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…

That flame should be fizzling out

Natural England are in a bit of a mess over the uplands – you might say they have been bogged down. NE had to dump their vision for the uplands of England because landowners – perhaps including their Minister at the time (Richard Benyon) – didn’t like it.  They went back to basics and looked…

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.        …