Degenerate

In the uplands the richest wildlife is found where we have natural vegetation and that would be native woodland. And it's largely what we would get if the blight of management is removed. Conservation management gives to us a specific but very limited range of bird and mammal species. On this part of Blacka this means sheep grazing and no trees.

The sheep pasture on Blacka is about as shocking an example as you could find of the impoverishment that the conservation charities like, to their eternal shame. Anyone who doubts it should put aside all preconceptions and make a visit. You will come away utterly depressed.

I noticed that the mountain bike people - a determinedly obsessive group represented locally by Ride Sheffield has asked its members to keep off trails in Lady Canning's Plantation. They've not done the same for Blacka Moor despite the huge impact of the activity here. But they are not to blame. Those responsible are the landowners, in this case SRWT and SCC, caring nothing for the environmental and ecological damage caused.