Morons on the moors

Sat, 26 Mar 2005 11:57:13 GMT

Well, I've just been on what must be the most depressing patrol of my time as a Ranger. Not only did the weathermen get it completely wrong and I got completely soaked, but I had the disheartening task of recording the serious and systematic vandalism of the new fence that has been put around Bleaklow as part of the attempt to regenerate the moorland. When I got to the Briefing Centre this morning, Fiona said that one of the local Gamekeepers had reported that a fence had been cut above Salter's Brook on the A628, and she asked me if I'd check it out. Sure enough, it was the new stock exclusion fence that had been chopped.

The vandalism started at Far Small Clough Head and I counted 38 places where the fence had been cut between there and Swain's Greave, a distance of about 2km - and that wasn't the end of it, I could see more cuts in the fence as hit headed east towards Barrow Stones. God knows how much further the damage goes but I'd run out of time and had to head for home. I temporarily fixed the first dozen or so sections, but whoever did it had quite clearly come prepared and has spent some considerable time performing their vandalism - the holes are every 50-100m, and they've cut the fence either side of two adjacent posts and entirely removed a section. In some places they've cut it by stiles, and in some places even next to the notices that explain that the fence is to keep stock out and not people. Needless to say, the sheep are already inside the fenced off area.

I'm at a loss to find the words to express my mixture of dismay and fury over what they've done - the damage is not just near footpaths, but right across the open moor. Whoever did this knew the area, had been before and came back with the tools necessary to destroy the fence. I'm sure the morons responsible feel that they were 'justified' in 'protecting their rights' despite the fact the land is actually privately owned and looked after. I'm also sure that if someone came and vandalised their property they'd be the ones baying for the blood of the offenders.

The fact of the matter is that because of their cretinous and downright criminal behaviour, everyone will lose:

This sort of behaviour undermines decades of careful liaison with the landowners to establish access to the land - if it was my fence that had been destroyed I'd be making a strong case for people to be excluded completely from my land - and yes, despite many people's belief to the contrary, landowners can still get access removed - for example for nature conservation purposes.
The fence is there for a reason - to protect and therefore help to repair the moors, and that's now been jeopardised.
The damage will have to be repaired, and I estimate that there is at least 5-10 thousand pounds of damage - not only is there the cost of the materials, and the labour to put the fence up, there's also the small matter of having to hire a helicopter at 800 pounds per hour to fly it in as the terrain is too fragile for vehicle access.
The landowner is paid for maintaining the fence, and for excluding his stock - if the fence is cut, DEFRA stop paying the farmer, so he get's hit by a double whammy.
The repairs will probably have to be paid for by DEFRA, i.e, the government, i.e. by taxes, i.e. by you, me and indeed the prats who cut the fence in the first place.

Bah.

Vandalism, repaired

Tue, 21 Sep 2004 10:57:50 GMT

I've dumped my photo album onto my laptop, and today, whilst I was waiting in the garage for my car to be fixed, I started to sort them out - the problem with digital cameras is that it's far easier to take photos than it is to keep track of them! I've found some stuff I should really post, so expect it to come out in dribs and drabs over the next few weeks. Here's the first instalment.

These 'kissing stones' are more properly known as Wain Stones, a famous Dark Peak landmark, and an ancient land boundary marker. I have an enlarged version of the picture as my desktop background as well, so I'm quite fond of them. Last year, the farmer who's land they are on (Bob Clarke) sadly died. Someone - goodness know who - thought it would be a good idea to hack his name into one of the two rocks.

I'd only met Mr. Clark once or twice and briefly at that but Mossy Lea Farm was always immaculately tidy, as was the rest of his land - and tidiness isn't a trait farmers are known for - so I can't think he would have approved of the crude and thoughtless way his name was hacked into the stone. Needless to say, nobody who saw it was happy, and one of the other Rangers came up with a way of ameliorating the damage as far as possible. He carefully smoothed away the rough edges of the letters and then painted over the raw yellow of the fresh rock surface with a mixture of peat and used engine oil.

As you can see from the photo above, from a distance it's barely noticeable - if you get up close you can still see it, but it's far better than it was.

As an interesting aside, if you look at the stones you can see they are pockmarked with small holes that look just like the bullet holes you see in the walls of shot-up buildings. Well, local rumour has it that during WWII bored pilots would strafe the stones as they passed over, so they are in fact bullet holes, softened by the passage of time. So thoughtless vandalism is nothing new...

Alan's Ramblings - vandalism tag

Morons on the moors

Vandalism, repaired