Unnatural England

Sheffield is the home of Natural England's Head Office. N.E. is an 'N.D.P.D.' which means Non-Departmental Public Body. Most people think of it as a Quango which is easier to remember. Natural England has developed into a fine art the business of bureaucratising our countryside with the help and assistance of various landowners and a sprinkling of on board academics. The public are important to NE as recipients or consumers of what NE does but in reality have very little say in the decisions and  pronouncements  handed down. Despite nominal systems of accountability through parliament it gets very little scrutiny and is indebted to a largely servile press as is the rest of the conservation industry. At some point in the future perhap the penny will drop and people will realise they've been taken for a ride.
Currently NE has been somewhat preoccupied with 'the uplands' of which Blacka and surrounding hills and moors are part. A new appearance on their website indicates that NE is conducting a Review of Upland Evidence with a team of hand picked characters who I do not know but would guess will have very little that's imaginative or radical to propose and instead opt for recommending more management which means more farming and hence less that's natural.

In fact the remit from DEFRA referred to seems pretty categoric leading with

Supporting England’s hill farmers,     and going on with
Delivering public goods from upland environments (including biodiversity)
Supporting sustainable upland communities
Driving and monitoring change

I love these statements invoking 'change'. From what and to what for goodness sake? Reading the document may help but I must take my depression pills first,

Two initatives from this blog are under consideration: 1) Bets are being taken on whether the moorland owners and shooting lobby will be happy with the outcome. Current odds are 150-1 on.  2) Volunteers are being invited to meet at Blacka in order to scrape off the moor a quantity of recently deposited brownness to deliver to N.E.s Sheffield office with an accompanying greeting card addressed to Unnatural England.