Terrace Walk

A favourite Blacka path is the short route from the bridleways at Lenny Hill upwards above the wooded gorge of Blacka Dyke. At the upper end there is a little rocky edge known as Eagle Cliff with a view of the steeply falling waters of the stream, a real waterfall after heavy rain.



The path has other pleasures. The route itself winds satisfyingly among young rowan oak and birch with the promise of a surprise encounter with wildlife such as deer, fox or various birds. Perhaps its greatest appeal is the dwarf shrubbery chaotically overgrown, laden with flowers in spring and fruit in August, and banked up almost like a living market stall.



Here it's worthwhile encouraging a tiny amount of artifice in all the wildness. As bracken invades the shrubs to steal the sunlight and deposit last night's rain on passers by the appeal is somewhat diminished. The solution is simple. Each walker, slowly progressing up the path takes a few bracken shoots and pulls them up by the roots, laying them on the surface of the path to show the next one along that this is the thing to do. There is no perfect answer to bracken, but this is as good as any and quite enjoyable. Done over a period of years the result is a steady weakening of the bracken at this point. The chief virtue is that nobody is disturbed by it and we engage with our own countryside giving a little back for all the pleasure we've received.

The technique is simple. Grasp the bracken stem well down where it's quite thick, and pull vertically (not to the side). It should slide out of the ground with no problems. It's even easier if done when the ground has received rain in the last few days. A good chunk of root comes out.



It's worth mentioning that bracken is not the only fern growing here and that the buckler fern (below) is nowhere near as invasive and should be left.

Sheffield Wildlife Trust, somewhere in its work programme for Blacka accompanying the current management plan indicates that where bracken grows through bilberry it will spray with herbicide. This is wholly unacceptable and local people should fight this at every opportunity. Industrial solutions to these issues are just inappropriate. Who knows what kind of mess they will make of it?