Barbed Wire at Brockles...

It is sad to relate that Brockles field in Cuxton, high on the hillside overlooking Bush Valley, has now been disfigured by hideously ugly galvanised steel gates and barbed wire fencing. 

It seems (from their Facebook page) that this project was supported by "Old Chalk New Downs", a lottery-funded group whose brief is to address "the loss of people’s connection with their natural environment and lack of knowledge and understanding of the value of their heritage through a variety of schemes"...

OCND: fencing off the countryside for YOU...

From what I can work out, it seems OCND think that the way to get people "connected with their natural environment" is to help landowners fence off or screen off as much of it as they can. A look at their annual reports for the past few years shows they have been involved with several North Kent land enclosure projects, one that will undoubtedly preserve chalkland habitat by preventing people with a "lack of knowledge and understanding of the value of their heritage" from getting anywhere near it.

It is perhaps no surprise that they have also been working with Vineyard "Get Orf Our Larnd" Farms, providing lottery funding to facilitate the planting of hedgerow screens on a private estate owned by a billionaire tax exile. 

Quite how VF/MDCV's winery plans (which at present include excavating 160,000-odd cubic meters of chalk for their winery and then burying Bush Valley under the spoil - plans which were rejected by Medway Council's Planning Committee) fit in with OCND's objective to "improve, restore, and reconnect threatened chalk grassland habitats" is a bit of a puzzle, of course. 

Perhaps VF's ongoing practice of dumping piles of ugly spoil along the edges of fields (see examples here and here) is also part of the master plan to "improve, restore, and reconnect threatened chalk grassland habitats"... 

I originally thought that this particular enclosure project had been undertaken to try and protect the cattle that sometimes graze up there from harassment by out-of-control dogs, whose owners have done so much to make any walk around Ranscombe Reserve an occasionally miserable, stressful and sometimes painful activity these days, at least in my experience.

I used to enjoy carefully picking my way through the Brockles grassland in early summer, looking for unusual wildflowers such as broomrape and Bee Orchids, or trying to photograph the Marbled Whites, Common Blue and Small Heath butterflies that abound up there. That small pleasure has now been obstructed, but then I would probably be considered by the doubtlessly highly-qualified folk of bodies such as OCND to have a "lack of knowledge and understanding of the value of our heritage" and so would not be not deemed worthy to access such places anyway.

It seems it's all "theirs" now, not ours...

Views of what Brockles used to look like before it got cordoned off like a mine field can be found here.

Now that the "Silverhand Estate" across Bush Valley and Luddesdown has become a virtual no-go area, we are becoming increasingly short of places to go for a hassle-free walk: step off the public footpaths up there in careful pursuit of a butterfly, wildflower or a better view, and a "warden" in a 4x4 will soon descend upon you and demand that you "get orf their larnd" immediately. I think they must spend all day scanning the horizon through binoculars, looking for "trespassers". You certainly feel like you are being watched.

There is the argument that people like me are part of the problem, of course, and that our harmless observations actually damage wildlife and crops blah blah. Really? 

That is just so much "gaslighting", of course... 

To me, that argument just sounds likes an excuse to shut the countryside down for the benefit of private landowners, aided and abetted by a few clever environmentalists who think that the countryside is a Petri dish - and one that has to be kept uncontaminated by people like me. 

All that said, if their experiences with ignorant dog owners, litter louts and their loathsome offspring are anything like some of the ones I have had whilst out walking in around Cuxton, Halling and Luddesdown, then I have a bit of sympathy for the scientists who want to shut down our countryside, and for landowners like Vineyard Farms: VF even had one of their "boast posts" vandalised recently, which was inexcusable.

More and more of Cuxton's countryside is being fenced off to exclude its residents but perhaps overall we deserve it, thanks to a dog-owning, litter/poo bag-dropping, selfish and self-entitled chav contingent. 

Why should land owners have to put up with aggressive yobs who seem to think they have the right to drop litter, light barbecues or let their stupid, semi-feral pets and offspring run riot everywhere? Or ride their quad/trials bikes across farmland and through woodlands, terrorising livestock and wildlife and tearing up crops and fields? 

And what incentive do landowners have to take the time to distinguish the good from the bad visitors to their property? Can you blame them for fencing it off?

I am depressed and discouraged....