Finding Wildness

It is getting harder and will get harder still, to find parts of Blacka that remain unmeddled with by the spoilers. But if you really look there are places to escape the dreariness of managed land. And this part is wet.

Walking is fraught and staying upright sometimes a challenge. But there are rewards in the atmosphere. Only tracks to be found are of wild animals and that is  a bonus. It's doubtful the sun ever penetrates here apart maybe in the middle of the year.

Fallen trees lie untouched and create barriers to easy progress. Ferns, liverworts and stones covered by thick moss are all over. An old wall shows this place was once exploited. Some of the meddlers would like that to happen again. Climbing the steep damp sides of the gorge in best clothing is not recommended.

Mud

Where there's management there's muck. Obvious really. In this case gates are only there to contain the livestock, otherwise known as a management tool. Gates mean everyone has to be channelled through one narrow passage. In normal circumstances this would not be a wet part of the site.

So....no livestock, no management, no mud. Simple.

Pleasing

The old stag finds it's still a pleasure to spend his lazy afternoons among a large group of hinds. And they are attractive, browsing here on the quiet slope of the least visited bit of scenery hovering around between sun and shade before shadows cover all.

......before a fall.

Proud and resplendent in any season birch thrills especially in winter when at sunrise branches are beautifully set out against the sky and low sun in afternoons shows off the elegant shape and magnificent bark.

There are those whose sickness takes the form of wanting to destroy the beautiful. And they have been here again. They tackle a few each year to keep their hand in and let nature know that the uglifiers are in control. Or they may just be trying out the new toys they got for Christmas.

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A Charm

A large flock of small birds circled round for several minutes. They finally settled conveniently in a nearby birch; and prove to be ... goldfinches.

"You May Not Confer....."

Taking their cue from Mr Paxman the local managers on Blacka don't like people to talk. This year will see the return of Sheffield Wildlife Trust's discredited policy of farmland management on Blacka with cattle grazing. The equally discredited managers in this organisation are clinging desperately to this policy despite being unable to show benefits over previous years and explain the disastrous results pointed out here. They have not conferred with the public on this and there has been no attempt to have a consultation. Issues have not had a chance to be scrutinised in any meaningful way.

At one time I would honestly never have believed that an organisation of this kind could have habitually indulged in distortion and disdain for the truth but since various scandals in public bodies over recent years it seems nobody cares any more. They see that other people including top institutions, have got away with it and the world has not caved in - yet; the place has simply got more cynical.  So, they think, who bothers?

It all started in 1999 when SWT persuaded the city council to believe a story that a huge bonanza of funds for the city's green spaces would be handed over if the trust was given a lease on Blacka and other sites. This would come from lottery funding and was ring fenced for wildlife trusts with a 25 year lease. This was a lie* but council officers fell for it. The council could have got the funds without leasing the land. Since then there has been no attempt to make truth a priority. All we have had is self interest. You look round for an excuse to use labels like spin and half-truths - but actually that's only the half of it.

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* The officer at Heritage Lottery Fund was amazed that we had been told this.

Headlines

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/31/stag-attack-highlands-lochailort

"Attack" hardly seems accurate. The animal was evidently terrified and disorientated.

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The picture in this article is even more misleading:

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/01/stag-attack-woman-windpipe-operation

You do wonder. Where do you have to go these days for balanced news reporting.. That picture is of a rutting stag. How much misinformation would we have to deal with if the lynx and the wild boar re-established themselves across the country - let alone the wolf?