Nature enjoying a welcome break as we stay home
IN the week that saw the 50th Earth Day celebrated, Ballymoney’s daily beach cleaner Sean Ferguson continued his own environmental mission within two kilometres from his home.
Sean is involved with Clean Coasts, and he begins each day with his trusted litter picker collecting rubbish along the coastline in his locality. Although Sean said he’s seeing less litter during the Covid-19 crisis, he has come across the likes of beer cans and PPE, such as gloves, left behind on the beach.
‘ There’s less litter because there are less humans coming to visit the beach but also there are less humans moving around inland, so less rubbish is ending up in rivers and getting washed down to the sea. I’m seeing a slight increase in tissues and rubber gloves – I’m not finding too many but it’s there, it’s noticeable. Doing what I do, you get used to what you see on beaches and you begin to notice things that are out of place’.
Sean said that he felt aggravated seeing a group of teenagers congregating on the beach during the lock down.
‘I went down for a walk, myself and my wife, and we noticed them there with their beer cans, music, bikes and bottles of Lucozade. We just said to ourselves that there’s no way that four lads of that age group are members of the same family.
‘I knew they were going to leave rubbish and, sure enough, the next morning it was all left. It’s hard to know if this will continue, but maybe every irresponsible teenager will always be irresponsible. Hopefully this crisis will teach them to respect the world a little bit more’.
In Sean’s view, nature is enjoying the break its getting as humans, for the most part, stay home.
‘It might make me sound like a hippy but I think the world is fighting back; it’s asked for a break and that’s what it’s getting at the moment. Nature is on holidays while we’re at home. It sounds weird but the birds seem louder when I’m out walking in the morning.
‘I’m seeing more stuff in nature and I think it’s amplified as you haven’t got the hum drum of cars, tractors, trucks, aeroplanes and physical human bodies drowning out the noise. I’m seeing more foxes on the paths, and I very rarely see a fox’.
While Sean appreciates nature deeply and is happy to see this change, he won’t be encouraging others to follow suit in his habits right now.
‘ The people I see are few and far between; the people I meet are those I know from around the village. If I lived in an apartment block, for me personally, I couldn’t live like that as I need to have my own separate space. My love for the ocean and the waterways is too deep.
‘I’m not massively encouraging litter picking as I usually would, as people heading off to the forest or the beach during this isn’t really going to help anything. I would suggest instead getting creative in your own garden, planting and making pots for seeds. We’ve seen this has had a massive increase in vegetable plants, trees, shrubs, people are actively planting at home now and that’s what we used to do as a species so it’s great to see that coming back’.
Although Sean is usually busiest in the summer months picking up litter after tourists and holiday makers, he expects things to be quieter in 2020.
‘I’m expecting to see a lot less rubbish, as social distancing is going to be here until a solution such as a vaccine is found. Caravan parks are like communities inside communities, I can’t see them opening, as it’s impossible to keep children away from each other. We had a massive concern here in Ballymoney over Easter because we thought Dublin was going to empty down to Wexford. We were very worried as a village because we’ve been very protective over what’s going on, everything we’re doing is following the HSE guidelines. We didn’t need an influx of thousands of holiday makers coming in. Thankfully, I didn’t see that influx – the beaches weren’t busy, the car parks were closed and where I live wasn’t busy’.