Reprieved

Pasture land is by definition land where farm animals graze. So when there are no sheep or cattle for lengthy periods things change. I remember seeing this and enjoying it as a child. Long grass waving in the breeze, a selection of wild flowers and a generally dreamy and lazy feeling on a sunny day in the middle of summer. An absence of animal dung is also welcome. Why doesn't this happen more often these days? I suspect there are many answers including more intensive use of land, more use of chemical 'improvements' and the agenda of 'conservation grazing'. I've always had a liking for land and vegetation where the repressive land management regime has been lifted: overgrown hedgerows and wilder woodland, grouse moors being reclaimed by nature. This is what the countryside should be about at least as much as about farming and food production. Whatever SWT hiccuping has caused the absence of farm animals, Blacka's pasture is now just the place where you can bring the family and enjoy a picnic. Not many would do that when it was difficult to find a spot to sit down free of sheep and cattle droppings. So there's much to be thankful for in SWT's present problems.