I met some folks from the Surrey Wildlife Trust & Heathland Conservation Society at Swinley yesterday. Their main aim was to educate people about the introduction of cattle that's going to happen over the summer, but there was also some useful info about how to deal with stuff like fires, illegal motorbikes etc.
First the cattle. These will be on the Barossa Common/Poors Allotment area which is the heathland to the S of the main mountain biking areas. This was planned a year or two ago and some fences were built, but there were some issues with the fences & rights of way so the whole thing had to be suspended pending a redesign. If you ride that area you'll have noticed that a load of the old fencing has been taken down recently, and new wire fencing (about 1m high) will be going in over the next few months. They have learned the lesson from last time and will be installing gates at all 'desire lines' through the boundary. The cattle will be introduced as soon as the fencing is complete & approved, hopefully by early summer. They were looking for volunteer 'spotters' who can report back on any issues with the cattle or the fencing, so I signed up for that. If you're interested then get in touch with the Surrey Wildlife Trust
Secondly, the Heathland Conservation Society were there too. They aren't a bunch of nimby's who don't want the heathland to be used, but they do want to educate people about its value and preservation. Also, perhaps more importantly for us, they have cross-agency contacts so can liaise with police, fire and military services (as well as others) to deal with any reported issues. They cover the whole area of Swinley, from Crowthorne to Bagshot, Camberley to Bracknell, so are a good first point of contact if you see anything that needs dealing with - they're particularly keen to address any illegal motorcycling that goes on, preferably by education rather than enforcement. They can also work with the civilian and military fire services and apparently have better channels to them than the standard 999 call - I had real hassle trying to describe the site of a fire to an operator as they wanted a road name for a fire in the middle of the heathland.
