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There goes my sanctuary! (1 Viewer)

B

Balego

Well-known member
I have a small yard in a suburb and have spent our 7 years here trying to make it a tiny haven for birds to visit. It has a lovely little pond, birdbaths and feeders, and I spend the warm season outside enjoying being amongst the birds that visit. Behind us is a 10 acre field, that is home to many birds and wildlife. And now that field is about to be bulldozed, with a bunch of homes and a mall to be built. Surveyers have been there all last week and this week, a sign is up that retail space will open Fall 2005. The digging should start any time. I imagine that this time next year I will have other houses looking down into my private, peaceful backyard. And I imagine the noise and machinery that will soon begin work will scare off the birds I hoped would stay around this winter. I'm not at all pleased!
I noticed the other day.. that a forest of tall pines that ran alongside the highway just a minutes drive from me is now completely gone (it was there a week ago!), bulldozed flat, in preparation to build the hundreds of houses they will cram on the site! It makes me sick.
Bev
 
You (and the wildlife) have my deepest sympathies, Bev. I chose to live an hour's drive away from where I work simply because it was quiet and peaceful, and my garden backed onto a field. If I discovered that there were plans to build on it I would be devastated. Is there any way you can organise an appeal?
 
Thanks for the support. When we bought here, there was no mention of building on that site. But then proposed plans for a mall became known there was meetings held (my husband attended those), and the residents lost. That was three years ago, and up until now the site sat untouched. Now it looks like things are going to start to happen, and I'm sure that one of these mornings I will awake to the sound of bull dozers and shovels. I do have the desire to move to the country, but with about three years left until my husband retires, we'd held off on that idea until we know when and what he is going to do when that time comes. Maybe moving will come sooner than we thought.. I really cannot imagine having my view become a row of other peoples' living rooms!
 
My heart goes out to you, Bev. Although we're surrounded by houses here, we managed to fight off a new, larger development that was threatened nearby. But it's only a matter of time before it happens. Your birds will need you more than ever when their wild area is gone. Hang on in there for now.
Mary
 
It's a sad old world Bev, but just try to hang in there, and do your best for what wildlife and birds do stick it out or return. Regards bert.
 
Have my sympathies.

I saw several favorite spots turned into houses, too, and more are to go. A sad part of city birding :(
 
You have my sympathies too. I know how you must feel. Although it hasn't affected me yet, everywhere I look around here in Wales there seems to be new houses being crammed into the tiniest of gaps between other houses, and lots of farmland is being sold off with planning permission being granted, and housing estates springing up. Trees are being felled and not replaced, lots of forestry land where I walk with the dog has been razed to the ground in the last 6 months, acres and acres of pine, and nothing has been planted in its place, so much for forestry management. All the wildlife that must have lived there, I saw so many species of birds when I used to go there, and now there is this vast dead nothingness. A row of houses that used to have a beautiful uninterrupted view across a beautiful green valley now look at a factory unit that has been built on farmland opposite. I am just waiting for the day that the farm field alongside my house gets a housing estate built on it - rumours have being flying around here already.
 
Thankyou all for your responses.
I have to wonder how many birds will stay around, or come back. There is a huge mass of trees where the mall will be built, and numerous smaller trees here and there along the fenceline. All will be gone, of course, and the only trees will be the tiny ones they plant on each front lawn of the homes, which will take years to mature. Interestingly enough, at the top end of the field was a farm. "Country living', "Nature right outside your door", used to be used as a sales pitch. The farm now amounts to one small farmhouse and a barn, there is no longer any land around it, and certainly no more cows grazing!
Beyond the field is another developement of homes. I still can see the treetops, and in cornfields beyond, I watch the thousands of Canada geese come in in the mornings, and leave in the evenings. Soon that view will be blocked by rooftops. (I suppose my excitement at being able to digiscope through my back windows will be short lived!)

Not all that long ago, to get to this very spot I now live, we used to have to drive a country gravel road with woods on either side. I cannot even remember now where it was, as it is all just houses and more houses, streets and more streets. It is sad and I hope to move in the future to a place that will remain untouched by 'progress'.
 
Tough one, Bev. About the only way to be safe is buy on a recognized green belt and sometimes that isn't even safe from development.
Come to PEI, lots of country property available and very cheap compared to Ontario.
 
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Dear Bev - you sound like you may be just north of Toronto, Richmond Hill area? There is a develpment there that uses the "Next door to Nature" theme as their selling point, and all they've done is bulldoze it all to build the houses. I am in Aurora, which is growing leaps and bound as well. Farmers fields and woodland gone. Every year we think about moving further north to escape!
I have found though that with managing my backyard in a more natural fashion (native plantings of shrubs and perennials etc.) providing a pond, and feeders, that more and more species of birds show up in my yard. So keep your little paradise going strong, and you will be sure to have your birds coming back. Good luck!
 
We feel your pain. Little wonder that many of us over this side are moving abroad (or are seriously thinking about it) in order to find space and to rediscover the wildlife that was once common here.

JB
 
This is terrible. Already over here they think that half of all native European species are at risk. Why do we keep doing this? I live on the edge of a housing estate next to a copse. I recently found out it was all wood and farmland before, now the only things left are two copses. Luckily we have views over fields as well, but we don't know how long for.

They already want to expand this estate, which must have a good 200 houses. But for now the "sewage system can't cope". Not for long though, probably. It's sickening. I wouldn't even want to live here if the copse was destroyed. There are loads of lovely old oaks and countless bird and animal species.
 
My sympathies too.Here it is the same as well.Once all the land has been built around my house I think I will flee with the wild things:

All is grey.All is dull and nightfall comes.The allies are silent.
Nothing moves.Nothing stirs in the endless grey.My heart
breaks,it can't stand the toxic pain.My spirit is restless,it
wishes to fly away and that I will do.I'll go to the wild,
were grey is just a distant memorie.I'll go to the wild,
were all is calm.I'll go to the wild,'cause it does not
cause me pain the way the city does...
 
Thanks for the support everyone, and I see I'm not alone. Construction hasnt begun yet, but apparently it should start within the next couple of weeks. That wont be a happy day for me. Your prose, Dimitris, is very moving. Thanks for that. :)

Susan, I'm near Ottawa, but I think using this kind of selling points is common everywhere.
You know what is ironic? The names they give the streets and developments! I live near 'Kanata Lakes'. There ARE no lakes! We live in "Bridlewood', which I suppose is supposed to give the impression of English fox hunts.. street names are such as 'Equestrian, Bridle Path, Foxleigh, Huntsman, etc.
The developement across the field they are going to destroy is called 'Emerald Meadows', which boasts streets with names such as 'Grassy Plains', 'Spring Creek', 'Deer Chase', and 'Eagle View'.
And another new developement is called 'The New Englanders'. It is a bunch of 'terrace' homes, which amounts to nothing more than condos, stacked 4 high. I've never been to New England, but I doubt it looks anything like that!
 
I really feel for you. They cal it progress, but its so sad. My parents moved here in 1953, and the changes since then are huge, whole woods and fields gone. Luckily its still a nice place to live, so far.
 
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