Blocked by Cows

A favourite public access point onto Blacka has been blocked.

And it's all in the interests of the grazier and his cows. Some of us think cows should not be on Blacka anyway. But we certainly don't think they should be responsible for making it harder for us to get onto public land. We now understand that the covenanted provision that recreation (of the elementary access kind) should take precedence over conservation does not mean that it should do so over farming, at least according to Sheffield Wildlife Trust. Those of us who have always held that some places should be free of farming always feared this kind of thing.

The remarkable reasoning of those in SWT runs so: despite the immense investment in robust fencing - four strands of barbed wire and multiple robust fencing posts paid for through public funding amounting to scores of  thousands of pounds - this may not possibly be enough to secure the containment of the grazier's cows. These will be so badly supervised that they may conceivably break out of this fortification system and wander off and try to get onto the main road (where grazing is anyway far less favourable.) To avoid this they apparently need a second level of barricade, belt and braces fashion. Sentry towers and armed guards have yet to be funded but anything is possible. As for my access, it's already a problem at weekends further up near Stony Ridge and the Piper House closure leaves the layby here as the best alternative, or rather did.

There's an important lesson here for those who don't understand where power lies in the land. Farming rules all. Landowning and farming  trumps every other interest in the countryside. Natural England is dominated by farmers who invariably get their way. They also get their representatives on every body including national park authorities. They are always complaining that they are hard done by and everyone's against them but they, through the NFU and their supporters in the Countryside Alliance and allies in shooting estates have the ear of the decision makers. Any idea that SWT, feeble as they are, might exert some control over any farmer, even if they wished to, is fantasy. He will get all he wants and more.