WildDartmoor
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tonydartmoor.bsky.social
WildDartmoor
@tonydartmoor.bsky.social
Campaigner. Dartmoor Nature Alliance. Restoring Nature on Dartmoor.
After a few months break, I’ll be
sharing news and views again on Dartmoor nature restoration here on Bsky - hopefully a few interesting things on the horizon.

In the meantime here’s a view from just above Warren House earlier this afternoon.
February 15, 2026 at 4:06 PM
This is SO good, and inspiring, well done @reclaimourmoors.bsky.social
🥾 Just shy of 200 people joined us up at Moscar Moor today to mark the start of the shooting season and united around our call for this huge grouse shooting estate in the Peak District to be taken into community ownership.
August 10, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Reposted by WildDartmoor
🥾 Just shy of 200 people joined us up at Moscar Moor today to mark the start of the shooting season and united around our call for this huge grouse shooting estate in the Peak District to be taken into community ownership.
August 10, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Great chance to share your hopes for nature restoration on Dartmoor …
Love #Dartmoor? Now’s your chance to influence its future.

People who care passionately about the National Park are invited to share their views on the priorities that will guide this unique landscape for years to come.

Complete the Public Opinion Survey: forms.office.com/pages/respon...
August 5, 2025 at 7:03 PM
A good read. I don't agree with some of the points, but it's thoughtful and well-written.

sustainablefoodtrust.org/news-views/s...
Sheep wars: Why it’s time to reset the uplands grazing debate | Sustainable Food Trust
A recent legal challenge brought to the High Court by campaign group Wild Justice has re-ignited one of the more interminable debates around land use – the role of sheep in the UK’s uplands.
sustainablefoodtrust.org
July 31, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by WildDartmoor
I got hold of the latest *official* stats for how many pheasants are being bred, reared and released in England

It's a big number - 25.9 million - but it's far less than the reality

It points to widespread rule-breaking by shooting estates failing to register:

whoownsengland.org/2025/07/31/l...
Latest pheasant release stats point to widespread rule-breaking by shooting estates
This post is by Guy Shrubsole. Photo: a rather gruesome sight on a shooting estate in Berkshire. 25.9 million pheasants are currently being bred, reared or released in England, according to the lat…
whoownsengland.org
July 31, 2025 at 1:13 PM
"Sheep farming is not subsidised"

That's quite the claim from Phil Stocker at the National Sheep Association.

Here's why ...

nationalsheep.org.uk/our-work/new...
Upland livestock farming must be part of the environmental solution, not the scapegoat, says NSA
nationalsheep.org.uk
July 22, 2025 at 5:59 PM
The Death of a Dartmoor Common. Pleased to have contributed to this @theguardian.com feature by @phoebeweston.bsky.social

I've written a more in-depth article to give full background to the common @guyshrubsole.bsky.social and I visited with the reporter.

www.dartmoornature.org.uk/post/the-dea...
July 16, 2025 at 5:46 AM
More coverage of todays Wild Justice vs Dartmoor Commoners' Council case ...

www.itv.com/news/westcou...
www.itv.com
July 15, 2025 at 12:18 PM
"Our uplands need a healthy future, and that future starts with change – radical, urgent and unapologetic."

Great opinion piece from @chrisgpackham.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Sheep are destroying precious British habitats – and we taxpayers are footing the bill | Chris Packham
Large parts of Dartmoor have been denuded of wildlife, harmed by farming and a mess of government schemes that are costly in every way, says naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham
www.theguardian.com
July 15, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Wishing @wildjustice.bsky.social all the very best for their legal challenge to Dartmoor Commoners' Council today at the High Court.

Read the background to the case here:

wildjustice.org.uk/sssis/wild-j...
Wild Justice challenges Dartmoor Commoners’ Council in High Court to tackle deterioration of wildlife habitats   - Wild Justice
Wild Justice is taking High Court action in a bid to make the guardians of Dartmoor common land ensure the […]
wildjustice.org.uk
July 15, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Hen Tor & Willings Walls Common. Yep, nothing here but species-poor grassland, Molinia, and a bit of bracken. And a lot of sheep scattered about.

The opportunity cost of maintaining the current grazing regime on this land is huge. It's as much a failure of the imagination as anything else.
July 8, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Reposted by WildDartmoor
The folk horror is real, where there’s a shoot. It brings the predators in. A gruesome & strange danse macabre for my @theguardian.com Country Diary today. ‘A jewel-bright partridge’s head, tops the beads of its neck vertebrae like an umbrella handle’ & someone is playing curious games..
Country diary: Like wrecked prizes, the body parts of pheasants litter the landscape | Nicola Chester
North Wessex Downs, Hampshire: Predators are increasingly drawn by the shooting-season escapees. But, miserably, other ground-nesting birds and their eggs are being taken, too
www.theguardian.com
July 1, 2025 at 8:08 AM
The level of this debate is appalling. Almost lost me when one MP claimed that "where grouse moor management had ceased, such as on Dartmoor, populations of ground nesting birds have reduced". Dartmoor hasn't seen any grouse shot since the 1920s, there is no shooting here!
June 30, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by WildDartmoor
Coverage of the new Duchy Dartmoor vision - "The duchy and the Central Dartmoor Landscape Recovery (CDLR) project will also enforce rest periods for the land to give it time to recover and allow biodiversity to blossom."

Wow. Yes please.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/royals/...
Prince William's desperate mission as 'things need to change' with royal icon
Dartmoor National Park faces greater heat stress for crops and livestock in summer and increased and more extreme rainfall in winter, according to the Met Office's research
www.mirror.co.uk
June 12, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Duchy of Cornwall's Dartmoor Vision published today ...

(More comments on this at some point)

www.duchyofcornwall.org/article/laun...
A new Landscape Vision for Dartmoor
www.duchyofcornwall.org
June 12, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Follow these people ...
Reclaim our moors? I’m game!
June 11, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Good piece from @georgemonbiot.bsky.social ... I've written more here on Molinia and specifically Dartmoor 🧵

www.dartmoornature.org.uk/post/molinia
June 9, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Very interesting - especially in relation to issues on Dartmoor

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Conservationists call for Lake District to lose Unesco world heritage status
Campaigners say designation promotes unsustainable sheep farming at expense of nature recovery and local communities
www.theguardian.com
June 8, 2025 at 4:46 AM
Looking forward to catching up with this new film about Dartmoor farmers using nature-based techniques to combat flooding ... www.gov.uk/government/n...
'Farming the Flood' shows Dartmoor farmers adapting to nature
Farmers are turning flood challenges into environmental opportunities in this new documentary.
www.gov.uk
June 4, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Brilliant piece on the Armada Way tree felling fiasco …
June 4, 2025 at 3:56 PM