Here are some images of the proposed path of the track across Walshaw Moor: all taken at the weekend by the wonderful Bob Berzins. Bob tells me ‘It is all deep peat up there and has a great wilderness feel. There is very little sign of vehicles being used so far. It would be…
BLOG POSTS
Wuthering moors (61) – Natural England – how deep have you sunk?
Dear Natural England, You know that ‘Catchment Restoration Plan’ that you signed with Walshaw Moor Estate? You know? This one. Yeh? The one with the new track? This new track? Yeh? The new track with the measurements of peat depth along its length? Before you signed off this joint plan – you…
We are 18,900 signatures ahead
The supporters of a ban on driven grouse shooting, are now 18,900 signatures ahead of the forces of conservatism who wish this unsustainable hobby of shooting birds for fun and profit to continue. But it’s not quite as simple as that, as there are three e-petitions including Ed Hutchings’s e-petition, supported by the RSPB, which…
Guest blog – An end to Peak pessimism by Alex Lees
Alex Lees is a lecturer in biodiversity at Manchester Metropolitan University and lives in the Peak District. Twitter: @Alexander_Lees Towards a wilder future – an end to Peak pessimism? Story 1. Nearly three decades ago I visited mid Wales on a family holiday. It was a successful quest for…
George Monbiot backing the ban on driven grouse shooting
George Monbiot’s Twitter account, @GeorgeMonbiot, is echoing the feelings of many readers of this blog when he comes out strongly in support of a ban on driven grouse shooting. And as a result of widespread support after Fred the eagle took to the seas, some Twitter activity by Chris Packham and George Monbiot’s intervention,…
Sustainable dilemmas (6) – more milk
My milk comes from a milkman (or milkperson) and arrives on my doorstep. But it comes from cows before then. Which cows? When my house was built in 1899 I imagine there were milk deliveries (were there?) but of a very different nature. I imagine that the distance between my house and the cow that…
Tim Melling – Little Forktail
Forktails are a family of birds native to SE Asia that inhabit rivers and streams. I have seen several different species (always a treat to see) but the Little Forktail surprised me by being really tiny. Also it does not have the exaggeratedly forked tail that the others have. In fact its scientific name Enicurus…
Tracking the Midhope moor case – Peak District
Long-term readers of this blog may remember this case in the Peak District National Park from May 2016. This track was constructed in 2015 without planning permission but funded by Natural England despite it being in an SPA, SAC and SSSI. In 2016 the estate applied for retrospective planning permission and over 180 of…
An eagle called Fred
Press release: Golden eagle persecution 7 miles from Scotland’s Parliament? A young satellite-tagged golden eagle has disappeared in highly suspicious circumstances in the Pentland Hills, just seven miles from the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh. The eagle had hatched at a nest site in the Scottish Borders in 2017 and last June, in cooperation…
Wuthering moors (60) – Calderdale losing track (2)
Following a widespread inability to find a planning application for half a track on the Calderdale planning portal – despite there being an application for the other half on the Pendle planning portal – I made my second phone call to Calderdale Council (01422 392237) and had a nice chat with another woman and then…