How many senior people in the conservation charities and departments of Sheffield Council and the PDNPA have close relations with contractors who install walls and fences? Do they get kickbacks? I think we ought to know. But who's asking?
It's just one of the questions that springs to mind when I see the number of new fencing and walling projects going on across Blacka and surrounding moors.
Public money is being spent on a grand scale with no scrutiny.
Oddly enough, there's only one fence I think might be justified. And nobody's planning that. Perhaps because it would be there to protect wildlife?
Tuesday, 8 September 2015
Fences and Fence Sitting
The lack of guts and ambition on the part of the conservation industry has now been criticised by TV presenter Chris Packham. Those of us who've criticised organisations like Wildlife Trusts, RSPB and National Trust for failing to stray outside a cosy comfort zone may be getting a high profile ally. It's the concentration on empire building and consequent attempts to be all things to all people that is beginning to be exposed as shallow and even cynical. Who needs friends like the Countryside Alliance, the Game and Conservation Trust, the BASC, and their supporters?
According to Packham
Quoted from this article in The Guardian referring to Chris Packham's column in BBC Wildlife Magazine:
It is the ambivalence of our local branches of RSPB and Wildlife Trusts that has constantly surprised me.
They seem intent on fence sitting on the key issues and don't know whether real wildness with the inconvenience that goes alongside its potential for magnificent and inspiring wildlife experience will be quite 'nice' enough for their more docile supporters.
Does Packham I wonder support the RSPB's plans to shoot foxes on the Eastern Moors and their caving in to a very small group of locals who want more deer shot? It's time the public were made aware. Much of this comes from the compulsion to manage the landscape. An example is close at hand: You decide to impose a hay meadow in a field, not a decision from the ground up. It means treating the ground harrowing etc, then sowing wild flowers. You then just go away and leave it. Astonishingly a group of stags come along and enjoy themselves. Solution: shoot them.
Now SRWT plans to fence in* certain parts of Blacka's woods to keep deer out, despite numbers being small. No plans however to put deer fences around the border with farmland where these beautiful wild animals sometimes stray only to get shot by trigger happy neighbours.
* It seems these are to be 4m by 4m control areas. This, they say, aims to identify whether, and to what extent, deer browsing affects regeneration in the woods. I can't but think this is another project that could equally be done by careful observation. There must be money in it somewhere. Nothing however must be allowed to proceed at its own natural pace. People might get the idea that these office workers are unnecessary.
According to Packham
We want more action from Britain’s conservation leaders, not the fence-sitting and ineffectual risk-avoidance that have contributed to the mess we’re in now.Amen
Quoted from this article in The Guardian referring to Chris Packham's column in BBC Wildlife Magazine:
He accused the charities of selectivity over which species they chose to protect and said they were “hamstrung by outdated liaisons with the ‘nasty brigade’ and can’t risk upsetting old friends” in the rural and shooting communities.One now wonders how long he will continue as a vice -president of the RSPB. Their once head of conservation Mark Avery resigned some time ago and now comments independently.
It is the ambivalence of our local branches of RSPB and Wildlife Trusts that has constantly surprised me.
They seem intent on fence sitting on the key issues and don't know whether real wildness with the inconvenience that goes alongside its potential for magnificent and inspiring wildlife experience will be quite 'nice' enough for their more docile supporters.
Does Packham I wonder support the RSPB's plans to shoot foxes on the Eastern Moors and their caving in to a very small group of locals who want more deer shot? It's time the public were made aware. Much of this comes from the compulsion to manage the landscape. An example is close at hand: You decide to impose a hay meadow in a field, not a decision from the ground up. It means treating the ground harrowing etc, then sowing wild flowers. You then just go away and leave it. Astonishingly a group of stags come along and enjoy themselves. Solution: shoot them.
Now SRWT plans to fence in* certain parts of Blacka's woods to keep deer out, despite numbers being small. No plans however to put deer fences around the border with farmland where these beautiful wild animals sometimes stray only to get shot by trigger happy neighbours.
______________________________________
* It seems these are to be 4m by 4m control areas. This, they say, aims to identify whether, and to what extent, deer browsing affects regeneration in the woods. I can't but think this is another project that could equally be done by careful observation. There must be money in it somewhere. Nothing however must be allowed to proceed at its own natural pace. People might get the idea that these office workers are unnecessary.
Sunday, 6 September 2015
Benchmark
This new bench has been installed just off the bridleway
from Piper House to Shorts Lane. The bench is a memorial to Pat Pryor who spent
many hours walking on Blacka. It’s a much finer bench than those erected in
other parts of Blacka and sets a standard. It will, of course darken as it weathers. People sitting here will see much
the same view as seen by J G Graves in 1933 when he concluded the land here had
to be saved from developers.
Obviously there have been changes since then. King
Ecgberts School is very noticeable and looking over beyond the city to the left
the view extends to Meadowhall and the motorway. Closer by more trees occupy
the land and you may be lucky enough to see a small group of deer as I did this
morning.
When Alderman Graves first came here the scene would have
been far more peaceful than today and I guess it would not have been much
different in the early days of Pat Pryor's walks. Those sitting here at 7am on
this beautiful Sunday morning will not have experienced tranquility. A rave was
taking place at Ringinglow in Lady Canning's Plantation and amplified noise was
being brought down here on the northerly breeze. How the inhabitants of the
village there tolerate this I don't know. But maybe people tolerate all sorts
of things if they've never known different. Do we set a benchmark by what we
experienced in our earlier days? Another example of the shifting baseline? If I
hate other people's amplified music and obsessive use of power tools, do others
hate the peace and tranquility I crave? There's an article in today's Observer
newspaper which had me scratching my head. It's about the closure of night
clubs in Sheffield because of noise pollution near where people live. Reading
that and reading the comments below the line I get the idea that the word music
has been redefined to mean any kind of noise that's been channelled through
multi thousand pound sound amplification systems. Just for the record, I've
listened and sometimes played music all my life and never felt the need to have
it so loud that people beyond the four walls of my house could hear it. That
indeed would have been standard in my young days. The jazz clubs I frequented were never excessively noisy. But perhaps that is not
called music any more.
Saturday, 5 September 2015
Are You A Believer?
We have now reached the point, surely, where only those below a certain IQ level believe anything that originates in a press release. There is a superb example in the Western Daily Press from the BASC -British Association for Shooting and Conservation.
.....British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) survey on the personal value of shooting found that 95% of people said shooting was important to their personal wellbeing and 84% said it helped their physical wellbeing.
On average each person made 20 friends through shooting. A total of 91% said they would spend less time outdoors if they could not shoot. Almost 90% said shooting gives them moderate to intense physical activity while 71% said their levels of physical activity would be reduced without their shooting activities.
Thursday, 3 September 2015
Gun Control
This, I'm afraid, is more depressing than the previous post. Without that some of us would be feeling even more wretched.
News from various sources tells of systematic killings of magnificent stags around the lands bordering Blacka. The chances of meeting again some of the beautiful mature animals that we've been seeing over recent years are receding with each report. While some people owning farmland may be shooting deer themselves, at least one individual claiming to be a 'professional' has been offering his 'services' in the Dore and Totley areas to those landowners who consider themselves aggrieved that wild animals might be taking a share of the grass in their fields. Those engaged in this call it deer control. Amazingly, to me, some of these fields are used just for a couple of horses. Yet the compulsion to kill is no less. Numbers of deer shot to date look to be something over 15. To understand the scale of this slaughter you need to bear in mind that it has been an extremely rare event to see, at any one time, a dozen or more of any deer, male, female, young or old, red or roe, on Blacka. Now, many visit Blacka regularly and have little chance of seeing deer. These animals are, of course, wandering and free-spirited, stags particularly, and it is easy for them to get over walls and fences. No effort has been made to keep them out. The gun is the first and last resort.
To add to this misery, from another source it seems that stags are also to be shot near the Grouse Inn going down towards Grindleford. The reason this time seems to be that they keep getting into an area set aside and seeded as a hay meadow, subsidised by Natural England, one of their currently fashionable interventions. Farmers get public money from NE for developing these.
All is justified by the compulsion to control. And the conservation industry is in no position to discourage others from doing what it is itself engaged in.
One thought: how aware are the horse riders on Blacka of what goes on where their horses are grazing?
News from various sources tells of systematic killings of magnificent stags around the lands bordering Blacka. The chances of meeting again some of the beautiful mature animals that we've been seeing over recent years are receding with each report. While some people owning farmland may be shooting deer themselves, at least one individual claiming to be a 'professional' has been offering his 'services' in the Dore and Totley areas to those landowners who consider themselves aggrieved that wild animals might be taking a share of the grass in their fields. Those engaged in this call it deer control. Amazingly, to me, some of these fields are used just for a couple of horses. Yet the compulsion to kill is no less. Numbers of deer shot to date look to be something over 15. To understand the scale of this slaughter you need to bear in mind that it has been an extremely rare event to see, at any one time, a dozen or more of any deer, male, female, young or old, red or roe, on Blacka. Now, many visit Blacka regularly and have little chance of seeing deer. These animals are, of course, wandering and free-spirited, stags particularly, and it is easy for them to get over walls and fences. No effort has been made to keep them out. The gun is the first and last resort.
To add to this misery, from another source it seems that stags are also to be shot near the Grouse Inn going down towards Grindleford. The reason this time seems to be that they keep getting into an area set aside and seeded as a hay meadow, subsidised by Natural England, one of their currently fashionable interventions. Farmers get public money from NE for developing these.
All is justified by the compulsion to control. And the conservation industry is in no position to discourage others from doing what it is itself engaged in.
One thought: how aware are the horse riders on Blacka of what goes on where their horses are grazing?
Maternal Concerns
The bark this time was stifled and inaudible at least to me.
Despite the best efforts of some who see deer as vermin, one young deer has been born on Blacka this year. The hind is one we've seen before and something about her has always suggested a determined and resourceful animal. That's doubtless why you need to be up before sunrise to see this.
Sunday, 30 August 2015
Gratitude
There's no respect these days.
The selfless work put in to raise a family and then they turn on you. The elegant youngster didn't hesitate to have a go at his near-threadbare parents.
Dad ...............
Mum ..............................
Britain's favourite bird ?
Larkin just got it wrong?
The selfless work put in to raise a family and then they turn on you. The elegant youngster didn't hesitate to have a go at his near-threadbare parents.
Dad ...............
Mum ..............................
Britain's favourite bird ?
Larkin just got it wrong?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)