Here is a story from a recent edition of the Friends of the Clwydian Range and Dee VALLE

What a privilege it was to attend a launch event for our Dark Sky Officer Dani Robertson’s wonderful book “All Through the Night” organised by Mold Bookshop. Dani, who leads the Prosiect Nos initiative covering all the designated landscapes in north Wales, is a passionate advocate of the urgent need to protect the world from the excesses of light pollution, the harmful effects of which she articulates is a very readable way in this outstanding volume.

I was expecting to be informed about all of the ways in which excessive and inappropriate lighting is damaging our environment and biodiversity, with the human race and, more importantly, wildlife in general, suffering the consequences. This Dani does with a detailed and expert eye, drawn from both keen personal observation and reference to worldwide scientific opinion. The book contains much more than that though, with fascinating chapters on how a knowledge of the skies above us was such an important part of the way in which society in previous times learned to adapt to changing seasons, and managed their lives and farming practices accordingly. She describes too the cultural and mystical influence of the sky, with detailed references to the ancient constellation related practices here in Cymru, but with other examples from all over the world. In contrast, the phenomenal and growing amount of space debris in orbit around us is another harmful development she describes.

From our perspective, her most important message is that it’s not too late to tackle this perhaps least known but most insidious form of contemporary pollution, with large sections of humanity now denied the chance to observe clear skies and all the interest they hold. The Milky Way is just a reference in books to a great many of us now. The simple answer in switch off! – but Dani’s book is also filled with practical day to day actions we can all take to make the lighting we use more environmentally friendly – and enable all of us to see more of the stars again wherever we live. This is a theme throughout the book, with the number of stars visible with the naked eye in the constellation Orion a simple test of just how good or bad the light pollution is for each of us where we live. Here in north Wales we are still blessed with a relatively dark sky, with Ynys Enlli achieving international dark sky recognition. Dani is currently working tirelessly to achieve wider international status for the area, including our own AONB. In her book she acknowledges the practical support she receives from the AONB’s David Shiel, Hannah Marubbi, Gwenno Jones and Ceri Lloyd – seen pictured here with Dani at the launch event. “They have big ideas and are not afraid to make them happen” says Dani.

What really makes the book is the deeply personal perspective from which Dani writes, taking us into her confidence in a most engaging way. Brought up to start with on a brightly lit housing estate in Manchester, her family moved to the deeply contrasting west coast of Ynys Mon when she was very young and, with a father keen on the natural world, she quickly followed his path with the wonders of the night sky leading the way. The book relates her personal story in much more detail and is the theme that holds the readers interest all the way through. “There’s husbandry in Heaven” says Banquo in Shakespeare’s Macbeth “their candles are all out”. All he was alluding to was a cloudy sky – Dani’s book deals with the grim present day reality of light pollution denying us a starlit sky. I won’t say more – do have a read of the book yourselves and make a note of it as an ideal Christmas gift!!

All Through the Night by Dani Robertson – published by Harper North