Yesterday I went to Edale and back. I met some old friends, and made some new ones, and had an interesting day – oh yes, and was called a liar by a gamekeeper. Not a bad day all round.
This is an annual event which basically has the feel of a rather up-market village fete about it.
I watched a skilled man sheer a couple of sheep and remembered that I once sheered a single sheep, slowly and badly, and felt completely knackered afterwards. And who knows how the sheep felt?
And there was ferret racing. No bookmakers and no published form, so not of great interest.
I always have mixed feelings about falconry displays – I don’t really feel that comfortable about captive wildlife (see here for the first in Alick Simmons’s guest blogs on animal exploitation) but the Harris Hawk reminded me of the ones I’ve seen in the wild in Arizona, and indeed in St Pancras and Kings Cross stations, and who wouldn’t thrill to hear the wind in the wings of a Lanner as it sliced through the air a few feet above our heads?
I was quite pleased that I could correctly identify these eight moorland plants (my botany is awful!) and not surprised that I could match the chicks of Golden Plover, Lapwing, Curlew and Red Grouse to the adults. But I was given a sticker!
There was good home-made food for sale and what looked like good beer too, but I was driving so no beer.
The fell runners ran over the fell – how I wished that … no, I didn’t actually.
And there was this tent with the play on words – remember to be kind to people but also that Kinder Scout was just up the road.
The local school children re-enacted that Kinder mass trespass complete with gamekeepers with sticks!
I’d been invited to the tent by Jeremy Deller, the Turner Prize winning artist (among other things) and the artist responsible for this work…
… and this one …
And my role was to talk about grouse shooting with Stuart Maconie (a reader of this blog – he says – and President of The Ramblers). So here’s Stuart with a mate …
So Stuart and I had a bit of a chat about grouse shooting and a gamekeeper called me a liar, but this one wasn’t wielding a stick. I quite admired him for having the nerve, and it’s not the first time, but I’ve noticed that the things that I am always said to have lied about are always things that I didn’t actually say and that audiences tend to sit up and show more interest, and more support, for a speaker who clearly has views that are unpopular with those with a vested interest to oppose them.
But Stuart Maconie was lovely so we had our 20 minute chat, I bought a slice of Victoria Sponge for the journey home and once we had left the Peak District National Park we started seeing raptors in the countryside again.
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I share your disquiet Mark about falconry. To my mind it can lead to many problems such as escape birds from non native stock hybridising with our own wild birds, plus as you say keeping birds of prey in captivity.
“Well done” in a funny sort of way for being told you are a liar, it shows the campaign for saving the Hen harriers and preventing the desecration of our moorlands and wildlife is really progressing and getting under their skin.
I had a great weekend cycling in the dales. Saw a red kite then saw an otter and a squirrel in the wear. I never knew squirrels were such good swimmers.
Mark, loved your comment that you started seeing raptors after leaving the national park. A good summary of where we are?
It would be interesting to know what the gamekeeper accused you of lying about.
Paul – as I recall, just about everything!
I always find it somewhat ironic when keepers refer to the conservationists, especially conservationist critical of them, what they do and their employers, as liars I have always thought that being able to lie with a straight face to us, farming tenants on the same land and the police was a necessary qualification for the job ( sorry Trapit I acknowledge there are a few , very few exceptions). The utterances of the likes of Gilruth, Anderson, Bonner and Thomas for the various pro shooting organisations would suggest it is probably a widespread problem in the shooting world.
If you drove from Edale, through the southern half of the national park, I am surprised you did not see a few.
Numerous Buzzard ,Goshawk, and other species are busy feeding fat youngsters on successful
nests just now.
Trapit – I drove east to the M1
Oh dear: you object to their (very limited) success do you? Have you carried out a survey to identify just how man there are, according to BTO guidelines? I would love to see the results.
Just think, if the whole area wasn’t given over to red grouse, which clearly these raptors eschew, there would be room for more curlew, golden plover, lapwing, meadow pipit etc, reducing the pressure on the few that remain. I have never understood how these moors manage to support hundreds of thousands of red grouse but so few other species. Could it be down to the way the habitat is managed? I have also never understood how these raptors and Corvids manage to target the declining species and not the over-abundant red grouse. Please explain? I am always open to an education.
Simon, I was just pointing out, for the benefit of people who equate the Peak District with
wall to wall grouse shooting, that another world exists.
It actually starts not far over the hills,shown on Mark’s leading photograph, where in some areas, on a good day the place seems rife with birds of prey .
Trapit – rife? Interesting choice of words. ‘(especially of something undesirable) of common occurrence; widespread.’ -is that really what you meant? I’m hoping not. I’ll delete the comment if you ask me to.
I get a bit excited sometimes, how about ” on a good day, you hardly know where to look next .”
For instance, on 16th April this year , in little over a mile, four Buzzard, three Goshawk,
two Sparrowhawk ( all different birds), Peregrine, Raven,Red Kite, and Tawny Owl.
The ferret racing is on a not for profit, non-commercial basis, being purposed to raise funds for the rescue, as well as Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity and Weston Park Cancer Hospital Charity. As such, in order to comply with the Gaming Laws and appropriate legislation, it is not permitted to run odds, publish form or to run a formal book, though it is possible to place a small stake on an “evens” basis, ie: double your money. It is also purposed to entertain and to educate about Polecats and Ferrets, including their history and usage as a hunting animal. Which it does rather well, so I am told by the people who come to see it.
I have seen the Harris Hawk flying at King’s Cross station. What struck me the most was the fact that the vast majority of the people in the station were evidently utterly oblivious to the large raptor flying across the concourse just a few metres above their heads!
What gave me rather more pleasure was watching a peregrine flying onto one of the turrets of St Pancras station and perching there – again without being noticed by most of the people scurrying below. It’s sad that the chances of seeing a peregrine these days are rather better during a visit to London than on a visit to the moors (though on a recent visit to the Durham moors I was happy to see both a peregrine and a red kite flying over the moorland).
As an Edale resident I am not too surprised to see your continuing lies even on this blog. You managed to insult every farmer in the valley even though they were all so busy putting on this ‘upmarket’ show for rather more grateful and gracious visitors. I witnessed your conversation with the gamekeeper. You claimed people paid 8k to shoot grouse in Edale. It’s in fact 300 pounds. You said there were no birds other than grouse in the moors. As anyone in Edale knows that’s just rot. Wonder if you’ve even been up there. You said the moor was barren above the treeline. The landowners here have spent millions regenerating peat bog and diverse flora and mosses. If you do return to Edale, I suggest you respect us in a ‘kinder way. I know you have an agenda and I respect that, but your lies on the day and subsequently above make it extremely hard to respect your agenda. There’s enough hatred and fake news on social media already, why on earth would you want to bring that into the middle of a small hard working community on their one public day of the year? Contrast your lies and hatred to the joy and gratitude of the group of women asylum seekers who were also in iuted as our guests. For some reason you seem to get more air time than them, but in this village at least, they get the respect.
Tom – thanks for your first, rude, comment here.
You see I didn’t say that grouse shooting in Edale cost £8000/day – I wouldn’t say that because I have no idea what it costs in Edale. As a local landowner you are far better placed than I am to know. You don’t own a grouse moor by any chance do you? https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2013/01/10/kinder-scout-path-improvements-pave-the-way-for-walkers
I did say that driven grouse shooting can, on a top moor in a good year for grouse , cost £8000/day/person and it can. If it really costs £300/day/person in Edale then you can’t be shooting many grouse since the guide price is £60+/bird.
I wasn’t a visitor to the show – I was invited to take part. Presumably not by drawing names at random. I drove for nearly three hours to =get to Edale, at my own expense, and the same going honme. there is no need to thank me for coming, honestly. My views on grouse shooting are quite well known and it would be bizarre if, in Edale, I suddenly changed sides and said what a great thing it was. You are confusing somebody who has different views from your own with them being rude. Whereas accusing someone of hatred (I don’t think I hate anyone actually) and lies is very rude.
Thanks again for your comment – it says a great deal about you.