The Compulsion

Comments from the public on that part of the the Sheffield Moors Partnership process dealing with 'Sustainable Land Management' show such a wide variation of points of view that it is simply not a 'sustainable' position to say that things should now go forward and the officers construct a master plan. At the very least there should be another local process involving genuine consultation within which some examination of these views takes place.  Anyone considering that the officers of the partnership have the capabilities of Solomon to steer a path through this have more faith than is good for them and us.

One or two of the comments raise the question of a possible cull of the deer illustrating a compulsion and a misapprehension often found. This is the 'everything must be controlled tendency' that is common in managers and farmers and sometimes taken up by others who have responded to scaremongering often  presented by people with a very limited view of what's going on. Leaving aside for the moment the vexed question of farm livestock it's worth considering the numbers of deer seen on Blacka. Last year and previous years in April and May deer were often to be seen in numbers up to and even over twenty.

Later in the summer these numbers declined as the animals moved around in smaller groups. Some people, thinking they have seen a lot of deer consider them as if they are fenced in like cows, concentrating their impact within an enclosure. In fact I looked out for deer many times from June to August and was disappointed. But such is this compulsion to control and cull that some people only need to see a large group and they think there is a serious issue. This perception is something the managers are prone to encourage because it serves their purpose - to show that management should always be around to step in when necessary.

This year too the numbers of deer have been high during spring. And it helps that they have the place to themselves at least until the demon defecators are installed. Then perhaps they may move on     -    noses in the air.