💾 Archived View for magda.cities.yesterweb.org › oblog › 2024-october-20.gmi captured on 2024-12-17 at 10:09:59. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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This day marked my final field trip of this season, which disappointingly ended in observations that make me fear for 2025.
Only one butterfly was observed near "Mixed Field" around 2PM. Every other area, minus my yard, lacked insects. To my own surprise and outright fury, instead of "Bog Hill", which was announced to be grazed by sheep for roughly a year starting this month, Zone I is being grazed by over a hundred sheep right now. This is terrible not only because my municipality effectively lied about their management plans, Zone I "Cherry Hill" became a perfect contrast to the intentionally overgrazed FFH territory "Bog Hill" due to its sudden abandonment in 2020, attracting far more species than the hill that is "managed". Emphasis on "managed" because it first was overgrazed in 2013, only to later be grazed in irregular intervals by sheep and later become mostly abandoned to the point all the bushes that once blocked the only path to the hill's western brink, have begun to return and, ironically, cover the only sign indicating that this is a protected area. To this day, "Bog Hill" offers fewer species than all areas making up the "Main Zone" and remains the only area where I haven't encountered a single species that is listed on the now-largely-covered board that reads more like an ad for tourists "Guaranteed Sun" and, even worse, states that soil temperatures above 60°C are "normal" in my area (and, in conclusion, even desired, despite the recent droughts and all the brabble about "global warming").
The second shock occured in Zone II, where the entire place radiated a strong chemical scent that became unbearable after two minutes. A quick look up the bike path leading to the southeastern brink of the FFH territory, which, by the way, is not an official part of the FFH territory for some unstated reasons, has been closed off. While not entirely sure, it appeared to me that some people have begun to expose the hidden spring of the other stream that is following the bike path. This area was rejected from becoming part of the FFH territory due to – and excuse my language but I shit you not – being "too dirty". It is a wetland that has begun to develop swamp-like characterics, yet instead of making sure that it remains undisturbed, it once was considered for some management that eventually would have destroyed it. Given that the grazing of Zone I was witheld from the public, I don't discount the possibility that my commune wants to expand the FFH territory and thus... well, pretty much destroy anything surrounding it to make the signifantly wetter areas just as unusually dry and thus less diverse in terms of species as "Bog Hill".
Zone III, while mostly protected by a former villager who is fed up with how governments and "greens" manage biotopes to their respective deaths largely remains untouched, the grassy path now consists of almost nothing but trails of deep mud. Local farmers are driving across it to reach their fields, with one farmer owning a field south to the swamp-like pond just having brought out some chemicals. The scent was not as nauseating as the one I encountered in Zone II, however I pretty much got covered in it.
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My mother was lucky enough to encounter a single V. atalanta and two whites near the cemetery, whereas I spotted a bunch of different bees and a praying mantis in our yard. The remaining insects are seeking refugee in mostly-untouched areas within our village. Overall, this strong season ended in the way I did not imagine.