Nice to see things are changing

Tweet

The other day I stopped at a motorway service station - in the UK, on motorways there are no places to stop except these special ‘stations’ where you can buy food, use the toilets, get fuel etc. Mostly they are just a large parking area with a building containing several fast food outlets, toilets and sometimes showers, and usually a newsagent or a mini-supermarket. I only stopped because I needed a break otherwise I would be in danger of falling asleep - motorways have fast traffic but the driving conditions and the scenery are very monotonous - a potentially lethal combination. I parked at the edge of the parking area so I could get out and stretch my legs for a bit. There was a grassy area there intended for exercising dogs. I thought that was all there was, but I had a little stroll around and, rather to my surprise, found there was a lot more of a ‘wild’ area, with grassy banks, patches of trees, and several ponds and streams. A sign explained that this was a way of treating the run-off from all the hard standing areas. Instead of just collecting the rainwater, together with pollutants from vehicles etc, and diverting it into the drainage system, they had created this ‘wetland’ water treatment facility to collect the water and allow it to be cleaned by natural processes. Obviously this will help avoid the drains being overwhelmed after heavy rainfall, and diverting polluted water into rivers and the sea. And as an added bonus the place was full of wildlife. Even though it was right next to such a busy road there were birds singing everywhere, lots of flowers, even damselflies and butterflies. It was lovely to have a refreshing stroll around the little paths, and to see that, little by little, changes are being made to the accepted way of doing things which will hopefully lead to a generally more integrated approach to ‘nature’. All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2021.