The tune of nature (in a minor key)

The tune of nature, (in a minor key.)

Standing in the woods on a sunny July day with a visiting friend, we pause our discussion of natural history and what that bloke we used to work with is doing now, and just stop and listen. The woods seem to thrum with an intense buzzing – every tree vibrating with its own note. Together, these notes combine to make a wide resonant chord that Nik and I no longer notice, so we are used to it.  “What’s that noise?” says our friend, “is it a bee swarm?” Not a swarm of bees but just insects – hundreds of thousands of tiny wings beating, hatching, flying, hunting, and living.

This is what the countryside used to sound like everywhere in northern Europe. Alive. Diverse. But a terrible silence has descended recently and nowhere more so than in the UK. Our friend is a professional  ecologist who spends a good deal of time outside in some of the last remaining wild places in England. Yet he had forgotten this sound, this essential chord of life, because it had been so long since he had heard it.

We’ve written about this phenomenon in this blog before. It’s called Shifting Baseline Syndrome. This is where acceptable thresholds for environmental degradation continually get lower and lower. In the absence of data or evidence to the contrary, each successive generation comes to think of a poorer and less diverse natural world as being the norm. Shifting Baseline Syndrome is not just a theory; it’s a reflection of the gradual loss of biodiversity and our changing perception of what’s normal.

It has been a delight to us in 2024 to have many knowledgeable guests tell us how wonderful Le Moulin is for wildlife and how it reminds them of 30-40 years ago in the UK (yeah our guests tend to be on the mature side. Vintage, the French would say.) We have also noticed a difference to since we began our rewilding programme, and despite the weird wet weather, it has been an exceptional year for butterflies and other flying insects.

However it is difficult to take pleasure from this when it relies on a contrast with the country that we still love and take no pleasure in seeing so degraded. When I last went back to the UK in late spring this year, I noticed it too. The municipal planting in a garden centre carpark, usually full of bees, was totally empty save one bluebottle. The chair of Natural England recently wrote this article asking where all the butterflies and bees have gone this year. This kind of environmental degradation is a direct consequence of Shifting Baseline Syndrome, where diminished biodiversity becomes the new norm.

We are also horribly aware that the island of Le Moulin, cocooned within the bubble of the PNR Perigord-Limousin is hardly a representation of France as a whole. Once we venture down off our granite plateau, things are just as bad here in France. This reality is a stark reminder of Shifting Baseline Syndrome, where reduced biodiversity is becoming the new standard.

This is all terribly gloomy – so what can we do? I don’t want to run our business on a strapline of “come and Instagram it before its all gone”. That’s just too bleak.

Once again it seems like re-wilding has the answer. It does feel like biodiversity (which in truth means insects) has improved here in the past 2 years since we properly embraced the  re-wilding philosophy. Now the grazing pressure has been reduced on Humpy Hill (and excluded in rotation from some sections to provide overwintering habitat for butterflies), the fritillary populations have gone bananas. Plus we’ve noticed a significant increase in ant hills which, while being interesting species in their own right, often have complicated and poorly understood relationships with some butterfly species.

The uncut “No Mow May” lawn has become a moth factory improving the catches in the moth trap as well as attracting species down to the garden areas, and obviously the bats are pleased. We’ve also just discovered that the PNR has recently launched its own version of No Mow May, so it’s great to be also participating in a French scheme as well as the original Plantlife campaign.

The ponds have been a joy all year so far. Full of pool frogs, dragonflies, damselflies and diving beetles, what felt like a bit of a gamble when we first dug them in the winter has paid off in the most wonderful way.

Finally Nik’s management of scrub and bramble around the site is fueling butterfly and moth production as well as providing habitat for harvest mice and birds. We’ve noticed more whitethroats, bullfinches and grasshopper warblers this year. No nightingales yet though we are hopeful we might attract them in the future. Interestingly there is a blackcap who sings outside our kitchen window who occasionally breaks out of his traditional blackcap repertoire to do a reasonable nightingale impression.

It confuses the hell out of the Merlin bird ID app, which first identifies it as blackcap, then switches uncertainly to nightingale, then back again to blackcap. I had been calling it a blackingale, but the friend with whom we opened this blog has re-christened it a NightCap!

So although we continue to be terrified of the silent spring and summer taking place north of La Manche, it helps to know that we might be helping in some small way. And also that nature retains the capacity to bounce back once the factors causing the decline have been eliminated – principally chemicals, overgrazing with the wrong species and obsession with tidyness. This hopeful outlook provides a counter-narrative to the disheartening trend of Shifting Baseline Syndrome, where the gradual loss of biodiversity is mistakenly accepted as the new normal.

In confronting Shifting Baseline Syndrome, it’s crucial to remember that even small positive changes can make a significant difference. We’re committed to this approach and to offering a hopeful example of what’s possible.

As we deal with Shifting Baseline Syndrome, our focus remains on the tangible benefits of rewilding. We believe that by showing how nature can recover when given the chance, we can inspire others to recognize and act against this pervasive issue. Shifting Baseline Syndrome should not dictate our expectations; instead, we must strive for a richer, more diverse environment.

If you would like to come and experience this abundance of nature, we still have some vacancies in July and August. Have a look at the website here and see which gite takes your fancy. Remember there is a 5% discount for members of CIEEM. For readers of this edition of the blog we are also offering a discount to members of Butterfly Conservation or the dutch equivalent de vlinderstichting for use during July and August 2024. Drop me an email at bonjour@lemoulindepensol.com to discuss.

I’m off for a nightcap. Cheers.

Photo of mating meadow fritillaries used by kind permission of Yealand Kalfayan. Check out his website here.