A top blog on my must-read list, I admire and adore Chaz Mason and his work – and here, he has something very important to say.

I’m reblogging this from the wonderful Chaz Mason, who I’m sure won’t thank me for doing so – although this is important, and needs to be said, so down the hatch…

Chaz, you’ll all remember, is the fantastically knowledgable and caring wildlife (primarily) blogger who covers the very specific patch that is Clayhanger Marsh and Ryders Mere. Chaz actually packed up blogging for a while, after a period of many years, despite many appeals to continue (including mine).

Thankfully, a couple of moths back, Chaz started writing again, wanting to keep it low-key. So I haven’t mentioned it until now. The reason I do so today is because he’s saying something very important, and which I’ve received emails about before: some arsehole has been cutting the wire at the riding stables fields adding the Marsh and Mere, setting the horses free.

Like Chaz, I’m aware of the history of conflict over a right of way here. Whatever the history, that doesn’t make vandalism, or the endangering of livestock justifiable.

If you’re the idiot banjo that’s doing this, can we not, please?

Chaz has this to say in his post:

A VERY rare posting

A fine specimen of prime horse, but not where it should be. Image by Chaz Mason and posted on his blog.

It is not very often you will have seen me come to the defence of the Riding Stables. We tend to see them as the villains of the piece responsible for the over-grazing, destruction of the mineral line etc. However today it is someone else who is the villain!

I was walking back along the recently thrashed mineral line when I bumped into a nice young lady who has just started working at the stables. One of her first duties today involved racing around the site desperately trying to round-up more than twenty horses that had got lose because some PRAT had deliberately cut through the fence wires near the Mere.

You will note that although I have never condoned this activity, in the past I have expressed an understanding of the frustrations that have resulted in this type of behaviour (the closing off of defacto routes that had been used by local people for many years).

If such activity has ever been defensible today’s certainly was not! As I explained in a recent posting, a stile has been put in near the ‘Tin Bridge’ which allows a full circuit of the Mere and Marsh using the stiles that are in place around the Mere so how can anyone defend this purposeless and obviously premeditated act of vandalism?

If anyone knows who is doing this please contact either the Riding Stables or the Police (PLEASE NOT ME!) and let them know. We are approaching a situation where there is a developing detente between the site users. Lets not allow the act of a malicious imbecile screw this up for us all – Chaz

Posted by Chaz at Thursday, February 12, 2015