Pasturing

The farmer who is responsible for the grazing animals on Blacka lives many miles away at Bradfield. He was up here yesterday from the evidence of vehicle tracks and he failed to close the gate. This is despite the complaints made by him and on his behalf by SWT about other people leaving gates open. Worse than that I could not close the gate properly myself because he had placed the padlock in such a way, already locked, that the gate later swung open after being pushed to.

The problem here is that dogs being walked on Blacka can get into the pastures and also the sheep can get out causing potential mayhem. We have also mentioned the way the farmer has used his vehicle to climb the hill creating tracks where there is no official route: this then gets used by others including horse riders and bikers; the weight of the vehicle on soft wet ground leaves unsightly scars.

A dead lamb was not spotted which should have been removed.

I know there are some who argue that dead animals should be left as encouragement for certain forms of wildlife and there is much that could be said on this issue. But that is not relevant to Blacka Moor because of its status. Also the aluminium hurdles are still there with other bits of metal barrier now ten months since a promise was given that they would soon go.

All in all an indictment of remote farm management.