A good turnout came to the meeting on the 20 May about setting up a Friends of Baildon Moor. As expected from the variety of use the moor gets, there was also a big variety of opinions on how to look after the moor and what could be done to improve its use. I talked to a few people afterwards, and asked them what their priorities would be. The common response was first to put a stop to the selfish things that go on, and which spoil it for the rest of us.
Someone brought a photograph to the meeting of an off-road vehicle parked up by the "trig" point on the top of the moor. Its these vehicles, and the quad bikes and motorbikes (normal size and mini-bikes) that really annoy people. They shouldn't be on the moor, and its just reckless, thrill-seeking selfishness that makes them do it. Motorbikes are as well churning up the groundlayer in the woods in Shipley Glen, and their noise makes it a misery for people walking in there, as well as frightening. Cyclists are also using the path through the woods on the other side of the Glen. They know this is a FOOTpath and not a bridleway, but in their selfishness they expect walkers to get out of their way. Cyclists aren't allowed to ride willy nilly across the moor either, because the open access of the urban common is only for walkers and horse riders.
Another priority, particularly for the Countryside Service of Bradford Council, is to stop the few people living alongside the moor, and along the edge of Baildon Green, from using the land as a dumping ground. This is also a problem with the few people who live along the top of Trench, Walker and Midgely Woods, and who dump rubbish into them. These woods anyway get the empty fizz bottles and crisp packets from the secondary school children, but you would think that adults would know better. I am told there are also people taking bits of Baildon Green as add-ins to their garden. More light fingered than green fingered!
Dog mess is the problem at Moorside, but we also have a problem with the bins around the car park there that fill up quickly over a weekend and then the wind empties them across the plateau and down the slope. The bend in the road above the White House is still getting young drivers in to thinking that their car can take off and fly, but thankfully Bradford Council are quick to remove the wrecks.
I came across something last year in Shipley Glen that made me check up with the British Mountaineering Council. Some climbers have taken to hacking away at the trees growing near the rock faces, and along the connecting paths between rock faces, in the worse form of gardening you will ever see. The BMC issue a guide on "opening up" crag faces for climbers and their access, which is a bit presumptious as these climbers don't have a right to do this just because open access does allow them to climb. But it does stress that permisson is required from the land owner for any clearance. Is it too much to ask that they seek supervision before they just selfishly hack away?
I went for a walk up the beck in Shipley Glen on Tuesday. Not a route that many take as its hard going sometimes over slippery rocks, but its the best way to appreciate the marvels of this water course as it carves down the valley through the sandstone layers and under the cover of the ancient woodland. You can see dippers and herons, and the beckside ferns are at their best. While I walk (slither) over the rocks I also pick up the litter of cans and bottles, plastic bags, disposable BBQs, sweet wrappers and fertiliser bags. I can usually find a robust polythene "builders bag" in the beck to put the rubbish in, which I then stash for later and then when it is full carry it out to one of the bins on the top of the Glen. The odd wheel and tyre will need a special trip, as will the rusting carcass of a motor scooter, and bizzarely the council bin that was wrenched out and thrown over. At least we don't get the cars being pushed into the Glen that we used to, but it is rewarding how a bit of litter picking lets you concentrate on the natural wonders of the beck and not the trash. I've also seen people litter pick on top of the Glen.
Only a few selfish people are needed to mess things up for the rest of us. And they keep doing it (often at odd hours) because they know they can get away with it. Its not a pleasant task to have to confront them, but in the end we will have to think of ways to discourage these selfish people, and we can't always expect others to do it for us.
