Stills gallery - Watchtree
Foot and Mouth disease had a major impact on rural businesses throughout the UK. Not only the farming community suffered. As a countryside photographer I found myself banned from entering my lands, my outdoor studio. The pyres of burning livestock dotted the countryside, signalling the deaths of millions. Countryside magazine commissioned me to visit Watchtree in Cumbria, the very epicentre of foot and mouth carnage. The day was packed with emotion as I met people who had lost not only their livelihoods, but also their 'familes' of cattle. Bloodlines that had taken generations to build, healthy stock herds that couldn't easily be replaced. The place was swimming in sadness, but a new life was budding as nature reclaimed it's own. Buried under the ground are the decomposing bodies of hundreds of thousands of victims of a governments hurried response to a farming catastrophe.
Many hundreds of gallons of fluids ooze daily from the underground cells, out of the rotting bodies. This fluid is processed chemically, mechanically and finally by nature's own reedbed filtration system until it becomes drinkablly clear and flows into lakes where water life of all kinds flourish. This is a major success story. Many who lost their animals are still loath to come and visit, but those who do venture into the now peaceful heart of Watchtree feel nurtured, and sense the beginings of a healing process that needs to run deep. Will, the farmer (seen in these shots), who conceived this fitting memorial is a hero.