The quote below is typical of some of the comments arising from recent reported incidents in which cattle have caused serious problems for walkers in the countryside. The writer is evidently a country person perhaps of farming background, taking what he sees as a common sense approach.
Oliver, Dorset (from BBC Farming Today Message Board)
For the uninformed and trainee rambler sorts, I would respectfully point out that you should consider all cattle regardless of age or sex as potentially dangerous. I do not see a problem. Farmers have a right to graze their land and use it as they see fit, if there is livestock there, give them a wide birth, keep your dog on the lead and treat them with the respect you would give a large, heavy and often unpredictable animal. If you don't think the livestock in a field are safe, then don't enter the field.
Translating this to a place like Blacka illustrates just what the issue is here. Firstly the land is public recreation land, secondly the nature of the terrain means you may suddenly meet the animals running towards you along a narrow path with tall vegetation to either side (this has happened to me) and thirdly the ‘field’ is actually a 150 acre enclosure and it is rarely possible to know in advance where they are.
Sunday, 5 July 2009
What Do We Think...or What Do They Want Us to Think?
SWT have prepared and printed out a Visitor Survey which amounts to a nine page questionnaire. The thing raises a whole collection of issues and reservations. Did they ever intend to submit this to visitors to Blacka Moor? First indications were that they did. But it’s not credible that even they would believe people would want to fill in this on the spot. But there’s no sign either of them being present on the moor handing them out for visitors to fill in later. They’ve half acknowledged this and then said they would correct the problem about this by sending it round to others, presumably including those who rarely visit. But who exactly are they sending it to and how do we know the survey’s sampling has any kind of validity? The thing stinks of the kind of manipulation that we’ve become accustomed to with this lot. The fact is they know the results they want the survey to show and they are capable of twisting the responses to get their desired result. This starts with the way they choose the questions but I for one don’t even trust them to report the returned papers accurately. Why? So many examples over the eight years of involvement in the RAG. Take the many times the RAG minutes have been carefully written to reflect favourably upon SWT; take the way they’ve tried to discredit and defame members of the RAG who disagreed with them. Look at the clumsy way they tried to show that cattle were grazing at Stanage Edge with no problems for the public – yet there are no cattle grazing there. I could go on. No they simply can’t be trusted to conduct a visitor survey. What anyway is its purpose? Is it intended to show the results to the Council or to potential funding providers who will take it at face value and ask no questions? Will it show that people support all the contentious parts of SWT’s management? This kind of murky exercise is what you get when you hand things over to deskbound managers who rarely visit the sites for which they are responsible. What an unholy mess.
Just One Site Worker.....or
Central to our demand of SWT is that they abandon their addiction to desk jobs and have one well remunerated and well skilled site worker.
The reality of how conservation management works is enough to make one believe that we are living in a crazy world of self referencing madhouses all compelled to produce paperwork rather than real work. On my regular walk today I got to thinking of the number of different bureaucracies that had been involved in the management of Blacka Moor, most of which we've tried to contact in order to try to get to the truth (sad deluded people as we are).
First there is Sheffield City Council. Then Sheffield Wildlife Trust. Then English Nature which transformed into Natural England. I think that's four. Also there's DEFRA and the Rural Payments Agency. There is also the Charity Commission and the Heritage Lottery Fund. I'm sure anyone working in any of these bureaucracies would be able to point out others that I've missed. But so far that's eight.
I'll come back to this if I think of any more. I'm sure there must be something European in there somewhere.
Several years ago some of us questioned the motivation of those who want to 'manage' the land. "It's always been managed," they said, "like all of the English countryside." ..... What? From remote desks in offices by pale managers writing management plans?
The reality of how conservation management works is enough to make one believe that we are living in a crazy world of self referencing madhouses all compelled to produce paperwork rather than real work. On my regular walk today I got to thinking of the number of different bureaucracies that had been involved in the management of Blacka Moor, most of which we've tried to contact in order to try to get to the truth (sad deluded people as we are).
First there is Sheffield City Council. Then Sheffield Wildlife Trust. Then English Nature which transformed into Natural England. I think that's four. Also there's DEFRA and the Rural Payments Agency. There is also the Charity Commission and the Heritage Lottery Fund. I'm sure anyone working in any of these bureaucracies would be able to point out others that I've missed. But so far that's eight.
I'll come back to this if I think of any more. I'm sure there must be something European in there somewhere.
Several years ago some of us questioned the motivation of those who want to 'manage' the land. "It's always been managed," they said, "like all of the English countryside." ..... What? From remote desks in offices by pale managers writing management plans?
Foxglove Dell
The Lee Syke is one of the most secret parts of Blacka. You will get wet exploring here in the morning after dew or overnight rain but may be rewarded with glimpses of wildlife not seen elsewhere. The path along just above the stream was narrow but just navigable. The cattle have discovered that path on the way down to find water and they've taken the opportunity to tread the peat into dust which then scatters into the stream below. The large stones were not long ago under the peat but are now exposed by several inches. This is after all just what cattle do.
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Morning Song
An aubade is a song of the dawn, but 7 am is hardly the dawn at this time of year. Never mind, the singers were out in force on Thistle Hill, skylarks all. By now the birdsong has changed. Cuckoos have been gone two weeks ago. The willow warblers have largely given up though you still hear the occasional one. Blackcaps arrived later and are still performing well. So are blackbirds. There's also a lot of clicking of pebbles from the stonechats who are marshalling their broods. But today was for the skylarks up at the highest point on a morning refreshingly dry and sunny and largely free of midges.
Keep Out?
Another news item about cattle and walkers and footpaths. This is the case of the Sussex police inspector.
The compensation he gained in an out-of-court settlement was £10,000. I suppose that would not go far if his disablement was permanent. Even so a number of people in the Comments speak of the 'compensation culture' and others are dismissive in other ways. Some, though, mention dangerous incidents they have been involved in themselves.
Another aspect to this is the strong suspicion that certain farmers don’t like walkers going across ‘their’ land and discourage people by putting cattle in the field in question even though this would not be their first choice of grazing land. Difficult things to prove of course, but those of us who’ve walked in the country for many years have had little doubt that this happens sometimes even with bulls being used.
The compensation he gained in an out-of-court settlement was £10,000. I suppose that would not go far if his disablement was permanent. Even so a number of people in the Comments speak of the 'compensation culture' and others are dismissive in other ways. Some, though, mention dangerous incidents they have been involved in themselves.
Another aspect to this is the strong suspicion that certain farmers don’t like walkers going across ‘their’ land and discourage people by putting cattle in the field in question even though this would not be their first choice of grazing land. Difficult things to prove of course, but those of us who’ve walked in the country for many years have had little doubt that this happens sometimes even with bulls being used.
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Advice and News about Cattle and Walkers
This from the Local Access Forum in Cumbria.
This about possible payouts from those who put cattle where they could harm members of the public.
A debate continues in the media:
More comments on this and other farming issues:
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