Animals on the Move and Barton Fields in January

Animals on the Move
A family friendly multimedia exhibition called Animals on the Move will be at St Swithun’s Church Hall in Kennington next weekend:
Saturday 18th January 10:30 – 16:30
Sunday 19th January 11:30 – 16:30
Animals on the Move
The exhibition brings together local artists, conservation organisations and scientific researchers to show the journeys made by our migratory animals.
Animals on the Move
I saw the posters and the bird box at the Barton Fields Nature Reserve in Abingdon.
Animals on the Move
The reserve contains meadow and woodland. Lots of catkins on this tree / bush in Barton Fields.
Animals on the Move
There is also scrub and marsh with a number of ponds.

On one side runs the Sustrans cycle path and Abingdon Science Park. On the other side is the Thames Path alongside a stream, separated from the River Thames by a narrow strip of land.

I will return every month in 2020 and see what I can see and capture with the camera.

26 thoughts on “Animals on the Move and Barton Fields in January

  1. Horsesmouth

    On the subject of migration, (well emigration to be precise) does anyone know if there will be a union flag flying and church bells ringing on the 31st of this month?

    Reply
  2. Hester

    Since this area voted so strongly to remain I imagine the bells would be tolling very slowly. (The Union flag doesn’t sound too appropriate either!)

    Reply
  3. Daniel

    You can’t say that they voted strongly to remain. Perhaps we voted strongly because of Layla’s progress on the lodge hill interchange?

    2+2=4.

    You can’t start with the answer you want then make up the sum that suits.

    Reply
  4. Julian Annells

    Whether “this area” voted to remain, is surely inconsequential? As a nation, overall we voted to leave. As far as I’m aware, we haven’t claimed independence yet? Let the bells toll.

    Reply
  5. Daniel

    My apologies Hester. I misunderstood.

    **** R and Flamingo Lane do not read *****

    Having said that, it is entirely possible that this area would vote differently if asked again. Although as we don’t know, we can, conveniently, speculate as much as we like.

    Likewise, nobody knew that there was a possibility that we would be getting ‘american chlorinated chicken’ if we left the EU. It is possible, that if this were known in 2016, then a great many many people WOULD WANT chlorinated chicken so could have swung the vote the other way…so we would be a firmly Leave area.

    This could be an accurate truth. Or it could be bunkum. There is no way to tell.

    As it happens….we choose the outcomes we want and then jiggle the numbers to get the answer required.

    Reply
  6. Howard Moon

    Is Abingdon going to become it’s own country to stay in the EU? The kingdom of Abingdonia shall rise above all!

    Reply
  7. Iain

    Not quite sure how not ringing the bells (as seems to be the view in most places) implies anything much posted above.

    Leavers – you have won the election and are going to get your wish. Hopefully it will work out, but many of us remain skeptical, so dont expect us to suddenly become excited or enthused about it.

    Reply
  8. Julian Annells

    Iain, whether you’re excited or enthused, matters not a jot. As you said, Leave won, the majority of the Country voted 3 times to prove this, and so why not, as a Remainer, get behind it? It’s happening (at last!), so why not embrace it and make it work, instead of skulking in the shadows licking your wounds and hoping it fails?

    Reply
  9. Iain

    …because it’s a free country and I remain at liberty to decide what I do and dont believe. Just because lots of people think differently doesnt make me suddenly think Brexit is a good idea.

    Equally, I fully accept that lots of people (including Julian and Daniel) take a different to me, and I wouldn’t dream of stopping them expressing it, but will continue to argue against it.

    Likewise, Brexit is a far more nuanced position than pure yes/no decisions anyway. Personally, I think there are lots of problems with the EU and there will be some upsides to leaving which we can look forward to. Unfortunately I am yet to be convinced that these outweigh the many downsides to leaving.

    Maybe I will be shown to be wrong. We will all see soon enough as the government finally gets round to implementing its ‘plans’.

    Reply
  10. Daniel

    hear here!

    We are probably more in-tune than you think Iain; I often just play devils advocate…

    Out of interest, what are the problems with the E-ewe? I thought we have had it rammed down our throats for the past 3 years that the E-ewe IS perfect…and that the only reason anyone would want to leave such perfection personified is because they are a racist?

    It is interesting to hear a voice in the wilderness dare to say it isn’t perfect. But what isn’t perfect about it?

    Reply
  11. Iain

    Things generally associated with multiple countries working together. Some are necessary evils, where compromises are necessary and others are things from the past retained due to vested interests.

    Splitting parliament between brussels and strassborg is a fantastic example of a waste of money. Some of the institutions are somewhat opaque. Focus sometimes on wrong areas from British perspective, eg defence, fiscal integration, rather than trade deals, dealing with new technology, etc

    Hope this helps, Daniel.

    Reply
  12. Daniel

    It does Iain, thank you very much.

    I am not picking on you, just interested in the straw man…

    So ‘you’ want to waste money on a split parliament.
    ‘you ‘ want institutions to be opaque.
    ‘you’ want focus to be on things that are not in the UK’s interests.

    I hadn’t really thought about it before, but These sound like bad ideas and bad things to want.

    Wouldn’t it have been an interesting debate if, rather than brexiteers being labelled racists, brexiteers were said to be citizens who:

    Don’t want to waste money on a split parliament.
    Don’t want institutions to be opaque
    Wanted to focus on things in the UK interest such as defence, technology, trade deals etc?

    I know why…one sells ‘newspapers’. One doesnt.

    Reply
  13. Iain

    I doubt there would have been a brexit majority if theyd approached the campaign that way. They got lots of people to come out and vote by drawing on very emotive subjects.

    I wouldnt say the things i highlighted are in any way things i (or most people) would want. I just believe they are not as bad as losing/risking losing free trade in goods and services, free movement of capital, strong relationships and free movement. Per original point, asking a yes/no question like they did in the referendum doesnt leave space for nuanced opinions

    Reply
  14. Daniel

    I disagree, with the first part there Iain. I in fact think the polar opposite.

    I kind of agree that there was an ’emotive’ element but that was then (wrongly, in my opinion) picked up and run with because of our poor media and desire to ”sell copy” before presenting news or information.

    I know many many people on my demographic who may have been interested in a ‘leave’ pov however the fact it was hijacked in to a ‘you are a racist’ decision steered well clear.u

    I think that even now there are reasonable points to be made – as you did – about leaving. But who would dare even think it if they’d be labelled a racist’ first?

    It never started out as a racist’ issue. But it became one.

    Shame on the media. Shame on ‘the left’ for stiffling the discussion.

    Reply
  15. PPJS

    If the referendum result had gone the other way, I wonder how many Leavers would have left the debate.

    I don’t know; I wonder.

    But if you sincerely believe that the being in the EU is a good thing – or even the lesser of two evils – do you lose the right to your opinion because others don’t.

    I am just asking, so don’t shout at me; it won’t make your argument more convincing because it’s loud.

    Reply
  16. Hester

    I seem to remember quite a few influential politicians – of different political colours – advocating staying in and working to reform it from the inside. Examples like the ones Iain quoted were just the sort of things that could have been dealt with that way.

    Reply
  17. Julian Annells

    Hester, IF it could have been reformed then all well and good. What swayed it for me was well before the referendum, when David Cameron went to Brussels and asked for reforms, and was sent away with a flea in his ear and a big fat “NO”.
    Despite what others may have labelled me on other forums, (a knuckle-dragging racist was typical), or politicians/media telling me that I didn’t understand, my decision had nothing to do with race, but in how the future could be without the EU sucking the lifeblood (and money) out of us.

    Reply
  18. Iain

    I also wonder if a lot of the heat around brexit is linked to the way we collectively use social media these days. As I suspect most people, regardless of how they voted, would accept, this isnt a cut and dry issue.

    There are reasonable arguments (and some unreasonable ones) on both sides and people have to weigh these up and translate it into ‘stay’, ‘leave’ or ‘abstain’.

    Short comments like the ones we all post here make it difficult to describe the complexity of why we have reached our conclusions, leading to simplification and generalisation.

    Like most people, I have family members and friends who voted differently from me. When we talked it through, it often turned out, per Daniel’s post 15, that we agreed on most points, and had just reached different conclusions on how the arguments balanced out.

    Perhaps we need to spend more time chatting over a pint (cant wait for January to end!) rather than swapping headlines on line?

    Reply
  19. Daniel

    The beauty of this blog is that it promotes conversation. That’s why it’s so special. The beauty of conversation is that it has no road, no map, no destination.

    You enjoy the destination; I’m here for the journey.

    Reply
  20. David

    The beauty is somewhat dulled when it’s always the same conversation. It seems like it’s going on despite the blog, rather than because of it.

    Reply

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