Keith McDougall 1934-2016

Photo: The Telegraph

It is with sadness I report that Keith McDougall has died at the age of 82.  An obituary was published in The Telegraph, last week, and this correctly records Keith's enthusiasm for all matters relating to conservation and upland farming.

Keith was a long standing member of The Heather Trust and one of the most active members.  He did not make the transition to the electronic age, but a steady flow of letters and correspondence cards served to keep me on my toes; the last one arrived here on the day that he died.  They were welcome as they came from someone with a great understanding of what the Trust is about and strives to achieve.  I suspect that the flow of correspondence was consistent across a range of organisations and this impressive level of input will be missed.

Members' Briefing: Bracken

I make no apologies for having given a lot of coverage in this Blog of the efforts to make asulam available for bracken control in 2013 - I consider it to be a very important upland management issue.  

It is inevitable that this coverage will skew opinion and there is a danger of losing sight of other bracken issues such as why the plant it is special, and other control techniques that do not involve chemical treatment (the presentation I gave to the Robson meeting on 7 March 2013 has more detail about other control techniques).

In an attempt to redress the balance and provide other information about bracken, we have prepared a Members' Briefing and this is available on the website to members and visitors alike from the Reading Room page.  

I hope out of a 'sense of common decency' that if a non-member gains value from this or other Briefings that they will give serious consideration to rectifying their lapse.  All are welcome and joining the Trust confers membership of an influential and distinguished band of people.