.
SittingFox
16 Apr 2013Yes thanks – she didn't need any stitches, but it was enough to prevent me taking her there again.
Words
17 Apr 2013:up: