Top-soil in farmlands are coveted items. It takes a very long time for top-soil to form, and is almost entirely responsible for providing the foods humans eat across the globe.
Strange as it may sound, top-soil is increasingly being sold across relatively vast areas in north India by farmers to maker of bricks.
Tall chimneys scattered across the landscape give away locations of the kilns that are fueled by fire wood, also taken from the immediate surroundings.
A new chimney is being constructed and marks the location of a newbrick kiln in Barabanki district.
The removal of top soil leaves behind brown scars, and also walls of mud.
Barren grounds in Etah are used to dry tobacco leaves afterthe top-soil has been sold to make bricks.
While the effect of such removal on agricultural productivity remains unknown, the walls certainly have great utility for wildlife. Foxes use them to den, and bee-eaters and bank mynas use them to nest.
Bank Mynas make their condominiums in a sheer wall createdby removal of top soil for making bricks in Mathura.
Strange and unpredictable are the ways in which "new" habitat becomes available for wildlife in this human-dominated landscape!
(Photograph information: Chimney in Barabanki district photographed 20 Nov 2008; barren ares in Etah district photographed 14 May 2010; nesting Bank Mynas in Mathura district photographed 25 Mar 2009.)
