Green Holidays

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Now, things are hotting up! You should now be able to identify some of the UK’s most common birds, and it is hopefully making you not only look forward to going out and looking for these species – but also making you want to find out what the other ones are….

So let’s not disappoint you with this next bunch of the more noticable birds – and lets have a bit of fun today.

The following 5 birds really can’t be mistaken for anything else as they are unique in their appearance – however, they are rarer than the average bird and can be quite shy:

Kingfisher:
This one is so easy to spot with it’s bright blue colouring in flight.

There is no other bird in the UK that is aquamarine in colour and that you will normally only get a flash of as it darts along a river bank.

When they alight on a branch or twig, you get to see a whole different side of them with their bright orange breasts and patterned heads.

photo credit: neal young.

They can sometimes be found near beaches, estuaries and other waterways, but a quiet river with a steep sandy bank is their prefered habitat.

They are a protected species though, so do not disturb them in or around a suspected nest or if they have young present – otherwise they could abandon the nest and you could get into hot water if publishing or sharing any of the images!

Hoopoe:
Not a commonly seen bird – but one that you won’t forget as these birds have got a very unmistakable head crest as well as a bright black and white wing and tail patterning.

photo credit: Alan Manson

They also have a very long curved bill which would only normally be found on wading species – but this bird is rarely ever found near the coast – or infact any water.

They feeds on insects and worms in orchards, agricultural land and vineyards only in the summer (if at all), and are really only seen in passing and alone. They do not breed in the UK.

Puffin:
Do I even need to describe this one?

I think virtually everyone could tell a puffin from any other seabird – and even any other auk – by their crazy patterned beak and comedy face!

photo credit: Joanne Goldby

Golden Oriole:
This bird will make you think you are on holiday in the tropics with it’s rich yellow and black colouring.

photo credit: brian.gratwicke

Although very secretive you can still get a good look at these birds if you know where to look for them; namely poplar plantations in Suffolk, of flying along the south and east coasts on migration around May and August.

These birds are best searched for by song – so get used to their distictive call before you head out looking for them!

Avocet:
This slight black and white wader is the emblem of the RSPB – and for good reason.

It was virtually wiped out in the UK, and the RSPB managed a great conservation project that saw them bounce back. Now you can see them all over the east coast in the summer and down in the south-west over the winter.

They can be mistaken at a distance for gulls, but through your binoculars you will see their noticable black and white markings, their delicate upturned bill and their long blue legs!

photo credit: spencer77

I know these were all a bit less common than some of the other birds covered so far in these guides – but sometimes it is noce to see the most striking of our birds to bolster your interest.

Yes, its great to be able to identify those smaller garden birds that you see regularly – but it is such a thrill to see something so different, bright or elusive!

Next installment will be the most common birds of prey…..

Your actions alone can make the countryside a better place for yourself and others.

By sharing your adventures – I don’t mean inviting other people along to your picnics, dog walks or countryside rambles – I mean allowing them to have as much fun as your yourself would expect.

Your actions can directly affect other people who are within a few feet or even a few miles of you while you are outdoors – but they can also affect people who follow in your footsteps a few weeks or even a few years after you.

How you may wonder? But it is all quite simple.

The Countryside Shop:
Every inch of the countryside is owned and managed by someone. Whether it is a private landowner, a charitable body or your local council – someone is looking after the land and using it or maintaining it according to their needs.

You are however, permitted to walk through their land, fields, forests, glades and even gardens on footpaths (or for a small fee) if they are on a footpath, bridleway or other right of way. But you are only a visitor.

Imagine the countryside as you would a high street shop. You are allowed in – even welcomed in – but there are unspoken ‘rules’ – like a society code. For example you can just go in and break things, scream and shout, play loud music, drop litter, let your dog run wild, allow your kids to climb on display areas or run into ‘private’ areas or eat their food and scare of other customers.

Yet people do this in the countryside all the time.

What Happened Next?
Well, firstly in this shop – you would be seriously affecting their profits – and just like any business they react to problems and can’t afford to lose money.

But how can they make money if you are scaring off their other customers and have left the shop in such a state that they have actually spend money to fix things and replace broken stock. However, some things are irreplacable – so they may never have them in the shop again.

And secondly, they may well introduce a few rules to make sure that these things don’t happen again, like not allowing children or dogs, closing off certain areas at certain times, charging people to go in to get some money back and changing what they sell.

In the same way, landowners who suffer from vandalism, injured livestock and crop damage may put up extra fencing and funnel the ‘humans’ down a thin footpath rather than allowing them free access to the land.

photo credit: Crystian Cruz

Other Changes:
They may also be forced to lock gates, block entrances to farms and other buildings that aren’t actually on the footpath but were a beauty or were of great interest to walkers like yourself.

They may have to introduce entrance fees to car parks or other areas to re-coup some of their lost funds – which you will have to start paying if you want to visit the area – or maybe close off the ‘free parking’ that they had allowed on their land until all the rubbish that was dumped their was costing too much to have removed!

And damage to certain rare plants or wildlife species may be too much for that species to survive there anymore – so it will be lost forever just becasue you wanted to take that unusual plant home with you!

So noise and vandalism can affect more than just other walkers on that day – and carelessness, selfish actions and laziness can change the very landscape we love over time.

The countryside can’t keep going in its current state if we don’t do everything we can to preserve or improve it. If landowners can only run their business by shutting out humans – then that is just what they will have to do!

You might be dying to walk the Inca Trail – but you don’t want to actually die!

You might not believe that 1 in 10 serious mountaineers actually die every year from altitude sickness; so if they can be affected by this strange affliction – then what makes you think you won’t?

And as we all know – avoiding dangerous situations in the first place is not only the best way to keep your adventures as eco friendly and as people friendly as possible – but makes for a better holiday than having to call out the emergency services and spending a while in recovery or hospital!

First Steps:
The first thing to think of is whether you are at risk in the first place.

So if you are trekking anywhere under 10,000ft you are probably ‘OK’ – but when you start going above this height (places like the Andes, the Himalayas, Kilamanjaro and Mount Kenya) you should really know the symptoms of mountain sickness in yourself and your climbing friends.

This is expecially true if you are flying into this height from sea level, catching a train into the mountains or driving to very high locations as you haven’t acclimatised yourself to the different physiological challenges of less atmospheric air and the extra strains it puts on the active body.

The main thing to remember at all times is that altitude sickness can strike quite fast, may only have a few seemingly random symptoms, can affect even the most fit and experienced climbers or trekkers, and can and does kill people.

So take it seriously.

photo credit: discosour

How To Avoid It:
The best way to avoid getting ill from mountain sickness is ascending very slowly when at high altitudes – preferably acclimatising slowly on arrival.

Following recommended climbing ‘rates’ is also a good plan – at about 1,000ft a day – or as slow as your slowest walker. And of course this means after you have acclimatised to being at 10,000ft in the first place.

Not planning a ‘rush climb’ is another key factor, as most stories of problems are from people who ignored earlier symptoms as they felt that they ‘had to get to so and so before stopping’. As a result they pushed too hard and their bodies reacted badly.

And make sure you are planning for stops along the way, take frequent breaks and always know where your descents are incase you need to get lower. It is better to arrive healthy in 5 days than have to stop after 3 and get air-lifted to a hospital!

Some of the earlier symptoms of altitude sickness could be mistaken for something else, or ignored if people don’t want to ’cause a scene’ – but if you are at height, you should always assume that it is altitude related and consider stopping for the day or descending slightly until the symptoms disappear.

Bearing in mind the headache you get is your brain swelling up, and the cough is due to fluid flooding your lungs – I think anyone in their right mind should think about descending anyway!

No flights, local services and eating out don’t always add up to Green Holidays!

Say you decided to stay in your own country, drive to town with something worth seeing in it and eat ‘local food’ for a few days – sounds like a reasonable plan for a green adventure, doesn’t it?

But what if the actual story was: you drove yourself and your partner 300 miles to a town with a giant themepark close by and ate take-outs?

Not quite so green after all.

But it is what many people do when they stay home for their vacation – whether they meant to be green or just wanted to ‘save’ money.

But the savings are not just in physical money spent – there is an invisible cost too.

The Problem:
The ideal ‘green holiday’ is something that not many people want to actually do with the few precious days off a year – especially if their job is quite hectic.

They don’t want to carry all their clothes on a train to get there in the first place; then after arriving in the nearest town – they don’t want to have to get public transport to their guest house when there are ‘hotel chains’ right outside.

Preparing food would also be a chore – as even if their eco-friendly guest house gave them use of the kitchen, they would have to then go and buy all their food from a local store – check it was all locally grown or organic (no usually the case in smaller or more rural towns) and then carried it back on foot or by bus.

Alternatively, they would have to go out all the time and try to find a suitable eatery for their meals – and I’m sure after a few days in the town – they would have exhausted the eco choices and then have to keep going back and using all the same places.

The Answer:
Well, it is difficult to plan a totally green holiday even close to home – but you can eliminate the worst offenders along the way – like the flight.

That one part of a holiday could account for a huge amount of carbon emissions – so even if you drove your half empty car 1000 miles across the country, you still would have emitted less.

photo credit: woodleywonderworks

You still want pleasures though – otherwise why take a holiday in the first place – so go 50/50. If you love the city – then settle for that not-so eco friendly chain hotel on the high street, 2 seconds from the train station – as you won’t be needing the car in town, so can make eco savings elsewhere.

If you love the countryside, then you can drive to the isolated eco friendly guesthouse with a car full of food as you probably won’t need the car when you arrive as you will be walking everywhere anyway.

The same can be done for other areas of your holiday, think of what you actually want out of your holiday in the first place – what is most important. Then think about green savings around that.

If you want luxury; you might be able to cut back on the distance travelled. If you need a specific location; then look to change your transport or maybe increase the time you are there.

Holidays are meant to be fun – and it doesn’t hurt if they are a shade of green too!