Wild Isles

Yes you do, you are not stupid. You ignore the facts because you are one of the facts who is part of the problem not the solution. It is way easier to feign ignorance of the issues than to face your part in them. You will never change & I will never change we are polar opposites.

There is a  fundamental difference between me and some of the posters here. I have no time for the big estate pheasant shoots or the Red coated hunters who take part for sport and networking. What I and my fellow upland farmers do is protect out livestock, maintain a control on the rampant fox and crow population. Doing this gives the nationally endangered ground nesting birds a fighting chance. So successful is vermin control that there is now scope to harvest 120 eggs to reintroduce curlews to south east England where they are extinct. The theory that if you leave the predators be until they have depleted all other animals and then they die out is  flawed. You cannot get those species they have exterminated back and there is the nub of the problem with loss of wildlife today. The rapid declined can be traced back to the political, blanket, Fox Hunting Ban

Iolo's latest  programme tonight highlights the diversity and  volume of birds in this area Heather moorland area, different to elsewhere, so perhaps we are doing something right.

I agree, man’s intervention in the Peak District started Centuries ago, but there hasn’t been a deal done on a large scale to make it a more diverse wildlife area. Yes, they were denuded further. Huge swathes are private as well. Visitors are not actively encouraged even to this day. It’s no wonder the great trespass occurred in PD. I regularly drive the Strines area, and the whole area is covered in Keep Out Private Property signs. When you look at the names of Land Owners, they are usually prefixed by Duke of this, Earl of that….. that or Hedge Fund millionaires. 

Another reason why we  have it just right. No huge landowner but a series of family farms. The vast majority is "Right to Roam" and provided you dont have a dog to worry sheep very welcomed. We dont have much of a problem with wild camping and the DOE kids use it extensively. Thats why we wont allow the outsiders to try and change our ways.

Thanks TDA. . .But🤷🏻‍♂️🤔.

So, a bunch of rich £Millionaires own massive chunks of our Country-they then charge other £rich folk to use the land to shoot wildlife, then the Govt give them £Millions of OUR taxes to ensure they keep excluding the very tax payers that are funding them out of the area because it is their property. Geez this Country is just too soft on exploiters like these people🙄

Land management comes in all shapes and forms, communal or single ownership brings in it's own challenges.  I don't like the term rewilding, it seems to look backwards to so called better times but our land has been changing for millennia. Regeneration is perhaps better, restoration maybe and also improving the environment in general not just in the countryside. I feel urban areas miss out, there are not enough wildlife corridors. Every new tree and shrub helps safe wildlife movement and I'm not talking Lynx or Beavers just birds, small mammals and insects. 

Exactly Rocky. That’s why it’s so interesting. The whole governance stinks. There are just so many institutions with their fingers in the pies…..royals, the church, aristo’s, coat tail clingers, wannabe hooray Henry’s from overseas, super rich football club owners. All exploiting the British tax payer, and exploiting wild creatures. 

There will be some good projects carried out, but the bottom line is preserving a privileged way of life, primarily attractive to those with a lot of money. I read the other day, that because of the impact of COVID, Avian Flu, grain prices, some shoots might be looking at £100 a shot! Huge money indeed. 

I quite like Charles, it’s in his upbringing to rapaciously hang on to all things royal, but he seems to have a decent heart, he’s possibly the best of them all, apart from Anne. I prefer a monarchy to elected millionaires anyway. Heaven help us if we ended up with a Trump or another Boris. But we best get off this subject😉

• Just in from Lambing so not been through everything. I do like your new word Micky. . Its just what me and my kind have been doing  for decades, quietly, no so called celebrities jumping on the band wagon and no grant chasing. Goodness me  we agree on something. Cup of tea next.

Rewilding became a dirty word when Bojo's mate who was in charge of DEFRA illegally released Wild Boar and Deer on unfenced land and they invaded his neighbouring farmers land. It was under the umbrella of" rewilding". He was the person on the board of the organisation protecting the countryside. The Grant system even under the EU was always favouring non food production. The big land owners could afford to employ agents who systematically raided the pot. It is worse now under UK control. Favours non agricultural use, ie game shooting, horse breeding and other marginal interests. The big landowners get the most but as we read here do the most damage to the countryside. The tree planters are the latest to feed on it. Incorrect trees, in the wrong place is OK provided they tick the right box. The majority have no empathy with the countryside and just see it as another income stream. They even call it greenwashing!! So before you castigate us small farmers who at times dont get the wording right, look at the system.