Just the birds this summer
IT’S around this time that I sneak in a mention of my favourite weekend of the year, the Strummercamp Festival.
Strummercamp runs with the philosophy of the former Clash frontman Joe Strummer, and offers a wide range of music and entertainment.
And it is held at Oldham Rugby Union Club, which is in a bowl covered in lush green plants filled with buzzing and fluttering wildlife in spring.
I think this weekend, it will finally sink in that life has changed during the lockdown, because I won’t be meeting friends and camping out in that beautiful location.
And camping is such a great way to get to know nature, being awakened by the dawn chorus all around you is such a wonderful experience.
At festivals, I find it a bit awkward deciding when to actually leave my tent, so I spend quite a bit of time studying the insects at the top.
It’s always great when a spider has made a home there, and proceeds to capture flies that unwittingly wander into its web.
When I do get up I stretch my weary bones by wandering along the periphery of the rugby club site looking at the flowers and insects that they depend on.
The last weekend in May is always good for bumblebees, butterflies and hoverflies.
The friendly officials at the club tell me that deer and foxes are commonly seen in this area between a town and the edges of the Pennines.
If you wander a little further, there is a nice walk along the Manchester and Ashtonunder-Lyne Canal and then onto the River Medlock and Daisy Nook Country Park.
I used to attend the WOMAD festival in Bath and came upon friends of mine from the Bristol Natural History Consortium holding a BioBlitz, to survey all the wildlife at the world music festival in July.
That year I watched a big brown hawker dragonfly, flying at a steady metre above the ground causing a mix of delight and panic as it crossed the campsite.
Just because we can’t attend festivals and other events this summer, it doesn’t mean we cannot get our camping gear out.
Put your tent up in the garden and sleep out there.
It will be a wonderful experience, sitting out watching bats in the evening and waking as the blackbirds, robins and tits let rip for the dawn chorus.
You could even set up a barbecue and have some breakfast, while the world buzzes around you.
Obviously you won’t have the joy of the six-foot punk rocker snoring loudly in the next tent to keep you awake, so it’s a winner all round.
Being out in the wild is a great way to improve your mental and physical health and to understand the plants and creatures that surround us.
I don’t need a festival to persuade me out of doors this summer, I will still wander our local beauty spots and pop into Wildlife Trust nature reserves as they slowly re-open in the coming month. And while I do love jumping around to the Clash, the Ramones, the Undertones and the Roughneck Riot, the best music in my life is the sound of birdsong - it truly is inspiring.