Spraying and Shooting

It's not just the shooters who arrive by helicopter on the moors, a pity they have to tread on the ground at all really, their shoes might get dirty. The local conservation managers also use them to spray those growing things they don't like. The last time I saw this was on Houndkirk Moor over the road from Blacka.

SRWT are not taking the aerial route. Instead they have chosen to get contractors to use tractors (must be a ditty in there) with the usual Asulox. Notices have been posted to this effect. This is as predicted, a habit they've formed in August over the years. They usually leave a mess. What else when heavy tractor wheels make their way across the ground covered by bilberry, heather and bracken itself.

No opportunity to scrutinize this procedure in advance at any user-group meeting, so some questions will need to be emailed to the managers.

1 How much will this cost?
2 Where will the money come from?
3 What is the name of the contractor?
4 What is being done to ensure that there is no compaction of the ground and unsightly collateral damage?
5 Will the contractor return later to remove the dead bracken or will this be removed by SRWT?
6 Who will be supervising the contactor on site?
7 What measures are being taken to prevent damage to other species in the area, e.g. other ferns, and ..
8 Has a survey of plant species in these parts been undertaken and if so may we see the resulting list?
9 What is being done to remove logs and remains of trees felled in a previous operation here?

Some other questions will not go away.

For example: how come resources can be found for doing this to bracken on a part of the site where people generally do not walk - indeed it's made difficult by being behind barbed wire! yet at the same time resources cannot be found for the much less resource intensive task of keeping bracken from encroaching on public rights of way - and this on a site designated as a public pleasure ground??

There is indeed a legal obligation for the landowner/ land manager to keep paths clear.

Another question that must challenge the conservation management:

Is it not very odd that bracken, a wholly natural and native plant, is receiving this treatment while at the same time Himalayan Balsam, an acknowledged invasive and alien species is flowering nearby unhindered? The government itself says landowners have a responsibility to "prevent invasive, non-native plants on your land spreading into the wild"

Picture taken yesterday.

Non native invasive plants are still here despite the claims made in SRWT's Blacka Moor Management Plan and my repeatedly drawing attention to them. But these never-explained anomalies are what we have come to expect. Soon the balsam will be shooting and spraying small seeds in all directions to continue its spread. More jobs for the industry I suppose.