Paths and ruts

 This photograph is a source of some disquiet, the problem is easily described, the solution is not. The photo was taken after a shower of rain, which is why the soil is dark. Its normal colour is the red of sand, as it is in fact a soil that originates like much of the soil around north Worcestershire from sandstone. It was taken earlier this year in our meadow and shows what happens when thoughtless walking takes place. There are no rights of way across this land and no public access, it having a stock proof fence all the way round it. Now, however, inconsiderate dog walker have repeatedly damaged the fence to get into the meadow where in a very short time they have worn a track, thereby encouraging others to assume it is a legal path, which it is not. Even the signs we have put up to state there is no right of way have been removed.

The upshot of this is that our very delicate ecosystem is being eroded. Because the soil is so very light it does not take much to damage the grass, expose the soil so that it washes away. It is the lightness of the soil and low productivity that has saved it from all but the very lightest grazing, but now we have walker damage.

At least the walkers seem to broadly stick to their self made path, but it is getting wider and perilously close to the area that contains our orchids. Oh, yes, and no ground nesting birds this year. The question is, what is to be done?

To that question we don't have an answer. One thing we did think about was planting a native species hedge, but the point of access the soil is too light to support anything but scrubby growth of things like hawthorn and field maple. Perhaps we just have to put up with it, but that does seem a shame, to just accept someone else's selfish attitude to the planet.