Return

A solitary swallow swerved elegantly over the moor this morning and shortly afterwards a newly arrived willow warbler gave us his familiar song. Easter week has also brought back the coltsfoot to the grassy spot near the car park. Despite the years getting shorter for us oldies this spring seems to have taken a longer time coming.

Meanwhile controversy refuses to go away from Blacka. An article in the Sheffield Telegraph raises again the status* of the land in the context of the prohibition on hang gliding in the interest of ground nesting birds; or rather in the interests of the conservation industry and their targets and jobs. It's too much to expect the media to get things right or even to do enough homework to challenge the stock answers of vested interests.

I have no particular love for the sight of hang gliders nor any wish to join them in their chosen pursuit. Blacka to me is a place that I wish to see as a haven for tranquillity and natural beauty. But I believe in fairness and straight dealing and there's been little enough of that from the land grabbing conservationists. Management of this land should reflect the principles of the Graves Covenant which states that recreation should take precedence over conservation where a conflict arises. And when we say 'conservation' we must remember that we are talking not of some happy clappy concept symbolised by cuddly wild animals but an industry whose first priority is the preservation of their own institutions. If we've learned anything from the last nine years it's that. The arrogance of (Un)Natural England is once again behind it all. This (the Blacka pasture land) is an artificial man made and unnatural landscape and they want to keep it as artificial, yet when man wants to use a small segment of it as he has fairly inoffensively for 20 years they suddenly say that he can't because it's interfering with nature!! Intellectually, how can they live with themselves and not be repelled?

* The article refers to 'the nature reserve'. As a nature lover I insist that Blacka is not a nature reserve. It has never been put up for being such and is not on the official list of Local Nature Reserves in the area which have specific and controlled designation.