Christmas and New Year

I wish all followers of this Blog a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.  The Trust will be closed from tonight but we will return bright eyed and bushy tailed to tackle the challenges of 2010 on 5th January.




Alison, Catherine & dogs after our Christmas Lunch, yesterday.

Scotland - Rural Land Use Strategy

If you would like to know more about the development of the Land Use Strategy for Scotland I suggest that you look at the Scottish National Rural Network site which has background details, links to other information and tells you how to get involved.

The Trust will be contributing to this process through Scotland's Moorland Forum but we will supplement this with some input of our own, if I think we can add something extra as an independent view.  I woould be pleased to hear any views from members about the issues that should be addressed.  It is interesting to note that The Climate Change (Scotland) 2009 requires a land use strategy to be introduced by 2011.

Wales - Introduction of Glastir / EID

The latest version of Gwlad, the Welsh Assembly Government's agriculture and rural affairs magazine, has a useful summary of the actions required by farmers who wish to enter the Glastir scheme when it starts on 1 January 2012.  See page 3.  This may seem a long way off but, perhaps surprisingly, actions start now.

This same edition also has a useful summary of the requirements of the Electronic ID Scheme in Wales.  See page 4.

For those with an  interest in encouraging Young Entrants, a link to the details of the key Welsh scheme can be found on page 13.  Should other countries be following the Welsh lead?

The Average Age of Hill Farmers

The perceived wisdom is that the average age of hill farmers is increasing out of control and that they are much older than other farmers.  In doing some research for a paper I am writing I came across the Rural Business Research website that provides average age by farm type.  I reproduce the table here:

Farm Type	Average age
ALL FARM TYPES	53.30
Cropping	54.50
Cereals	54.32
General Cropping	53.99
Horticulture	55.74
Livestock	52.48
Dairy	51.40
Grazing livestock (lowland)	54.06
Grazing lifestock (LFA)	52.15
Mixed and other types	52.63
Pigs	48.75
Poultry	53.93
Mixed	52.84

 I have not researched this in depth and it is possible the detail explains why this is not as it seems (lies, damn lies & statistics).  However, cheer up hill farmers, you may not be as far out on a limb as you thought you were, mind you the figures do not necessarily change how you feel.

Wildfires - California style

This article from BBC News demonstrates that the debate between prescribed burning and wildfires is not confined to the burning of heather.  Much of the content of this article, although describing forest fires, is relevant to heather burning.

The video clip:  It would be good to think we could have helicopters on standby in the UK, although 3 min standby might be a bit OTT!

Hydropower

One Welsh farmer has made hydropower work for him.  See a short video clip.

The costs quoted are: installation £25,000, grant £2,500, income from sale of surplus electricity £900 per month.  On these figures, anyone with a good supply of water and a steep hill should be queuing up.

Natural England - Launch of the Upland Vision

I attended the launch of Natural England's Upland Vision in Ilkley on 12 Nov 09.  Their press release gives details of the launch, a link to the document and also comments from some of the organisations that were represented at the launch.

The Vision is welcomed, although perhaps inevitably it is good on aspirations and less good on delivery.  An interesting part of the work associated with the Upland Vision is the establishment of 3 demonstration sites across the country to trial some of the principles.  More details are available on the NE website.  Hopefully this work will help to show how the Vision can be delivered.  It is work that I would like to keep in close contact with as it is very close to the Trust's heart. The need for compromise to allow upland owners and managers to generate income to pay for the necessary management of these areas needs to be emphasised and I hope that these demonstrations sites will address this.

Perhaps there is a case for an Upland Strategy to be developed that will provide a direction for upland policy from where we are now to the aspirations set out in the Vision.

In Scotland, we have been advised recently of compensatory conifer planting on good quality heather moorland following the clear felling of another part of an estate.  To my mind, there is a clear need for an Upland Strategy in all parts of the UK to protect our upland areas and stop this sort of nonsense.  Is this just unnecessary additional bureaucracy, or would it serve a useful purpose?

Scotland - Muirburn Consultation Responses

Alison has produced a summary of the responses to the Muirburn section of the Scottish Wildlife & Natural Environment Bill Consultation produced by members of Scotland's Moorland Forum.  This is available from the Trust's website.  It can only be a summary and the full responses are available from the SG Website.

A pattern can be seen from these responses: there is general agreement on most issues but there is a polarisation about burning in spring.  Several organisations are promoting an end to the burning season of 31 Mar 09.  I do not support this.

• There is no compelling evidence to support the early cessation of the season.  References are made to the BTO report commissioned by the Moorland Forum, but I thought it had been acknowledged that this had been ambivalent.  It is surprising how such reports keep coming around.
• Losing the ability to burn in April would cut off most of the burning that takes place in the highlands.  This would result in more rank vegetation and a greater risk of wildfires.  I argue that this would produce a greater risk to peat and bird habitat.

The other issue that surprises me is the response to the proposal to remove the requirement for the notification of neighbours.  It is pretty clear that this has never been consistently carried out and arguably it is a bit of bureaucratic nonsense.  Yet several respondents are reluctant to see this requirement removed.  I would prefer it removed to guidance that notification occurs where burning is to take place near a sensitive habitat or forestry close on the other side of the march.  Otherwise what purpose does it serve?  The default position should be that muirburn can be expected on all managed moorland every year.  Perhaps notification should only be required when muirburn is not going to take place!

Animal Health Bill - England

It had been thought that the proposal to introduce a mechanism where animal keepers shared the costs associated with the prevention and control of animal diseases had been shelved.  Not so.  See the Countryside Alliance Newsletter for more details.

As Simon Hart puts it, "This is cost shifting, not cost sharing".

The woes of hill sheep farming

Farmers Weekly has produced a short video (6 mins) that details the problems facing sheep farmers in Western Scotland.  EID, lamb prices, land abandonment, new entrants, and food supply get a mention. 

The video paints a rather chilling picture and I doubt that the picture is much different in other remote parts of the UK.  Are we doing enough to safeguard the future of the hill farming industry that is so important for food production and the management of the uplands that also provides employment for people who keep our rural communities viable?

Beaver Update

For an update on the fate of the Beavers re-introduced into Argyll in May see the article in today's edition of The Scotsman.

International Year of Biodiversity 2010

Hands up all those who knew that 2010 was to be the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB)?  I will not be surprised if this event has passed most people by but the activities are to be launched in London on 25 Nov 09. More details can be found on the website of the lead organisation, the Natural History Museum.

The United Nations has declared the following aims for the IYB

• to increase awareness of the importance of biodiversity for our well-being;
• to halt the loss of biodiversity, which is currently up to 100 times greater than the rate of natural extinction; and
• to celebrate success stories.

This may not be exciting stuff, but there is a close linkage between ecosystem services (or natural services) such as the provision of water, food and fibre from our moorland, and the carbon storage / sequestration function, and the need to maintain moorland habitats in a healthy, diverse condition.  Biodiversity may be an 'old', overused concept, but linked to the latest concept of ecosystem services, it gains a new lease of life.

Scotland's Moorland Forum Meeting

Last week was a busy week as we geared up for one of the three annual meetings of the full Forum on Friday.  It is always difficult to strike the right balance between providing challenging presentations and discussion for the representatives of the 30 member organisations while also keeping the governance of the Forum going.  We ended up with 3 presentations:  Habitat Trends from the Countryside Survey 2007 (Ed Mackey, SNH); the Hen Harrier Conservation Framework document (Prof Des Thompson, SNH) and Carbon Storage in UK Peatlands (Dr Fred Worrall, Durham University).  Highlights: Bracken is expanding, heather is contracting in Scotland; SNH is worried about the effects of a lack of prey on Hen harrier populations as well as about persecution; blocking of grips is bad for greenhouse gas emissions (due to the release of methane), but good for keeping peat and its carbon on the hill.

We had allocated 40+ mins for governance issues but I was pleased to note that this was squeezed into little over 15mins by more interesting discussion and everyone appeared to be happy to rely on the paperwork that I had circulated in advance of the meeting - the benefit of the 5Ps (prior planning preventing poor performance).

I welcome the input from such a diverse range of organisations to these meetings.  We do not all agree, and it is not all sweetness and light, but it remains an effective way to build consensus.

Scotland's Moorland Forum - New Grant

I am delighted to be able to report that the Trust's grant to provide the administration for the Forum will be renewed.

I am the Secretary and Alison is the Administrator of the Forum and these roles involve a large amount of work.  This input is funded by a grant from Scottish Natural Heritage.  I had expected that the existing grant would continue until 31st March 2011, but I was invited to re-apply for a grant from 1 April 2010.  This caused a flurry of unexpected activity prior to the deadline on 1 September, and a certain amount of 'sharpening the pencil', to make our application as attractive as possible.

The less good news is that the grant will only be for 1 year, rather than the three we had applied for.  However, I am grateful for the approval, as renewal was by no means certain in the difficult financial times that SNH finds itself in.  Claims that our budget was cut tight and submitted on the assumption of being given a 3 year term are likely to fall on deaf ears! 

Discussions will now take place on how best to fund the support of the Forum after the end of our one year grant.  I hope that we will be able to retain our involvement wherever the funding comes from.

HT Facts & Figures

Trying to remember all the facts & figures that fly across my desk is an impossible task. I started to record the most interesting / most relevant a while ago and in case it is of wider interest I have now made this information available on the members section of the website.

It is an eclectic mixture of information and I have added some additional detail which can be found by clicking on the pink icon in the Details column. It is possible to search the file for keywords to help find information of particular interest.

I will add to this as time goes by and try to remove out of date information. I hope you find it useful and interesting. Comments welcome.

Forestry Facts & Figures

Do you want to know more about what has been going on in the forestry world? This could be the site for you - Forestry Facts & Figures.

The area of woodland in the UK at 31 March 2009 is estimated to be 2.84 million hectares. This represents 12% of the total land area in the UK, 9% in England, 17% in Scotland, 14% in Wales and 6% in Northern Ireland.

In Scotland, there are proposals to increase the area of woodland to 25%. This is a proposal I am watching with interest as I would not like to see the area of forestry expanded at the expense of moorland, or even areas where heather has been lost recently that could be restored.

Environmental schemes damaging upland farming

THE Tenant Farmers Association has hit out at Natural England’s ‘misguided’ policy of ‘drastically reducing’ uplands stocking densities through Environmental Stewardship Schemes. See the full article in the Farmer's Guardian.

I share the concern that the overgrazing lobby needs to be curtailed. Undergrazing is a reality in many areas already and this is likely to get worse if the 75% reduction in upland stocking levels that is quoted in the article comes to pass. Understandably, the TFA is interested first and foremost in such issues as farm incomes, home produced beef & lamb, skill shortages and food security, but I would add habitat condition, biodiversity and wildfire risk to this list. The habitat on an ungrazed moor is likely to be in poor condition, it will not have a diverse structure and the fuel loads will make it a wildfire waiting to happen.

Upland Policy Coordination Committee

I was delighted to attend a meeting of the Upland Policy Coordination Committee that has been established by the Moorland Association to consider English policy issues. This was an opportunity for organisations to share ideas and other input came from the Countryside Alliance, The Country Land and Business Association, the National Gamekeepers Organisation and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust. The discussion considered a wide range of strategic issues.

I welcomed the opportunity to contribute to this meeting. There is always a danger that the organisations with an interest in the uplands will pull in different directions when there is much to be gained from a more coordinated approach. The meets the Trusts wish to see a more integrated approach to moorland management.

AGM and Weardale Meeting

The meetings in Weardale went off very well on 23 Sep 09 and I am very grateful to Mr Michael Stone for allowing us the use of his wonderful Picture Gallery at Weardale Lodge to hold our meetings. Lycetts Insurance Brokers and Smiths Gore generously supported the events and allowed us to maintain the high standards of Heather Trust hospitality. Thanks are also due to the Weardale headkeeper, Nick Walmsley, and his team for the support they provided during the day.

The Board met the night before and the meeting degenerated into a dinner for which we were joined by some guests and this allowed discussion to continue well into the night. The following morning, the AGM was swiftly completed and our numbers were then boosted to 29 for the Weardale Meeting. Sebastian Green, the Weardale Estate Manager, gave examples of the economics of an upland estate, and Lindsay Waddell, the Chairman of the National Gamekeepers Organisation, gave an insight into the role of the modern upland gamekeeper. A feature of the day was the quality of the discussion; this was enhanced by the relatively small group, but I believe that the value of the day is directly related to quality of the discussion. The Weardale meeting was a good one.

Having held the AGM in Morayshire, the Peak District and Co Durham in the last three years, I am open to suggestions or offers for 2010!

Scottish Consultation - Electronic ID

The implementation options in Scotland for EID of sheep and individual recording of sheep and goats arising from EU Regulations that will come into force on 01 January 2010 are open for consultation. See the Consultation document.

The consultation period closes on 02 November 2009.