I’ve heard the Peak District National Park, our oldest National Park, is very nice…
Try the road from Manchester to Barnsley (which is also the road from Barnsley to Manchester) near the Woodhead Pass, perhaps…
And the area south of the main road along Middle Small Clough looks nice from the road …
Well, admittedly you are in an area of intensively burned grouse moor, so it’s not a natural scene …
And the peat is bare and eroding in places and, in this National Park, wildlife is targetted for destruction. Not accidental but intensive, deliberate and callous destruction…
… and then left there, dead and rotting, just to emphasise the point that these are the killing fields of England’s National Parks.
The Glover Review of National Parks, published more than a year ago, praised ‘the brilliant work which has been done to maintain the beauty’ of our National Parks and ducked any discussion of the future role of intensive grouse moor management in National Parks.
When the Glover Review damp squib was published the short-staying DEFRA Secretary of State, Theresa Villiers said;
These landscapes are the jewels in the crown of our countryside and are a cornerstone of our rural economy. We are committed to ensuring they flourish as havens for nature and sites that everyone in the country goes to visit for inspiration, adventure or relaxation.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/independent-review-calls-for-radical-plan-for-englands-national-parks
DEFRA, a year later, has not responded to the Glover Review but Prime Minister Johnson’s big green piffle-Pfeffel speech promised that we would increase the coverage of protected areas for nature in the UK from an alleged 26% to 30%. The Peak District National Park with its intensive burning, its bare degrading peat and its dead wildlife on display to all visitors is a ‘protected’ site in twenty-first century Britain.
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You are correct spot on with your description of the area. In fact I would say kind too kind.
As has been said many times, the truth is we don’t have “National Parks”. Just a few places with some hurdles for planning permission, overseen by well paid and maybe well intended folk with no real power. The Govt should be taken to Court for fraud ie spending our taxes and telling us they have provided genuine National Parks.
That night when the Moscar Estate bussed in its workers to your talk in Chesterfield was very educational…
Passengers were from all points of the compass, answering the call.
Just for the sake of accuracy, the trap shown in your photo, with a stoat or weasel in, is a Fenn trap. Fenn traps have been illegal for catching stoats since April 2020, so the photo is likely to be old. Or, it might be that it is being illegally used, but I doubt it.
Justin – taken last weekend I am told.
Sadly there are Estates that have carried on with them, although I have no knowledge of this particular Estate either way. No doubt if challenged some will say they are for set for rats and weasels. In fairness, I have seen some of the new legal DOC ones on one Estate set very conspicuously
and exactly within the law. We must just take in on trust that they must have scrapped their old Mk4′ s.
Hopefully they havent been tempted to put them back well out of sight in the drystone walls, in the old traditional way.
Your comment, Justin, reminds me of all those illegal poisons that have been banned for decades but which strangely keep turning up, either stored on estates, or detected in the bodies of dead raptors.
Justin – then you doubt wrongly, I believe.
This barbarism will continue until we change landownership and how the land is used. With the political and economic system that runs this country it will be a long way off before this happens.
This is the response from Peak Park:
From: Thomas Rhodri
Sent: Wednesday, 11 November 2020, 14:59
To: [email protected]
Cc: Wybrow Belinda
Subject: RE: Traps and snares
Dear Ms Bliss
Thank you for your further e-mail regarding the use of traps and snares. As explained in Belinda Wybrow’s response to you of 3 November, on behalf of Sarah Fowler, the National Park Authority does not have regulatory powers over the use of traps or snares, nor is it a campaigning organisation. We do not, therefore, take a particular position over traps and snares where these are used legally. Where they are being used in an illegal manner or not in compliance with recognised codes of practice, there is a significant risk of injury, slow death or non-target animals being caught, as graphically shown in the image in your e-mail. The Authority robustly condemns any such illegal or non-compliant use.
Regards
Rhodri Thomas
From: sue bliss
Sent: 03 November 2020 16:18
To: Fowler Sarah
Subject: Traps and snares
Sarah
I emailed you regarding persecution of Raptors, destruction of moorland and the killing of our wildlife with snares and traps.
Whilst you have responded in part to my concerns, you have not addressed my concerns about slow painful deaths that are caused by these traps and snares. Traps and snares which have been found in the Peak park. Traps and snares that any humane society would not use or endorse.
The link below shows how cruel and vile these traps are. The image shows a dog injured by a snare.
You say you are speaking up for the place and its many communities for all to enjoy. I cannot fully enjoy the Peak park when I know traps and snares are placed to kill wildlife. I cannot let my dog off the lead in the Park for fear of her being injured by one of these vile contraptions.
Please tell me do you endorse these traps and snares?
https://twitter.com/MarkAvery/status/1317150541651320832?s=09
Sue Bliss
Matlock
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Peak District National Park Authority, Aldern House, Baslow Road, Bakewell, DE45 1AE.