I walk on Dartmoor often, in all
weathers and in different areas. I have
done this for many years but I always question the presence of sheep. They seem
like an infestation. They leave their droppings everywhere making the whole
area unpleasant, impossible to have a picnic on the ground and in the summer it
stinks. I am sure they also reduce the
numbers of skylarks by disturbing their ground nests. Skylarks are one of the
glories of summer on Dartmoor.
Until
recently, I have assumed we all have to put up with the sheep because they are
‘natural’, they provide a living for the upland sheep farmers, we need the meat
and their grazing keeps Dartmoor as it is ‘meant to be’. This all changed
recently for me – especially since I started to have the scientific attitude of
’trust no one’ ( The motto of the Royal
Society ) until you have seen and proven it to yourself. This obviously doesn’t
apply to, for example, to the existence of the Higgs Boson, I have to take that
on trust as I do not have an LHD in my garage and so have to believe what the
majority of scientists say but I can look at Dartmoor and begin to question the
presence of the sheep. I am now very distrustful of everything that people say
– even scientists. I shamelessly use Richard Dawkins aphorism and say, ‘Show me
the evidence’.
I
tend to divide my trips to Dartmoor into expeditions to look for and examine a
particular geological exposure or mineral outcrop. This has recently included
Aplite veins near Okehampton and Quartz Porphyritic dykes and sills ( Elvans )
in the granite tors near Belstone. One day I decided to look for tin mines and
Cassiterite ore in the Eylesbarrow area, taking in a look at the stone rows on
Higher Hartor Tor on the way. ( Found some beautiful 25cm Feldspar crystals in
this area ) I wandered around the old tin workings, picking up samples of ore.
I found several mine shafts and their partly filled in remains were fenced off,
thus preventing human accidents and, in the process, preventing sheep from
grazing the slopes down into the shafts.
These slopes were green and verdant with long, lush grass and luxuriant
blueberry bushes. This was unlike the devastated vegetation I had seen over the
years on many other parts of the moor. All that was left there was the
vegetation that the sheep had rejected. It could also be that, in addition to
the exclusion of sheep, the plants were sheltered in a micro climate but I
still think, and it would be easy to prove by fencing off an upland,
unprotected from the wind, area to see what would happen.
While
I munched on my cheese and pickle sandwiches I wondered what the moor would
look like if all the sheep were removed for say ten years? Would trees return?
Would there be many more birds and other wild life? Would it be a much moor
natural, pleasant place? What would happen to the sheep farmers? Would it cost
a lot of money that the nation could ill afford? What would we do about the
loss of sheep meat produced.
What
would happen if Dartmoor was turned into a real national park and all sheep and
cattle were banned?
Since
that day of questioning I have done quite a lot of research, with the following
results:
There would be an increase in
volume and diversity of plants, although it would take many years.
It would save the Country money because of a
reduction in hill farming grants – at present averaging £20,000 per farmer
although for some landowners like the Duke of Westminster they are in the
hundreds of thousands – no cap for these benefit claimants!
There would be an increase in
numbers and diversity of birds and wild life.
There would be a reduction in
floods downstream because of the growth of deep rooted plants that would store
rainwater on the high ground, and reduction in hard pan froming because of the trampling
of sheep’s sharp hooves.
Because of the decrease in
downstream flooding there would be more fertile land available for productive
farming and so there would probably be a net increase in meat produced from the
area.
Some of the larger fauna, could be
reintroduced from other countries
There would be very few jobs lost,
probably an increase in fact, as the sheep farming jobs would be replaced by
rangers, fencing work, forestry work, general ecology work and tourist centre
work as the Moor becomes a much more attractive place to visit.
It would eventually become a
balanced ecosystem although mankind would probably still have to, for example,
cull excess deer numbers because of the missing top predator – unless we were
bold enough to introduce lions etc..
I don’t have the knowledge or
expertise to argue the case so I will leave it to George Monbiot who has
written a persuasive article called, ‘Sheepwrecked’
and a book called:
FERAL. Searching for Enchantment on
the Frontiers of Rewilding.
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