The May Blues

Tranquillity and Naturalness

The CPRE has this concept of tranquillity and uses it to measure some of what's valued in the countryside. They have mapped it and say it's harder to find places away from noise such as from roads and aircraft. As tranquil tends to be a synonym for quiet there can be a slight problem with natural sounds which they usually say are acceptable e.g. near a waterfall, in a thunderstorm or even standing next to a very loud blackbird like the one in my garden the other day. Most of us would not use such natural sounds to disqualify a site from being tranquil, but it's still a bit of a stretch from the pure meaning of the word.

This morning in the valley below the north side of Bole Hill there was a strong blustery wind, the water in the stream was louder than usual and there was no shortage of birdsong. But the blessing was that we could hear no aircraft and no road traffic. The wind was taking that away from us. It was worthwhile simply standing, enjoying and thinking about it. This was commonplace 50 years ago, even later than that. But this morning we had something else, something Mark Fisher has recently discussed - 'naturalness'. This adds something to tranquillity because it brings in what we can see as well as what we can or can't hear. We'll never be able to pin down the definition exactly, each of us differing slightly, but the key element in naturalness has to be the absence of human intervention in recent times. It may once have been an exploited area but nature has been allowed to return. Mark discusses abandonment and wonders if we can avoid its negative overtone. Giving a place back to nature must be a positive decision. This favourite valley in May with summer visiting birds singing and including the cuckoo's call has on the right day many of the ingredients we should treasure.

Shape the Future on a 2 hour walk.

"Plan and shape the future of this special place ............"

............. on a 2 hour  'walkabout meeting' after a 95 page management plan 2015-2023 has been signed off and 10 year HLS agreement has been finalised and a 10 year Farm Business Tenancy has been issued from 2014.


Still to be decided - shape the future design of gate hinges?

Blacka Gorge

Much of this water starts off on Houndkirk Moor, whence it comes across or under the road into and around Cowsick before following the stream to the hollow over the Blacka Dyke falls. Parts of Houndkirk are sheep and cattle grazed including a heavily trampled inby section.

This lovely view was until recently scarred by an electric power line.

The sound of the water crashing over the rocks  helps the sense of naturalness because distant traffic noise is masked; though this morning the wind direction also helped.

Benefit Scrounger

"These bloody foreign immigrants coming over here and scoffin' all our handouts. Whasmore 'e's got a limp so 'e'll be using the NHS. An 'e's made no contributions neiver"

courtesy of Daily Mail

Uplands and Flooding

It's been known for a while that the way that uplands are managed can affect the amount of water run-off that eventually may lead to flood events at lower levels.

There's an article on the national website of the Wildlife Trusts that puts it pretty well.

http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/floods

One of the problems is the compaction of soils caused by livestock grazing. A less aerated soil is also less attractive for worms and moles. They can act as agents, for good drainage.

On SWT's enclosure it's not just the sheep and cattle that compact the soil. Vehicles are regularly driven across the grass. Not only that but they are driven on parts of the grassland away from the official bridleways.

The bridleway proper is some 10 feet wide but another 30 feet is gradually being added to that by the wheels of the grazier's truck.

Verges and Fringes

The track along the west side of Blacka has an attractively curving line of stone wall below which is a modest grassy fringe that gets to display common wild flowers in summer. They don't survive on the other side of the wall where cows graze. Dandelions grow there now and later there will be cow parsley, buttercups and others.

The puddle on the track is rarely dry and more often than not at least six times its present size.

Further along on the other side of the car park is the Hathersage Road. This too has grassy verges hosting a good variety of wild flowers that add some appeal assuming sheep have not escaped from the barren tedium of Houndkirk's inby land. This year, already, a conscientious, but ignorant, manager has sent someone along to mow the verge meaning no wild flowers. It looks neat and tidy of course.