Little England - Wetland Bog - Full Story - 05 September 2008.

Mick Davies.

Little England - A Plan for the future.

Little England Wetland Bog was first discovered by me during a visit to Chiang Saen in November 2001.
I named it Little England as the surrounding landscape reminded me of the Wiltshire Downs. The bog itself is more similar to that of Beauliegh Road a famous birding site situated in the New Forest, Hampshire, England.
The birds of Little England are of similar grouping to that of the UK and a number of open country and heath land species are to be found.
Honey Buzzard nest in the area, Common buzzard is a winter visitor and the migrant Amur Falcon passes in the autumn.
Our first Harrier roost was discovered here in December 2001 and contained about 35 birds.
Other bird species that show similarities in habitat with English and European wetlands and are commonly found include; Grey Heron, Snipe, Green Sandpiper, Barn Owl, Common Kingfisher, Bee-eaters, hoopoe, Roller, Swallow, Larks, Pipits, Wagtails, Orioles, Warblers, Chats, Shrikes, Finches and Buntings.
As an ex British field birder, with major interest in migration. Little England holds an attractive number of birds that would be highly sort after in Britain.

Grass Owls were first noted here during April 2007.

My attention was first drawn to Little England when I first met Dowroong. Her farther had a home to the north and we discovered an interesting series of back dirt tracks that led to Little England. The area was amazingly different to typical open country habitats in Thailand and is farmed in the more traditional way of rice farming and contained small areas of paddy fields. The uplands at that time were used for cattle grazing and there was a considerably regeneration of secondary growth woodland on the upper hills and some contained fairly mature trees. The lowland tracks were tree heavily tree lined and afforded shade. Birding was good and in this more open type habitat birds could be more easily found and observed.

It was in December 2001 that I first realized the impotence of Little England. We were birding one north of Sop Ruak and I noticed two Pied Harriers  flying to roost in the late afternoon. I had a sneaking suspicion as to where they were heading and the following evening we position ourselves on a hill and overlooking what is now known as the Little England Harrier roost. We were rewarded with the thrilling sight of thirty or so Harriers coming into roost.

The discovery of the first breeding record of Grass Owls was made in April 2007, was a major and I contacted the BCST with a view to protecting the area for the future.

Little England Wetland Bog is a site of significant importance in Thailand as it has a number of important features that make the area as a whole unique in Thailand.
If this were to be combined with the field and conservation work of M. Davies and D. Danlamajack of Yonok wetlands project, we can hope to secure a future for; Little England Wetland Bog with a major emphasis on giving children a real insight into nature field trips and combined with a learning of English and Buddhist traditions.

One point I have to make clear: Buddhism / Christianity:
Dowroong is a Buddhist and I am open minded. Religion has been corrupted to extremes over the centauries.
Dowroong and I believe this “Jesus and Buddha” gave us all a set of common sense rules for life, which gives us great freedom in our lives without having fear of ones conscience. We seek only to give an understanding of all nature and life and humanity. The system of capitalism has to make the change and soon. We need to look after communities before we are ultimately consumed. Time is now seriously running out for personal freedom. Investment in community nature is a way forward and it is for all to share in the world’s wealth.

Little England Wetland Bog - Preservation Project – Yonok wetlands - M. Davies and D. Danlamajack.

1;         Habitats; The major habitat concerns are the two differing wetland habitats.
1a;       The grass owl bog: The bog is roughly circular and is about an acre in size. At the north end is a reed bed and a number of dykes are located. The bog itself is floating vegetation and contains a variety of plants. The area of on the northern side is quite different as it is partly in deep water.
1b;       The Harrier roost bog; This is the larger area and is a mixture of floating grass, sedges and other plant life. The bog area perimeters are dry and contain scattered bushes and trees with some scrub and bamboo.

2;         Community involvement; through our activities in trying to protect the area we have got to know many people and have gained a wide respect by many in the community. I believe that we have gained that respect as we do not seek financial gain and give a large amount of time to teaching children and adults English and conservation. Through this method we have now a waiting list of villages that wish to be part of our teaching classes and Dowroong woman conservation group. Hear is a great opportunity for a community based project that will ultimately secure Little England and benefit the community and tourism for the area as a whole.

This is achievable and I am sure we can overcome foreseeable difficulties. Here is the plan.

2a;       We have been asked to teach English and conservation in the villages of Mai Cum; there are about eight villages situated in the border areas of Little England.
            We also have been asked to teach in a similar way at the Royal project village based at Doi Soi Ngo; situated at the northern end of the little England Valley. We met with the villagers of Royal project Doi Soi Ngo, earlier this year, when I discovered that they were in the progress of destroying the Little England wetland by converting to agriculture by the planting the hill side with root crops and the lowland bog with rice plantations. We quickly dealt with this matter and at present it is “on hold”.
            Dowroong and I spoke with the project manager and we attended an informal meeting at the village. We also discussed conservation possibilities with the BCST and Dr Mong. However the land ownership is unclear and so we are waiting for a decision.
It is for this reason that I am now pushing for cash to fund this project. If we do not act NOW! The site will I believe be gone soon as the dry season is approaching.  

2b        This is the only way we can save the area. Firstly we need to take a lease on the land. It may be possible that the bog could be set aside by the land owner. However some of the hillside will have to be acquired and we can use part of that land to contribute to the project and community wealth by planting a mixture of trees and crops. The remainder would be developed as a natural landscape and a barrier to commercial farming. The sensitive design of planting will allow for harvesting of future trees while keeping others as permanent features.

By utilizing the community, conservation groups and school children we can give benefit to all and thus persevere the wetland and influence changes in attitudes to nature and hunting.

Little England could easily be turn into a working community wetland project whereby people contribute their time for free and benefit from the sale of crops and good and at the same time investing in a better future for us all.

3:         With Little England as a base we can more easily deal with issues related to Yonok and areas within Chiang Saen.

4:         I am certain that we can achieve amazing results here and through Dowroong work with the community, we will get there support, but we do need to provide some financial investment.
The full details of the program will have to be workout, how ever, much will be with advice and ideas from ourselves, the communities and I would hope from conservation bodies.

I have included these links to various web pages within the Yonok wetlands project website that are appropriate to Little England.

Little England - A Plan for the future.

Dowroong Danlamajak & Mick Davies.

All rights reserved. © 2008 Yonok Wetlands Project