An unwanted visitor

Firstly, I want to make it clear that I write this blog post with kindness and to raise awareness rather than with the harsh, grumpy attitude farmers get tainted with all the time when they are trying to make a point or highlight a problem within our industry. 

I honestly hope the celebrations which were had were lovely, and everyone who attended the function enjoyed. I hope there was a lot of smiles and cheers and that the celebratory conversations are still ongoing from the memories you all made.

However, what greeted me on Thursday evening, as much as I instantly laughed at the bright aesthetics of it, soon became feelings of annoyance and questions of what if's.

Helium balloons whether they are celebratory birthday numbers or your favourite kids characters and emojis can be extremely damaging to both livestock and the environment when they start to deflate, lower in height and eventually get caught or land in our farming or rural landscapes.

Thursday evening I was walking the field to check some livestock and came across an unwanted visitor.  The field contained young, naïve lambs who, as animals, I have come to learn over the years are always more curious about strange and unusual objects than their older ewes.

The hedgerow in which the strange object and unwanted visitor was caught up in contained a large, red and white, emoji mushroom. Yep, you read that right (insert laughing face emoji). It was blowing around in the evening breeze and the bright red mushroom cap caught my attention from the autumn evening sunlight (the sunsets have been amazing haven't they) to which I double checked I wasn't seeing things or thinking that I was feeling a little off colour.

Obviously, I quickly walked over to the hedgerow to remove the said mushroom before it deflated even more and was laying on the ground where the young naïve lambs could get hold of it, in which they could potentially attempt to eat it resulting in as all farmers know, that said animal choking to death!

This incident took me back to a conversation I had a few weeks ago with a visitor to the farm who was not from an agricultural background. They had lost their father a couple of years ago. He would visit our area on holiday every year for over 40years with his wife and soon fell in love with certain tourist hotspots. The individual had brought her partner and two children down to the area to spread some of her fathers ashes and additionally release a heart shaped helium balloon in his memory. 

Most people would read that and think of it as a lovely gesture, which of course it is. However, when she told me their plans, she asked me where I thought would be the best place to release the balloon? My response, a little hesitant at first was as follows. I told her 'it depends on who you plan to annoy more?'. I tried my best to explain the situation in an educational way and not in a angry, harsh tone of voice that a lot of farmers get labelled with. I explained that if the wind was blowing inland then you need to hope it doesn't land on a farmers field with livestock as that would probably annoy the farmer. However, if the wind was blowing out to sea, you'd better hope a fisherman, sealion or bird doesn't pick it up.....do you get my point here?

Where do people think these balloons go once they are released? They see them disappear up into the sky and beyond, yet I question how long does it take before they remove their gaze, forget about them, and carry on with their day not thinking about where exactly that balloon has landed and as a consequence who they have annoyed or even scared in the process?

It also made me question how can the education of what these balloons are doing to our environment, livestock and rural communities be improved?

Once the balloon was removed from the hedgerow, I quickly disposed of it in the best place possible...the bin. This isn't the first deflated balloon we have had on farm, and it probably won't be the last.  As I mentioned at the start of this post, I am the first person to get excited about a celebration where memories can be made however, I can think of a million and one other ways to enjoy the occasions which doesn't involve a balloon that won't get disposed of properly.

Until next time.

Hx