Last Show

Most Mayblossom has declined now and any rain in the next day will probably finish it off for another 12 months. But bright morning sun still managed to cheer this display.



Then it will be up to the elder to take on the role of provider of whitener to the local greenery.



The area near the Pinfold Bridge is one of the most peaceful places around 7.15 am. It's helped by the sloping banks to the north shielding us from noise of the daily quarry run making towards the motorways before congestion builds up on the approach roads.

Feature in a Landscape

One of the most important things about Blacka is the way its appeal is enhanced by its position in the surrounding landscape. The greener parts of this landscape could turn out to become a battleground of conflicting interests in years to come. We may think it's hard enough to defend what's best about Blacka itself, struggling to get through to some of the dim witted folk who are determined to 'manage' the site in their own unimaginative off-the-shelf way, people like SWT and Sheffield City Council and (Un)Natural England. And even CPRE sometimes seem to have lost their instinct for what is valuable these days. But this fight will be nothing compared to that against the vested interests who would like to get their hands on the green fields.

Already architectural monstrosities of scale and style are changing the character of the view over previously inoffensive suburbs to the east of Blacka just in the last few years. And these have not only been private developers. Public contracts such as that for King Ecgbert School have plonked huge insensitively designed monolithic structures in the middle of the view.

Being Stared At...

When you set out for your morning walk you may not expect to become a part of a spectator sport. What next? You can't walk in the city centre without CCTV beaming your image to a control room. Now the countryside has eyes watching your every move.

In winter you sometimes wonder why red deer are so called. Today that question doesn't arise. One of the national newspapers was answering a wildlife query at the weekend: "Where should I go if I want to see red deer?" The answer given was parts of Scotland. It's maybe better not too many are aware of the scenes around here. Sheffield people are lucky in a number of ways. But I would still recommend getting up early in the morning.

Farming

View from Blacka over farmland to the east.

Following this post I am asked what have I got against farming and farmers? I suspect the questioner is being disingenuous and probably understands my position very well, but let's take it at face value.

Why do I say I want Blacka ....

"Free from farming, from farm animals, from farm fences and gates, from intrusive farm practices and management, from farm vehicles"

It's a fair question. I've worked on a farm and spent happy times on farms. But there's an assumption I don't accept that all countryside must be farmed and that none should be allowed to go wild partially or completely. I've lived during a period when much of our countryside has been given over to increasingly industrialised farming - a process which has done much to ruin it not just for wildlife but also for the informal enjoyment local people got from it. In recent years I've climbed to the summit of hills and looked down on fields where no hedges remain, growing one crop as far as the eye can see. I've seen farmyards which used to have dutch barns tidily kept but where now it's all shiny black plastic storage. I see farmers who once upon a time used to walk around their farms but now wouldn't dream of going a hundred yards without a tractor or quad bike powered by red diesel.

Farming is now industrialised and therefore believes there's no point in being 'sentimental'. If that's so then it must accept that we don't want it everywhere in every square yard of our countryside.

So back to the original question. At a Blacka Moor RAG meeting I said I didn't want farm livestock on Blacka. A woman with a farming background said "But there are farm animals all over the countryside." My reply was "That's an excellent reason for not having them here."

RAG

Twice or three times a year SWT hold RAG meetings. RAG stands for Reserve Advisory Group but anyone can attend (although this is conditional –see below). The meetings are usually indoors at a church hall in Totley but occasionally are held ‘on-site’. The agendas for these meetings are controlled by SWT but it has been the practice for members of the public to put forward items though this is nowhere near as welcome as it once was. At one time in fact it seemed as if the RAG was able to influence decisions about management but this has now largely been abandoned to be just a piece of window dressing, useful for SWT to be able to claim to the council or to providers of grant funding that they consult the public. Those who have been involved now acknowledge this to be a fiction and the Icarus Process made this clear in 2006. But to those not involved or newcomers SWT like to maintain a pretence that they listen to the public. In truth anyone who has an independent view is either ignored in the hope they will not bother to attend again or excluded from meetings via a crude exercise in defamation.

This coming Thursday 12th June a RAG meeting is scheduled for 6:30 pm. It is on-site at Stony Ridge car park. An interesting feature of this meeting is that it is the first meeting at which the Friends of Blacka Moor are allowed to attend since they were excluded a year ago for asking awkward questions. At least they will have to promise in writing beforehand to behave reasonably. I am fairly sure none of them is likely to do this as it would be a tacit admission that they had behaved badly before. I and other witnesses know that this did not happen. But anyway it is very doubtful that any one from FoBM will turn up since the whole exercise is sterile and only serves SWT’s manipulative purposes. So many other local people over several years have tried attending only to give up having decided that SWT do not listen. In fact it is quite common for them to appear to accept a certain view and then to go away and do something altogether different.

SWT claim that the RAG is much better than what happened before they took over because the council held no consultations. But in fact it’s worse - a consultation that is skewed in this way is worse than none at all because its cynicism leads to disillusion and a total lack of trust. As it happens there is another group that SWT is more likely to listen to called the Steering Group the members of which are largely cronies of SWT and are unaccountable officers in various conservation organisations - the very people (such as the city ecology officer and officers of Natural England and PDNPA) who helped to engineer the high jacking of Blacka Moor in the first place. These people all sing from the same conservation hymn sheet and put their own interests before those of the wider public and whose job only exists if they put forward plans to control nature. It’s a bit ironical that in much privately owned countryside they want farmers to intervene less intensively but here where nature has for a long time gone its own delightful way, they want to intervene to control it. Either way the job of the person who decides this is pretty secure.

No Cattle

By this morning there had still been no appearance of Sheffield Wildlife Trust's cattle. It was a month ago that SWT put up notices at entrances leading us to expect them at any time. There has obviously been a problem. Those who attend the on-site Reserve Advisory Group meeting on Thursday at 6.30 pm may hear why.

Site Worker

Few things illustrate one of the madnesses at the heart of modern life as concisely as the issue of the Blacka Moor Site Worker.

"What site worker?", you ask. Exactly. There isn't one. Friends of Blacka Moor and other local users believe that a dedicated site worker should be a major part of the answer to the question of how to manage Blacka Moor. We've been saying so for four years. SWT hate the idea. Why?

What is the case for a site worker? Simply this: that everyday hands on contact with a large area of land like Blacka encourages in the individual concerned a respect for the land and its qualities which no desk worker could possibly have; that many small jobs can be done as you patrol around thus helping to prevent a build up of problems that eventually add up to a major contract; drainage channels that clog up after rain can be cleared before flood damage happens, litter never gets to the point where visitors are annoyed, small areas of vegetation can be ‘managed’ on a regular basis, wildlife can be monitored as it is seen; visitors can get to know the site worker who can be a point of contact. And many others.

But SWT’s resistance to this idea is so determined that they appear to see it as a threat. I wonder why? Is it perhaps that they see it as calling into question their own jobs? Will someone ask who needs the managers when a competent site worker does all that’s necessary?

Groups that run nature and wildlife sites were once small organisations whose main work was practical and hands on. A bit like the corner greengrocer. But things have moved on and they're now more like Tesco's and Asda. SWT is set up according to 'good' modern business practice with a hierarchy of responsibilities in the organisation, a Chief Executive, a Deputy Chief Executive (post presently advertised), various heads of this that and the other and managers. Most of these suits are busy attending meetings and those who are not are producing paperwork and computer files doing various other official business at workstations. They do actually put their feet on the ground sometimes but this is quite rare. The main focus is to make sure all looks quite smart on paper. The question that has to be asked is what has all this to do with looking after an area of land?

What Blacka needs first and foremost is somebody who knows the place and understands it day by day. The business model - a hierarchical top-down style - runs exactly contrary to this.