Catastrophic decline in habitat quality since English Nature and Natural England took over, threatening farmers that subsidies would not be paid if they did not do what they were told. If farming in the Uplands and Lowlands of Britain were placed by good Government on a level playing field with their competitors, there would be no need to put the farming industry on welfare. Pillar 2 is money down the drain without compulsory predator control, headage payments, disease control and prevention of human disturbance of wildlife. The Uplands devastated by Labour and RSPB’s Upland Clearances, requires capital investment to utilise the new proven technologies, which can provide a ten-fold increase in the carrying capacity for cattle, sheep and wildlife, and also boost tourism and other upland enterprises.
Catastrophic decline in wildlife.
Catastrophic increase in most predators and declines towards extinction of many vulnerable prey species.
Catastrophic decline in Dartmoor Ponies.
Rank unpalatable grasses infested with ticks, over-growing bronze age archaeology.
Un-burnt mature heather infested with heather beetle.
Out of control bracken creating sterile landscapes, unsafe for tourists and walkers (lyme disease).
Pointless interference with the natural drainage of peat bogs.
Reclassifying good unmanaged heather moorland as heathland in good condition, in order that staff could meet their targets.
Farmers, Commoners and Graziers with their associated skills driven off the land and put out of business, by pointless red tape and on-going reductions in livestock numbers, which no other business could or would tolerate.
Unnecessary costs of stock housing born by farmers through being forced to make the wrong choice of livestock.
No consideration given to the situation in 2000, when English Nature regarded under-grazing to be as serious a threat as over grazing.
Catastrophic increase in at least four organisations and staff telling farmers, commoners and graziers what to do and almost certainly outnumbering them.
Repeated all over Britain, Upland farming communities have been deprived of viable business, have not been fairly compensated for loss of income, with the taxpayer paying massive unnecessary costs for no rewards.
Edmund Marriage – British Wildlife Management – 25 Sept 2013.