A strange week.

I’ve spent most of the week surveying part of a local nature reserve. During that week, I’ve had dozens of people coming up to me to complain about a group of “environmentalists” destroying the environment. It got so bad, that I was glad when it started pouring down rain as that meant I would be left alone with nothing but my own thoughts and the distant buzz of environmentalists chainsaws destroying woodland.
People like this nature reserve because it’s a mile long walk through a mix of trees and open heath. And it used to be a magical place to take children because although relatively small, it used to be easy to get lost passing through the dense woodland and then Scottish moorland – all within a 10minute train ride of a major Scottish city.
However, it seems that someone has decided that this area should not be woodland because presumably they have decided that it is “supposed” to be open heath.
Paradoxically, much of the area used to be naturally heathland – that is until they built the path through the reserve. Before this path, much of the area was naturally free of trees – presumably because the area was frequented by deer which ate the young saplings faster than they sprouted and this kept most of the area from turning to woodland.
But it all changed when they built the path. Presumably because the dog walkers scaring away the deer. This meant that over the last decade the trees have grown up along the path, and so I didn’t see a big problem cutting down these trees where the deer no longer visit along the path.
So, I just assumed this is what was going on. But at at times, almost everyone passing was stopping to ask whether I had anything to do with this tree felling. So, with so many complaints, I eventually I went to look. It turns out that not only have they been clearing the trees along the path where it used to be clear, but they have also been clearing much of the area of woodland that was marked as woodland on the 1850 map. So although the trees themselves are not this old, it seems they have cleared an area which must have been largely untouched woodland dating back at least 165 years.
The irony, is that this area where they are clearing is well known as an area the deer shelter in during the day. So, by clearing this section, they are destroying the shelter for the deer and with less deer to keep the trees from growing on the boggier areas, the more these boggier areas will turn to the very woodland the environmentalists don’t seem to want.
It just seems to me to be pointless destruction – and the irony – pointless destruction which I presume has been carried out to “save” the environment.