Wuthering moors 6

I am very grateful to Natural England (that’s @NaturalEngland for those of you on Twitter, where you can find me as @MarkAvery) for sending me details of the Walshaw Moor management agreement.  They were clearly eager that I read it, so I have, and so can you here.  What do you think of it? I’d…

Wuthering moors 5

Further reading: Media House International acts for Walshaw Moor Estate Gordons solicitors act for Walshaw Moor Estate Company information on Walshaw Moor Estate Ancient history – in the old days, can you remember them?, one of NE’s predecessor organisations, English Nature, was active in protecting blanket bogs from destruction. Andy Clements, EN’s Director of Protected…

Wuthering Moors 4

The importance of UK blanket bog peat soils: Richard Benyon, 22 July 2010: Peat soils provide a wide range of ‘ecosystem services’ or functions for society, including carbon storage. UK peat soils are estimated to store around 5.5 billion tonnes of carbon, equivalent to 31 times the UK’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions if it…

Wuthering moors 3

The Heather and Grass Burning Code of 2007 may have escaped your attention although it is a quite remarkable document carrying, as it does, the logos of Defra, Natural England, the Moorland Association, the CLA, the NFU, the Heather Trust and the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation. In paragraph 10 that document clearly states that: There should…

Wuthering moors 2

Last Wednesday all Natural England staff received an email entitled Natural England’s work in the uplands. It tried to explain why NE’s Chair, Poul Christensen, had been reported as saying that NE’s Vital Uplands document had ‘let his organisation down badly’. Because not everyone agreed with the NE vision, which you may have noticed was…