Description
Book SynopsisWith Britain’s islands holding more than three-quarters of the Earth’s stock of heather moorland, it is an extraordinary fact that it stands as one of the world’s rarest habitats.
A landscape beloved by millions, it’s renowned for the tranquillity and solace it provides – however, this tranquillity is an illusion. Britain’s moorlands have, in less than a decade, moved from a position of benign consensus to the epicentre of the bitterest conflict within UK conservation.
This insightful book sets out to examine and expose the hidden issues surrounding UK moorland conservation, giving a voice to the many people who work and live there and who feel that what they have to say is often ignored, if it’s even heard at all.
The fate of our uplands is in our hands, and it is important that an alternative narrative, from the perspective of the practitioners who have cared for these places for generations, are considered.
It may be that those with power chose to ignore these facts and sweep them away, but at least now they cannot say they didn’t know.
Trade ReviewTackling the big questions, Moorland Matters is as ambitious as it is entertaining. Although the subject matter is hard-hitting, Ian Coghill’s wonderful turn of phrase and anecdotes would put the best after dinner speakers to shame.
One of the most important books to be published on the heated subject of moorland management. This is a powerful book that every MP should read.
They're a unique and wonderfully wild part of Britain's landscape. In this cri de coeur, one conservationist blasts back.
This is a masterful book and it’s written in such a refreshing way. It offers such pragmatic solutions that the reasonable majority of which Coghill often writes cannot fail to appreciate the nonsense of the position taken by so many bodies and institutions in the current, toxic eco climate. -- Dominic Wightman * Country Squire *
It is without hesitation I recommend this book... it is a volume long overdue and proves to be a wonderful tool in aiding knowledge growth to anyone with even a passing interest in country sports, the environment and ecology. Ecology affects us all, and books such as this should be treasured, for the learning opportunities they provide us with on our wondrous heather moorland. -- Ben Skipper * Baily's Hunting Directory *
Far more than just an uncontrolled rant - it picks at the fabric of decisions being made about our uplands...I would highly recommend it to people on both sides of the debate
Table of ContentsContents
Foreword vi
Glossary of abbreviations and acronyms ix
Prologue xi
Introduction 17
- Moorlands matter 23
- A burning issue 31
- Does grouse shooting cause floods? 55
- Never mind the quality, feel the width 67
- Curlew calling 77
- There must be an alternative 85
Tourism and eco-tourism
Energy generation
Increased pastoral activity
7. Let’s just leave it to nature 95
8. Predation and its control 103
9. The road to hell is paved with regulation 117
10. A licensing department and how not to run one 129
From simplicity to chaos
Gulls and the advantages of countryside living
Stoats, just when you thought it couldn’t get worse
The end of the road
11. Raptors 151
12. The stoat’s tale 175
13. The tale of two vegetarians 185
The mountain hare
The red deer
14. Ticks 195
15. The search for a level playing field 199
16. Grouse shooting and its community 211
17. Economics 223
18. Ethics and politics 227
19. What should happen 235
Epilogue 249
References and further reading 252
