The scale of burning of English blanket bogs revealed by the latest RSPB work is scary. There are 127 separate consents (mostly through HLS agreements – ie we taxpayers are paying for it too) for burning on blanket bogs. These affect these seven Special Areas of Conservation (SACs)(Border Mires, Kielder-Butterburn; Ingleborough Complex; Moor House –…
Category: WALSHAW MOOR
Wuthering Moors 41
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Following my blog ‘first’ thing this morning here is some more information on the damage that burning does to blanket bogs. Martin Harper’s blog today expands on the RSPB’s thinking about burning of blanket bog. More details of the RSPB’s complaint to the EU over the management (they clearly regard it as mis-management, as did…
Burn, maybe burn (aka Wuthering Moors 40)
The RSPB is getting stroppy about burning of blanket bogs – I like that. Burning heather on a rotation of 7-20 years is part of the industrialisation of the upland landscape of parts of the UK. The main reason for doing it is to produce totally unnaturally high densities of Red Grouse which can then…
Water flows downhill
The ‘Ban the Burn’ group is having a demonstration outside the head offices of Natural England tomorrow morning as NE staff arrive at work. It’s not only lowland flat places that suffer flooding – Hebden Bridge has had more than its fair share over recent years. Many residents there feel that poor management on the…
Wuthering Moors 39
If you look at the Ordnance Survey map at grid reference SD 944344 – use this link. Can you see that there is an unnamed stream (a watercourse) between one called Foul Sike (to the north) and another called Waterfall Syke (to the south)? Here it is these days – looks a bit like a…
Wuthering Moors 38 – some more photos
Rumour has it that NE and Defra are both in a tizzy over a few photographs of moorlands on this blog. So, let’s have some more of them. These are all, I’m told (as I have never been there myself) from Walshaw Moor. To check the grid references use this link. …
Wuthering Moors 37 – if you go up on the moors today, you’re in for a big surprise
Wuthering Moors 36 – FoI/EIR to NE on Appropriate Assessments for Walshaw Moor
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Dear Natural England This is a request under the EI Regs and/or Freedom of Information Act. It is a simple request for copies of three documents. It is not a difficult request to fulfill. Please send me the information within 10 working days of this request, ie by 20 September 2013. This request refers to…
Wuthering Moors 35 – response to Defra’s case
Here are a few points on Defra’s response to the RSPB’s complaint to the EU Commission in the Walshaw Moor affair (see blog of 12 noon today). 1. Five tracks, five car parks, two ponds dug out of the peat, earthworks? 2. Some of the alleged damage may not ultimately be restored. 3. NE has…
Wuthering Moors 34 – the Defra response to the EU Commission
Further to this morning’s post, here is the information levered out of Defra on their response to the EU Commission regarding the RSPB complaint to the EU over the Walshaw Moor affair and its implications. WMEL below refers to the Walshaw Moor Estate Limited. I will post my early thoughts on this, here, at 1500…