Working in a forest its quite scary the amount of damage machinery does to the ground!

mmm…I'mm afraid I've got to add something here. My girlfriend is a botanist and her hobby is looking for very to very rare plants/mosses/liverworts. So if you've got a protected site which belong to the Somerset Wildlife Trust, it's not just to prevent erosion, it's also like a museum for other people who do not ride bikes. she's almost in tear to discover that the last species in UK has been trashed by a mountain bike. Ok, it's not just bikers, walkers, dogs are as guilty as us. Hope you will remember that next time you ride in a SSSI or any protected wildlife area.

Gilles has a perfectly valid point there and anyone believing they offer zero impact, you probably migt not do much but the 100 MTB riders who said the same that went that way before you and will come after you will. With most such conservation sites when degradation occurs the person legally liable is the landowner for not stopping the cause of the damage. In Mountain Areas so loved of MTBers often even higher european designations apply which when damage occurs sees the UK government getting a mandatory 5 or 6 figure fine.

The more you ride and create cheeky trails that erode and denude such land it adds to the weight of evidence that will at some point lead to a domino effect of the introduction of draconian anti access laws. .if you doubt it possible just go back to the root of this thread.. the 4×4 drivers had their access ripped from under their wheels, there remain landscape conservationists out there, many in National Parks, who loathe the uncontrolled presence of people in their perfect countryside and seek cause to be able to get powers to both control it and thereby justify their existence.

The reason why these habitats are so precious is because they are so rare. Look at any 25k OS map e.g. The Mendip area. What percentage of that area is heathland or woodland open to us – a few percent. 95% is farmed.

That's who you should blame for loss of habitat, not a few boot and bike tracks.

It's not about what has been lost it's about keeping what is left that drives many conservationists and protection policies, doing it the other way around needs far more money, something they rarely have much of.

It begs belief doesn't it.

Ok, i've just had quite a productive chat with the AONB after emailing some photos of the damage on Blackdown from Monday.

Their plan is to put new defences in place including gates of the style found at stockhill wood and immovable objects along access points to prevent illegal users, but allow legal ones. they have to leave a 5ft space on a bridleway by law.

They mentioned noting number-plates and reporting them, but also mentioned that people were using fake plates. Ahhhhhh!!!

As for CLIC and all other mass events on fragile land, yes they do do loads of damage and in my opinion shouldn't happen. 500 riders doing 10 laps each = 5000 times down each track and there's no way this is ever going to recover.

i've been riding on blackdown for 25 years next years and the difference in unbelievable!

As for the person that mentioned that it was and AONB not an SSSI so it wasn't as bad, Blackdown has the SSSI designation due to its importance whilst being in the AONB (which is the designation for the whole of the mendips as a whole).

As a final point, most of the places we ride on blackdown are not even bridleways ie. there is no bridleway to the trig point. we presume we have the right to roam, but this right only covers walkers.

"Buzzlightyear – Member
The reason why these habitats are so precious is because they are so rare. Look at any 25k OS map e.g. The Mendip area. What percentage of that area is heathland or woodland open to us – a few percent. 95% is farmed.

That's who you should blame for loss of habitat, not a few boot and bike tracks."

Close to were I live it is boot and tyre tracks that have changed habitat. Don't blame the people who actually work the land and who try to make a living feeding us. Is the countryside just a play ground? Like it or like it not, it's belongs to some one else and it's mostly a work place. We are an over crowded little island full of selfish people with a me, me, me view. Population pressure, it's a sign of whats to come.

Nice on e Andy

"Is the countryside just a play ground?"

Clearly not – it's mostly an open air food factory. Sorry I wasn't very clear. I'm not anti-farming how could I be because they are feeding my family!?

What I was trying to say is that if just 5% more land in our county were turned over from farmland to heathland or forest, it would not make a huge dent in farming output. But it would make a massive improvement to both ecology and leisure-use. While I accept the primacy of food production to feed hungry mouths, ecology and leisure-use are not frivolous IMO.

ecology and leisure-use are not frivolous IMO.

They quite clearly are, unless they pay the land owner more than farming the land does.

"unless they pay the land owner more than farming the land does"

The reason why Black Down is not farmland already is because it's commons protected by law.

Despite what Coastkid says, ther is no point in coming up here.There are no places to use a 4×4 and certainly nowhere to ride a bike,nope nothing at all.

I'm sorry but….

did someone say 'velvet bottom'?

close the countryside to all but gentle walkers with down filled pillows for shoes!

Quick update – I bumped into the AONB project officer today on the link lane. Then the owner of the farm turned up and we had a chat. They are investigating how to prevent more land-rover incursions. There is likely to be a gate of sorts, probably on the lane above the farm track entrance so as not to prevent ligitimate access to the farm. Emergency services would have a key. I'm not clear how this prevents then driving up and down the Black Down. While they are at it, they may then place rocks in places down the lane to protect the soft verges from parking.

He also mentioned that they are prioritising three tracks for repairs: limestone link, fence-line to Ellick farm and the top track. Nice chap. I suggested us locals might be prepared to lend a hand with spade work when the time comes.

Then I got chatting with Box at B.A.B. He reckons the land-rover owners who were caught when they got stuck were fined just £30!

That's true Buzz.

Its a fixed penalty notice, just like a parking ticket. Its even issued under the same piece of statute.

After the debacle of the 'repair' at the trig point a couple of years ago, it'll be interesting to see what they think a repair to any of those trails will actually mean and it'll be even more interesting to see if they consult any of the AONB users or just go straight ahead and do it.

I think they'd need to upgrade the gates at all the access points though I guess the hard bit is keeping vehicles out while still letting horses in.

I suggested us locals might be prepared to lend a hand with spade work when the time comes.

+1 to that.

I'm really cheesed off to see the 4x4ers on rivington, I'm not bothered AT ALL about them using the ice cream run as a playground, that's fine with me, and as far as I know it's actually a road/vehicular access(!) but last time I met some morons driving all over the grasses to the sides and ripping it to bits. But then again, it doesn't look like he cares much for grasses.