Executive Secretary’s Report 2010

Another interesting year for the Forum and my tenth as Executive Secretary. A busy year
with a wide range of challenges and issues facing Thorne and Hatfield Moors.

It is sad that the most memorable event was the tragic loss of Honorary Life Member Peter
Skidmore on 19 July 2009. An Executive colleague remarked that Peter had been around
for most of his life and particularly influential in his early formative years, nurturing and
encouraging his interest in natural history and entomology in particular. Peter remained in
the background and the link was maintained through the common ground that was the
shared enthusiasm (or was it obsession) that was Thorne and Hatfield Moors.

One of my fondest memories of Peter was a talk on the fauna of the cow dung community
and later successfully bidding for a copy of the FSC guide on the same subject matter when
a book sale saw Peter donate a signed copy for society funds. His sense of humour was
delightfully mischievous and I can remember a range of emotions when Peter likened me to
WB, for him to regard me as capable of defending Hatfield in true WB style had me
wondering whether I was capable of the carrying the torch forward. Peter was also known
to remark of my „soap box‟ campaigning on statutory incompetency or negligence that I
showed „shades of WB‟. Peter was one of the original and quite unique Bunting‟s Beavers
and held the “Naturalist, Phamphleteer, Archivist, Rebel, Bad-tempered old sod and
Inspiration” in high esteem spending many hours with him in the campaign that eventually
saw a more secure future for Thorne Moors especially.

Peter, like Stephen Warburton before him leaves us to carry on the campaign to safeguard
these unique sites.

A tool in that strategy which Peter was keen to encourage is the programme of Wildlife
Training Workshops which have now become a series of regular events for the next
generation of naturalist‟s to learn the specialist skills to carry on the work of Peter in terms
survey, surveillance and monitoring the natural history interest of the sites.

At last years AGM approval was given to the Executive Committee to progress an
application for charitable status. That process is ongoing.

The majority of the Lindholme Hall Estate has been sold and is now a Buddhist retreat,
Gomde Place of Meditators. Members of the Executive met with Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche
and were delighted to learn that they sought to live in harmony with their unique natural
environment and were keen to continue the tradition of scientific study on the site.

Whilst it is not really for me to report on publications, I feel that it is noteworthy to
congratulate the authors of the three which have appeared this year. Two originating from
the pens of stalwarts Martin Limbert and Peter Roworth and another Flora by Foot: A
Botanical Survey of Hatfield Moor by Ian MacDonald saw a new style of A4 saddle-stapled
publication featuring colour illustrations throughout at a very accessible price brought into
production. It is indicative of the interest in Hatfield Moors, botany and publication style
that there had to be a re-print as sales of the Technical Report went well.

A number of the Executive manned an exhibition at the Royal Entomological Society‟s Insect
Festival at York in July. The event provided an excellent opportunity to meet the public as
well as likeminded entomologists and to case study our work.

Volume 8 of the Thorne & Hatfield Moors Papers, with specific focus on Hatfield Moors is on
the horizon and it is already in excess of 100 pages. Particularly pleasing that a long
awaited recording map will also be included with the volume as an A3 folded map.

Despite being discovered in October 2004, it has taken until 2009 for the statutory agencies
to finally close the chapter on the future of the Neolithic Trackway on Hatfield Moors.
Eventually after much procrastination, what remains of the timbers is to remain in situ.
Time will tell, provided the promised monitoring is undertaken, whether this was an
appropriate option.

Following on from a presentation made by Yorkshire Water to members at the Quarterly
meeting in December 2008, a response to the request to release details about the finds and
implications of the groundwater abstraction from beneath Hatfield Moors has still to receive
a reply. This despite assurances at the meeting that answers to the specific aspects of the
methodology would be made.

The Forum are pleased to be involved with the restoration of Dunsville Quarry, better known
to naturalists as the Hatfield Lings. This fragment is part of the once more extensive
Hatfield lowland heathland. Baseline survey has been ongoing to inform a Management
Plan for the site being drawn up by the quarry operators Marshall‟s.

A visit was also made to a recent land acquisition made by Natural England near Inkle
Moors on the periphery of Thorne Moors. Some of the land had been purchased as mitigation
of impact of the E-On Tween Bridge wind farm which was approved at Public
Inquiry two years ago. It is understood that the radar issues and depth of the turbine
foundations required to support the 125m structures are still presenting the developers with
technical difficulties.

Other conservation consultations and casework have included the proposed extension to the
Hatfield Moor and Hatfield West Gas Storage Facility and a number of planning applications
in the Lower Derwent Valley, the northern extreme of the Humberhead Levels.

The Wildlife Training Workshops continue the Executive‟s ambition to encourage the next
generation of naturalists to learn skills to assist identification and recording of the flora and
fauna of the moors. The 2010 Programme is „hot off the press‟ and features ten workshops.
Blaxton Village Hall has made an excellent venue from where to venture out for field work.

Classical scholars will recognises the Latin proverb from the Roman poet Juvenal, Quis
custodiet ipsos custodes? it was and remains a guiding principle advocated by one of our
late founding members Stephen Warburton literally translated "Who will guard the guards
themselves?" and also rendered "who watches the watchmen?" It will come as no surprise
to learn that conservation casework continues to be a regular feature in Forum activity.

The Review of Mineral Planning Permissions has still not be completed. The statutory
agencies and authorities required by legislation to undertake and conclude this work
required by the European Habitats Directive have made negligible progress again this year.
Until such time that this process is concluded, there remains the threat that peat extraction
could start up again on Thorne and Hatfield Moors.

In June 2009 Craig Thomas gave a presentation “Gateway to the Moors” on behalf of
Natural England and outlined plans for a training restaurant and visitor centre at Boston
Park as part of the plans to increase public access onto the moors. Natural England have
also applied to Doncaster MBC to develop a commercial trout fishery on Hatfield Moors as
part of an endeavour to generate income from National Nature Reserves following the
launch of an „Innovation Initiative‟ by the statutory agency.

The Executive sought to launch a Recording Group for the moors, but the ambition remains
on the backburner because of capacity to undertake the organisational practicalities.
Hopefully this can be addressed in the coming year and anyone who feels able to offer
assistance is encouraged to get involved.

That leads me to formally place on record my profuse thanks to Peter Kendall who has
agreed to take on the role of Forum Recorder after the death of Peter Skidmore. Peter has
agreed to receive and organise any records which relate to Thorne & Hatfield Moors and
their component parts. The records must however first have been through the standard
vetting systems associated with the relevant disciplines. To succeed Peter Skidmore is
indeed a daunting task and deserves all our help and support if we are to maintain the
science in support of continued protection for the sites, a deserved legacy. The baton
passed from Bunting to his Beaver‟s who included Peter Skidmore, it was also carried aloft
by Stephen Warburton and requires the next generation to step forward to ensure in
perpetuity survival, a far preferable term (in my opinion) than „sustainable‟.

Thanks are also extended to Doreen Berriman who has for a number of years now
„examined‟ our annual accounts, whilst not a legislative requirement is it none the less an
example of the Executive‟s desire for demonstration of best practice. In terms of the
Forum‟s ambition and progress towards charitable status, this progress remains on going.

I would also thank my other Executive colleagues for all their help and support throughout
the year. Valerie for her very generous continued association as Honorary Treasurer,
despite her wish to relinquish the role. I would also offer her public congratulations for her
recent MBE in the New Years Honours List. Not surprisingly it is for fishery management
and conservation and it is a well deserved accolade to a tenacious and determined lady.
To Paul and Peter whose emails keep me sane with their humour after a long day at the coal
face, to Pip recorder of our activities my sincere thanks. To Keith as Publications Officer
and Webmaster my thanks also for jobs well done. Both roles present a public face of the
Forum and these roles are crucial. A website is seen as an essential tool in today‟s media
jungle and our thanks are heartily extended to Keith following his resignation from both
roles.

To Nicki Whitehouse, our Editor a massive thank you for her continued involvement. Of all
our publications I believe it is the Papers which will stand the test of time particularly from
the perspective of their academic content and presentation.

Brian, I‟ve said it all before. But that‟ll not prevent me from re-visiting some of it. How
many times recently have we wondered if we could dig deep enough to find that energy
needed to overcome yet another obstacle. But, we do it because „we can‟ and in my case it
is my legacy to those before me who inspired me to be MaD (Make a Difference). In Brian‟s
case I offer that it‟s an ability to lead by example as well as an incredible capacity to juggle!
Not to mention rally driving from Cambridge at regular intervals, that‟s dedication!
Renewed thanks for the shared camaraderie of common purpose.

I have presented here in my report but a synopsis of the work that the Forum undertook in
2009. I confess that I have also allowed emotion to creep into what I generally try to keep
factual, I hope I will be forgiven for the lapse. I have a long association with the Forum, an
„official‟ officer involvement for around half of its existence and how many of us thought
back in 1989 that we‟d still be here 21 years later? I openly acknowledge that in no small
part that was due to George Griffith‟s insistence that the embryonic Forum be allowed and
run its own bank account. When we look back, for such a small but dedicated band we
should be proud of our history and the achievements over this period. One day perhaps,
when the „Battle for the bogs‟ is truly concluded we will have the time to write the history of
that struggle. In the interim we soldier on.

To you the membership for your continued interest in the work of the Forum. As ever, the
final appeal is for new blood on the Executive as we enter the next chapter.

Helen R Kirk

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