Another week, another week searching for our new base. This week I visited a property in the Pagham Harbour area and after the work was done I spent a rather nice afternoon at the reserve. 56 species in about 3 hours. Ebird list HERE.
This would be a superb place to be based. I checked out a 3.5 acre site, a few 100 meters from the RSPB entrance and about 4 miles from the coast so presumably good for migrants considering it is well within the Selsey Peninsula. This site would actually be perfect. However we need to do some affordability calculations now as we are still confronted with the issue of this has all come 5 years ahead of planned resulting in smaller deposit/capital pot and during a time of rising interest rates. Our earlier affordability calculations did not include a 6% borrowing rate as our investments from only 10 months ago were at rates of 1.5%. A LOT has changed in the last year.
We might need to resort to a plan B which would be to look for something smaller and there are also family issues to consider as the agreement for plan A was in five years time when Jacob had finished primary school. Plan B wouldn't be too bad either- would mean relocating in the area we are now so that Jacob can finish primary school, kick the can down the road and in the meantime buy a holiday home on the coast and several days a week there, birding and moth trapping. Plan B would actually be a lot more laid back but apart from a large garden (which we will rewild) it wouldn't be the 'private nature reserve' base we wanted and more of a 'wildlife garden base'. However plan B would free up a more substantial disposable income stream which could be diverted to developing the Bulgaria project (which ecologically is actually much more valuable and where we can get a lot more for our money). Will see where all this ends up. At the moment all the cards are being put on the table to make some choices
In other news, my gambling on green investments has finally paid off and I am now 6% up! Although that success is mainly due to rises in the buffering investments (e.g. META, NETFLIX etc) but Aker Carbon Capture and TESLA are both on the rise. However most of my green investments are still liabilities but at least they are being balanced now. Seems to make a lot more sense to invest in a new economy rather than just sit around scratching my arse just doing Low Carbon birding- although I still intend to do a lot of Low Carbon and Ultra Low Carbon Birding (aka Garden and private plot birding). I like nothing more than sitting around scratching my arse birding but I also feel I have a responsibility to contribute to a new economy and a new system. So I hope all this will work out.
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