"Missing Lynx"

Those of us who instinctively question the conservation industry's agenda of farmification by which no wildlife site is free from the threat of conservation grazing - i.e. turning everywhere into a depository for cowpats - derive inspiration from the work of Dr Mark Fisher of the Wildland Research Institute. He consistently provides intelligent science-based observation alongside a strong personal commitment to wild land and wildlife.

The latest in his series of monthly articles exploring wildland issues is entitled Lack of natural control mechanisms - the missing lynx.

He deals with the vexed issue of deer management in Scotland. Even more than Mark, I think, the very idea of deer management sends shivers down my spine. To me the management of deer (people shooting them) is unacceptable. I agree totally that predators should be brought back before anyone has a gun put into their hands to kill beautiful wild animals. People are too powerful and have never known how to use their power responsibly. 

The lynx should be the first native predator to be brought back. Not to the Peak District yet but first to Scotland: then, let's see.

Congenial

Skating very close to anthropomorphism, but why not, a recent conversation questioned if wildlife of various kinds might be happier in good weather. Perhaps substitute 'contented' or 'relaxed' or 'less anxious' and you can see that it's not an entirely futile question.

A spell of settled weather is not something we get every year at this time. Plants that grow tall can be sadly and disappointingly flattened in stormy wet conditions and some years we never see them at their best. A favourite of mine is the variety of grasses in early morning. Ragged Robin is welcome too, always looked forward to in the dark winter days.

And many very common weeds have astonishing beauty but only when we see them differently than we do when tending the vegetable patch.

The usual pair of deer had been supplanted this morning by three big stags. Where have they been? Most seen yesterday on Bigmoor were hinds and stags have been noted absentees on Blacka of late. Nobody could question their contentment as they surveyed Blacka below.

On Bigmoor they would have been off before anyone could get half as close. That is what's interesting (endearing?) about deer. They are unpredictable. Or rather they are driven by forces we find hard to fathom. This group, which could be four judging by the tangle of antlers on the left, may not have come from Bigmoor but instead be returning from an expedition around the village. One summer, years ago I saw a comical sight of a dozen or so sets of antlers waving in the middle of a cornfield as if disembodied. I hope the farmer had a sense of humour.

Birds too are both relaxed and active with family parties everywhere even in the desolate sheep pasture where starlings in large numbers arrive each summer. Warblers among the birch leaves are a lovely if teasing sight.

High and Lonely

The back of one solitary hind can just be seen amid the bracken up on the side of Wimble Holme Hill. It's getting late to calve so maybe she's missing out this year. Also higher up on the part  of Totley Moor towards Stony Ridge are the couple, one a hind the other a yearling stag.

They're often to be seen around Blacka. Others that have been regulars are nowhere to be seen. It's possible some are in the more secluded parts of Blacka but more likely they're up on higher ground. This has advantages in the warm summer days when a breeze is easier to find to deter the midges. Bigmoor is the likeliest place to find them.

In addition to the breeze deer prefer remoteness if they can get it so any humans are spotted a long way off. On Blacka that protection is provided by trees into which they will quickly disappear  but up on the treeless expanses of Bigmoor first they bark as they find you're as close as 300 metres away then race off over the horizon. Photos need powerful lenses or a lot of work on the computer but it was clear that two calves are in this group as well as an unexpected stag (just out of the picture).

Once again the question has to be asked why on earth is it necessary to have cattle up here when the deer are already grazing the land? I can see no reason in this. Have they set their minds against a more natural vegetation? In Scotland the conservationists are seeking to reduce the deer population because they want tree regeneration. Here all is incoherent and one has to conclude they do this for the subsidy. I don't believe there is any expertise behind their decisions nor anything to show that the management decisions taken in the past have led to anything that could be called improvement.

It's worth looking at two views both taken this morning, one on Blacka where nature has largely prevailed through accidental but fortuitous deficit of management and the other on Bigmoor where they still want to deny natural regeneration, using conservation grazing.

The place above has been where to find cuckoos, stonechats, linnets, warblers as well as red and roe deer and many other species in the nearby scrub and trees. Fox poo is purple from the bilberries. A heron flew over just after this photo was taken and a kestrel hovered overhead. Yet this is managed as being in unfavourable condition. Below is Bigmoor where the features are so few that a line of fencing becomes of major significance.

Some Gone, Those Left Behind and The Stressed

Since mid April the cuckoo's call has dominated; more so even than in  previous years. The last one was heard a week ago now. So we conclude they have moved south. Migration is always an amazing thing but more so with young cuckoos who are still being fed by adopted parents some of which don't migrate in the same way or the same direction. They have to find their own way. But their resourcefulness is legendary and few birds are stronger willed.

The small birds of course are still around and among them the pipit may be the more likely to be bringing up a cuckoo.

Warblers are also still with us though singing much less.

Linnets are around, not so common as pipits but often more likely to be seen at this time as with stonechats.

So are mistle thrushes which congregate in July in extended family groups for picnics among the bilberries.

Up to 50 can be seen and it's a wonder there's anything left for us pie-makers.

Blackbirds too are bilberry mad though none can rival the greediest of the lot, the ubiquitous wood pigeon.

Goldfinches are also seen in quite large groups,  surprisingly well dressed considering the stressful business of bringing up children.

One who shows more stress than most is our friendly great tit, back to what he looked like a year ago. Can he recover from this again?

Precious Imagination

I've been known to complain that the management of Blacka and its surrounding public land lacks ambition and imagination. That the managers responsible must themselves be unimaginative. That, I see now, is unfair. I plead guilty. There've been no complaints but I know I have a duty to admit my mistakes after seeing evidence that this is not true.

The managers and those who support their policies and practices are in fact gifted with considerable imagination. They must be. It needs considerable imagination to believe that Blacka is improved by the importing of farm livestock plus, to keep them in, several kilometres of barbed wire and a new stone wall (combined cost estimated £50,000+). Not many people could be found with that quality of imagination. And no  more evidence is needed than the sight this week of the cows actively trashing the best-looking wild-flower display in this region. Of course, we see now that this is real improvement.

Imagination of this kind is not found just anywhere. It's so precious it needs training and it needs public subsidy. Not many people have this gift and those who do have to be nurtured.

Hence the charitable donations the corporate sponsorships, the farm grants, Single Farm Payments Higher Level Stewardships without which this Nature Reserve would be, well, more natural. And, as the imaginative ones among us know, that can't be right. They know, do these  managers that without their imaginative crop and cr*p grazing strategy this place would look like this.

Who on earth would  want this?
Thank God for imagination. And self-belief.

Bucking the Trend

While Twites and Linnets are  rarely seen near suburban gardens the Goldfinch is now firmly established as a garden bird. He is often to be seen and heard perched on the TV aerial on my roof but always looks at his best out here. Looking his best is something of a speciality of the Goldfinch. Few birds can rival his colouring and while others are quietly moulting he remains in sparkling garb. My impression is that the Goldfinch has done very well in recent years.

Another bird that's done well is the Wood Pigeon presently devouring any fruit he can find and very fond of bilberry and (in my garden) redcurrants. These ones have recently descended on Blacka's bilberries. 

There has been talk of hiring a Peregrine to save the crop, a better solution than shotguns certainly. Better still let's have more birds of prey around naturally and less persecution from the shooting industry.

Parenting

Each time you see hinds at this time of year you wonder about the young deer. Have they already given birth or are they just about to? Recent years have suggested that hinds keep in single sex groups in the early parts of the year but become more solitary approaching the time to calve. But that's a tendency rather than a rule and there have been exceptions. This solitary individual was startled as I walked through the woods and was later seen in the middle of the bracken.

Further off were a pair that I've seen before. I admit they have me puzzled. For a week or two, seeing them from a distance, I've thought they were both young deer, male and female.

But a closer view this morning makes me think they are the mother and young stag that have been around for nearly a year. She is larger than him and if looks are a guide could be calving any time soon.

There has been something anthropomorphically appealing about the closeness of the relationship. But how long will it last?