Yesterday, June 16th
2012 it blew a hoolie and I think that could explain why this morning as I
woke, the two ideas spinning around my head were wind, with a side order of
cats.
As I hinted at before I’ve always
been drawn to extremes of weather, with wind being the one I love the most. I
just find there is something invigorating about wind. I feel the air is being
scoured clean by a blast from upon high; a stagnant atmosphere displaced by the
fresh elixir of ion enriched oxygenated air, especially if one is at the coast.
It is 05.45am as I write. Outside
it is hard to believe that yesterday it blew and blew, all is calm, all is
still. I drove from Somerset to Wiltshire yesterday and stopped for a while at
Rockley near Marlborough. Here in the vast landscapes of the Marlborough Downs the
wind was blowing waves of energy through ripening corn on the hillside. Scudding
clouds moving rapidly aloft momentarily transformed the scene from a blanket of
mid-green to a kaleidoscopic brilliance of sunlit emeralds. Streak after streak
of brilliance shot across the corn which, in return, seemed to bow and curtsey
in thanksgiving for this blast of light. Wind can of course have its cruel
side. It can be disastrous for farmers at this time of year where cereals can
be flattened never to recover, making harvest difficult. I saw such a field as
this near Crooks Peak in Somerset on Wednesday, just the tram-lines stood proud
amongst the devastated crop.
Likewise storms are to be
respected. In the 1980s I was on a passenger ferry returning from a summer
holiday on the Isle of Arran in a force 9 gale. This huge ferry was coping well
although it was rough. Mid-crossing the Captain informed us via the ship’s
tannoy that he had to divert to assist in the rescue of a yacht; this meant
turning sideways to the waves. I have never been so frightened in my life; we
were being tossed about like a child’s toy but eventually reached the stricken,
now capsized yacht. By then the Lifeboat had somehow made it to the yacht and we
were stood down, finally returned to the mainland 3 hours behind schedule. My
overriding memory of that experience was of the car-decks. Due to the motion of
the ship, many vehicles had moved about, body panels were damaged and there was
a lot of glass from broken wing mirrors.
But wind, which after all is
simply a movement of gas from an area of high pressure to an area of low
pressure, is unseen; that is until its effect on a physical object can be
detected. As I look out of the bedroom window here, I can see Wilton Windmill high
upon the hill a mile or so away. Built in 1821 this is the last working
Windmill in Wessex and I love walking up there on a summer’s day just to take
in the view. But of course it’s there because of wind and for over 100 years wind
encountered and then turned its sails, powering the mill to feed the local
population, until its usefulness waned with the arrival of mechanical milling
machines. Thankfully it is now fully restored and open on Sundays throughout
the summer.
We may sometimes forget in this
petrochemical combustion age how vital wind was for human endeavour. The likes
of Columbus, Cook, and Megallan were all dependent on the wind to assist their
exploration of the Globe, so much so that a term still in use today “Trade Winds”
were so named after 16th Century explorers recognised the benefits
of these constant winds in assisting their preferred direction of travel. From
our cosy modern lifestyles there is often something romantic about seeing a ‘Tall
Ships’ out at sea, but we forget voyages were long and arduous. My grandfather
went to sea at the age of 14 and for the first years of his career worked on
sailing ships, often away from home for 2 years at a time. And this was just
100 years ago or so.
An often quoted saying is “what goes
around comes around” which is apt really for wind, as it never really goes away,
it is just blowing somewhere else. Renewable energy has thrust
wind, in the shape of wind turbines, back into the modern age. I have to say there is something beautiful
about wind turbines in the landscape. I know this will not be welcomed by many,
but that juxtaposition between sleek modernity and an ancient landscape appeals
to me. Turbines also receive bad press for their effect on wildlife. Reports of
dead birds at the base of the blades are regularly in the news.
I have recently been researching wind
turbine effects on wildlife and it is quite interesting. Birds have become
entangled in the blades, but it seems the actual building of the turbines has a
greater effect on birds, in the form of disturbance to ground nesting species, than
when in operation. Similarly recent research discovered a phenomenon called ‘barotrauma’
which affects migratory bats. In simple terms, when the bat passes the rotating
blade, it is able to avoid physical contact, however next to the blade, air
pressure drops dramatically and this causes the internal organs of bats to
collapse, fatally. This it seems explains why bats are found at the base of
turbines intact but dead. Another interesting discovery was that upto 100
meters downwind of a turbine, habitat change can occur due to vortex airflow.
More research is needed on all of these effects, and with an ever greater need
for electricity, I cannot see wind turbines going away.
But wind for me is something to be
embraced and enjoyed; something which pets seems to love too. Ever noticed how
when the wind is fresh but the sky is blue, cats such as our Molly, will scoot
and rush about the garden in mad chaotic zig zags.
It is like the devil is after them. Or
should that be a dust-devil, which in Arabia are called fasset el 'afreet, or ghost's wind….
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