Ilkley

Mark 11 Comments

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I’m looking forward to talking at the Ilkley Literature Festival on Saturday.

Last weekend, to coincide with the opening of the heather burning season, the Ban Bloodsports on Ilkley Moor group staged a protest outside Bradford City Hall.  Maybe I’ll meet some of them at my talk and they’ll be sitting next to the local gamekeepers?

Let’s get a debate on grouse shooting in parliament – sign here and sign up, please, to this thunderclap too.

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11 Replies to “Ilkley”

  1. It was my ‘the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes’ moment when my mate Dave turned round to me and suddenly said ‘aren’t moors crap – hardly anything lives on them’ in 1997 when we were trudging through Ilkley Moor. Something I’d certainly thought beforehand, frequently, but kept quiet about. How many more think so too, but still don’t like to say due to exalted conservation status moors are given. Real ones, if any are left might be different, but grouse moors are abysmal, depressing places without the excuse that you can’t see the wildlife for the trees. The latest argument in Scotland from a certain profession for keeping the country shorn of trees is to avoid the forest fires that have swept Western America, no forest no forest fire. Lunacy is required to burn over a very large proportion of the country for one species to provide gun fodder for another so this shouldn’t be surprising. Thank god things are changing, but it can’t come fast enough.

    1. Do Bradford Council value the visitors to the area and the revenue that generates for the local area or as it appears they value better the £10,000 revenue as an annual lump sum from the grouse shooters?

      What happens when folk visit during the inglorious season are they banned from public land?

      Are the shoot dates publically advertised so potential visitors to Ilkley Moors can avoid any potential clash of use on public open access areas?

      1. Mud-lark – the shooting day closures must be advertised if the land is, as I assume it would be, open access land under the CROW Act. I didn’t get far in finding out about this when i tried earlier in the year though… Maybe one for next year.

    2. Les – we are a very conservative bunch and tend to like what we grew up with assuming that it must be the best on offer. That’s certainly not the case with driven grouse moors.

  2. Les Wallace – they can be bleak places – particularly in winter and if they are being “managed” for red grouse. Don’t get me wrong: I love seeing red grouse. They are wild birds and I don’t agree with anybody killing native wild birds for fun or profit.
    A properly managed moorland, i.e. managed for all wildlife, in the spring summer and autumn can be wonderful places with red and black grouse, golden plover, lapwing, curlew, meadow pipit, stonechat, skylark, merlin, hen harrier, peregrine falcon, and a host of other species going about their business.

  3. Nice work by those protesters. As a local, I’ll check out their website now.

    I’ll be at the talk on Saturday Mark, looking forward to it. Started reading Inglorious earlier this week too.

  5. Mark – went your talk this afternoon and it was a real light bulb moment for me. I love the moors and the landscape here in Yorkshire, and in the other moorland areas of the north. I have always been baffled why anyone would enjoy shooting birds but in the wish-washy liberal way that you mentioned I thought it was a very minor issue that had little impact. Now I realise the damage that this is doing to biodiversity and the wider environment I will be signing the petition and adding my voice to the campaign at every opportunity. Best of luck!

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