WHEN drifting around the other day, just north of the A66, completely lost, I was suddenly struck by a notice informing me that I was close to the Philip Wayre Upland Trust. I was looking for a house near the High Force Waterfall in Teesdale, but my sat-nav goes through periods of utter gormlessness from time to time and my wife, Lulu, and I were way off target. Needless to say, the device’s days are numbered.
Nonetheless, the ‘Philip Wayre Upland Trust’ intrigued me—the late Mr Wayre was a fantastic naturalist and conservationist and, dare I say it, one of my heroes. I was invited to speak at his memorial in 2014 in Suffolk, which remains one of the most important privileges of my life, as he was a great man. However, now, after being responsible for the return of the otter throughout Britain courtesy of The Otter Trust, it seemed that Wayre may have set in motion a charity to try to see through the myths and mists of misinformation that currently dominate and demonise all talk of upland conservation, where the eco-fashion of ‘rewilding’ seems to have taken over from ‘sustainable management’, common sense and reality.
What exactly is the Philip Wayre Upland Trust and where is it? It’s made up of two blocks of moorland in Weardale, north of the A66 in the North Pennines. Seeing land that should have been perfect for black grouse, lapwing and curlew completely wasted due to bad management and overstocking of farm animals, Wayre set about the task of finding wrecked land that could be restored for wildlife and properly managed livestock. In 2000, he purchased Lintzgarth Fell, a block of 482 acres rising to more than 1,800ft; and, in 2012, Thornhope Moor, nearly 300 acres skirted by the Thornhope Beck. But could they both be reinvigorated by restoration and protection?
Denne historien er fra September 29, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra September 29, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
