tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8917689561000538436.post1825880958036475356..comments2011-03-30T04:00:20.551+01:00Comments on Keep Greenbank Green: Who's "Completely Pointless"?Chris Hutthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532451004057748734noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8917689561000538436.post-10279985159522156992009-01-12T22:45:00.000+00:002009-01-12T22:45:00.000+00:00Mr Ferguson really has no idea what he's talking a...Mr Ferguson really has no idea what he's talking about.<BR/><BR/>He could try a little reading to improve his understanding. For example, the "Bristol to Bath Railway Path Ecological Survey 2002 for the Avon Valley Partnership" conducted by tried and trusted Wessex Ecological Consultancy noted that:<BR/><BR/>"The main value of the cyclepath is in providing a nearly continuous strip of wildlife habitat, in particular of scrub, through areas which are otherwise either urbanised or intensively farmed. This facilitates the movement of mobile species such as birds and some insects between otherwise isolated sites, especially in the urban areas. In the longer term it also allows population exchange between sites and helps to prevent genetic isolation and allows species to colonise new sites.<BR/><BR/>The scrub along the cyclepath is particularly valuable in this respect. Although the scrub does not generally support a wide range of species it provides a valuable habitat for birds and insects in areas where suitable habitat is otherwise lacking. Species such as bramble, hawthorn, apple, plum and goat willow are particularly important in providing valuable invertebrate habitat."<BR/><BR/>It is also noted that a little way down the path, near Stepney Walk, the experts recommend regular flailing of that particular area to maintain the brambles that have grown up there, as they are also useful wildlife habitat and food sources in this inner city.<BR/><BR/>If Mr Ferguson truly wishes to be green and sustainable he needs to understand something of the natural world that sustains our lives, not just dismiss it as something to be trampled over on his way to building.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com