Following on from Dave Morris post on 13-May, Right to roam and Covid – 19, down here in the Scottish Borders we’re increasingly seeing “no access” signs erected on gates along popular walking routes. Having walked these routes for thirty years, and never seen them before, I can only assume they are to discourage all those folk now increasingly using them as a result of the crisis. This phenomenon was discussed in an parkswatch post (see here), but seeing such blatant signage was still quite a shock to the author. In the example above the sign simply states “no access – lambing in progress”. This is clearly not a field full of pregnant sheep, but a path along the top of open hillside!
In the photo (taken last weekend) and a short distance from Peebles, there are no sheep to be seen on the hill side. That’s because they’re mostly down in fields by the estate farm in the valley. This is a popular “drovers way” that spans the Borders – the sign in the photo is highlighting this. When not being persuaded to avoid it, it is used by walkers, horse riders and hill cyclists (we don’t have mountains in the borders)..
Looking in the other direction you can really see how the “fields” are actually down in the valley bottom, and the hillsides are not full of pregnant sheep or lambs. Actually, the shepherds quite rightly keep the sheep close to their farms in the valley at this time of year – you can just see two sheep in the distance but they’re not pregnant, and there are no lambs with them.
I have seen a number of people put off continuing by such signs. They really do deter.
What needs to happen
In an ideal world the Borders Council access team will be consulting with the National Farmers Union how their members can respond more positively and observe the Scottish Outdoor Access Code (see here). For example, by highlighting that lambing may be in progress because there are pregnant sheep around and, if it is not possible to avoid, then dogs should be kept under control, and cyclists should dismount. “Dogs under control” may need further explanation as many owners seem to take quite a loose interpretation to “control”. For example the landowner could expand on this with “You should consider keeping your dog on a lead near pregnant sheep”.
This has some relevance: Over the past weekend new reports appeared concerning one supposed consequence of the lock-down. The RSPB is reported to have expressed fresh concerns that disappearances of raptors across the uplands of Scotland are on the rise again. Without the constant “patrol” when members of the public are often moving across the farm lands and remoter hillsides, a few land managers are said to be enjoying a period without much risk of outside “supervision”. Of course it is not possible for any one individual to connect the news reports of raptor losses with facts. Fresh news reports of supposed culls of birds of prey are fairly regular in the media and may stem from some group pursuing an “agenda” . If Scotland wishes to preserve its natural heritage in the face of those who seek profit from exploiting the landscape , it needs constant vigilance. The removal of public access is exactly what some Land managers have been trying to achieve by stealth and threat for decades. Who could have predicted Scottish Politicians would show themselves so eager to step away from legal principles long established surrounding open land access, to play into the hands of Land owners for so many weeks now? The consequences for conserved wild life species through this period may only show up in the decades to come.
It’s clearly illegal to post signs of this nature.
Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003
Acts of the Scottish Parliament2003 asp 2Part 1Chapter 5Section 14
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2003/2/section/14