Minor Respite

The publicity had said cows would be grazing the heathland from the end of April. Some difficulty or change of plan contrived to cause a delay of several weeks. We have not been told the reason but it gave respite to those parts of the moor that are severely affected by the bovine invaders. They've wasted no time since arriving but some places have not yet been visited. One of these is now showing the common spotted orchid. This is the plant referred to here that had appeared in the sheep pasture when the sheep had been absent for many months.

It's a good specimen with spots on the leaves that are not always found.

There's no doubt that some of the other vegetation has benefited from the cows' absence during May but the job is now well in hand to turn the more attractive parts into scenes of desolation.

Our ignorance of the reason for delay in bringing on the marauders is just another aspect of the lack of transparency demonstrated by the managers here. We, the public, for whom the land is provided, for our recreation have lost the ability to question and challenge the policies and justifications that underlie the management decisions. The RAG was abandoned and significant decisions - long term - were taken that set the next ten years of management in binding agreements. When I brought this up with the current reserve manager I was accused of "bashing the wildlife trust", yet I was given no explanations nor information. In 2006 we were promised that a full review of the grazing policy's effectiveness would be carried out after 5 years. Has that happened? If so by whom and where is the evidence?