With Relish Aforethought

The wanton destruction continues as if the opportunity has to be taken before better judgements catch up on them. This is binge pillaging, robbing a place of its essential lifeblood. And after all that's been said we might wonder whether there's relish, if not malice, here from those whose proper place is in the playground before the teacher on duty appears. 'Let's show them who's really in charge,' might have been echoing across the woodland edges.

This picture comes close to summing up SWT on Blacka. All that's missing is a generous scattering of soggy  cowpats.

I was not intending to post the replies I've got from SWT to my recent letters until after I've met the writers - which I hope to do shortly. I thought that was only polite. But fury at seeing this is getting the better of me. They, after all, are simply showing contempt. Still I will paraphrase rather than directly quote.

My comments in the original  letter were about the destruction of birch trees on the slopes of Bole Hill and on the other side of the Lee Stream, and about the littering around of logs and brushwood in piles drawing conspicuous attention to the 'we're in charge' destruction. The reply I've got is disingenuous to say the least - that word should be intensified many times.

The official line that I've been given is that birch are being cut to make room for other native trees to grow such as oak or rowan, because there are too many birch too close together. Well that won't do for a start. The cuttings I'm complaining about at this point are not in the middle of dense birch-dominated secondary woodland . They are at the edge of those parts where there are few or no trees. And this is what we've been told before: the aim is to stop trees growing further up the hill. And birch has been cut in places where there are only a few beside the main bridleway. And not a word about the piles of debris. So we are being told something other than the truth, but what did we expect? We remember the occasions before when three different people have queried an activity and been given three different and contradictory answers. A successful managerial strategy because people lose trust and the will to engage, give up asking questions and stop attending meetings. It has its own chapter in the bible of useful SWT staff guidelines.

For what it's worth here's an alternative theory. The reserve managers are expected to provide activity and work for site staff including their so-called 'trading arm' 'Wildscapes' (god help us). Unable to think of anything else for them to do they send them out to cut a few more birch. They may have even managed to get some funding for it from the entirely useless local branch of Natural England. About as plausible as anything else. You might think the site workers could have been better occupied repairing footpaths and bridleways badly in need of attention. But such is bureaucracy that it's the Public Rights of Way people who have responsibility for that; and I had better not start on them.

But whatever else is said it is really astonishing that at this time of all times SWT are still cutting down trees