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Foambound

It's one time when you can say that all you can hear is natural sound. Hardly tranquillity but refreshing nonetheless.

Control

The weather remains something that can't be controlled. Fortunately. You don’t really know a place and understand its character if you only visit when the sun’s shining. Places have secrets that can be reserved for certain conditions.

Today the familiar paths were unfamiliar, transformed into streams and needing respect. Trees you thought you knew have a changed appearance. We expect that with snow but that’s only the most dramatic of makeovers. Mist and rain work their magic with less contrast and more subtlety.

Hence my contempt for the practice of the local conservation industry whose publicity is always accompanied by photos taken of their managed sites when heather is in full bloom. That is not just symbolic. It’s well known here that certain managers and officers are prone to emerge from their offices on a lovely day. I remember walking once with a senior manager of Sheffield’s Countryside service. It had never occurred that places might be left unmanaged. He pointed to some bramble and ferns at the side. People don’t want to walk there – he said, appalled. I pointed out that there was a path nearby so they didn’t have to. Not the only Council officer with such views. At the Icarus consultation six years ago I had one of those moments when two people fail to understand each other utterly. Sheffield’s Ecology officer was talking about developing this and enhancing that and creating habitats here and there. I said “You want to control everything”. “Yes I do” was the reply. As I said in a previous post once the management bug has bitten there’s really no stopping them. Maybe the wind and rain are next on the list.

A Question

Not  wishing to embarrass the managers of the Sheffield Moors Partnership, but if they are planning to use the red deer as a management tool to graze the moors - and I deplore the very idea - are they going to expect them also to negotiate the obstructions they have put in their way? And are these obstructions something that managers reserve for wild animals to have to deal with in the course of their employment but wouldn't dream of inflicting on humans ? I've not noticed managers in the building trade setting up obstacle courses for brickies and labourers to jump over to make their tasks more difficult, or heard of managers in the Royal Mail deliberately entreating householders to engage savage dogs to make the job of their postmen more challenging.

Farm livestock with similar behaviour patterns would expect to have their habits and needs catered for. Once you decide to utilise somebody or some animal as part of your scheme of management you take on certain responsibilities surely?
The pictures below are from April 2011. Perhaps the deer need a union or a good lawyer.

Adult deer usually but not invariably cope well with fences. Young deer calves may be a different thing. I've heard of very sad incidents.

Memo:

Must remember to get out that woolly scarf put away at the end of last winter.

He looked surprised, not expecting to see other creatures out with a gale blowing. And those who stayed indoors avoided some of the wettest conditions even this year has brought.

Vulnerable

As one of our regulars at the Wall Caff has already appeared on a post today, it's only fair to feature another of the most loyal customers.

The excuse for mentioning him is the news that the great tit is likely to be more vulnerable to outbreaks of avian pox than other birds. This is a disfiguring and unpleasant growth that can affect the eyes and beak of the birds. A good account of the likely impact of the disease can be found on the BBC's website.

How Could They Not ......?

Trying to get through to those who make the decisions can be so frustrating that it hurts. Words just run out. So pictures have to be tried. I recently spoke with Sheffield council officers who represent the biggest partner in the Moors Partnership. I tried. Somebody has to. It is that important. I had taken along the laptop and showed pictures illustrating the difference between land under management and the same or nearby land unmanaged. They seemed genuinely stunned at the scenes of unmanaged wildlife.

How could they not be entranced and moved as I had been when taking the pictures?

This morning, as the sun appeared early, was another when words are hard to find which describe the visual richness that unmanaged Blacka can give us. I hope God can forgive anyone who tries to diminish this with more management. I can't.

Sun on the bracken here in November is a delight that should bring sightseers from abroad. As I feasted on the colours the hind appeared.

Then along came her young calf. And you can still just make out the fading flecks on its side.

Father arrived just behind.