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Moorland Matters

The Battle for the Uplands against Authoritarian Conservation

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Moorland Matters

By: Ian Coghill
Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
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About this listen

With Britain’s islands holding more than three-quarters of the Earth’s stock of heather moorland, it is an extraordinary fact that it stands as one of the world’s rarest habitats. A landscape beloved by millions, it’s renowned for the tranquillity and solace it provides - however, this tranquillity is an illusion. Britain’s moorlands have, in less than a decade, moved from a position of benign consensus to the epicentre of the bitterest conflict within UK conservation.

This insightful book sets out to examine and expose the hidden issues surrounding UK moorland conservation, giving a voice to the many people who work and live there, and who feel that what they have to say is often ignored, if it’s even heard at all. The fate of our uplands are in our hands, and it is important that an alternative narrative, from the perspective of the practitioners who have cared for these places for generations, are considered. It may be that those with power chose to ignore these facts and sweep them away, but at least now they cannot say they didn’t know.

©2021 Ian Coghill (P)2021 Ian Coghill Ecosystems & Habitats Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science Conservation United Kingdom

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All stars
Most relevant  
an eye opener and a must have for any shooters and conservationists full of information and facts

a must have

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This book is a wonderful articulation of the problems within conservation: between the tradition land managers and the new breed of conservationists. Everyone studying ecology or related subjects should have a copy of this book.

Fantastic

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Ian provides a forensic analysis of the conservation sector, and everything that is wrong with it, in an extremely digestible and understandable way.

A wonderful and shocking book of revelations in equal measure

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Repetitive and intense however excellent reference and informative useful for students and those in the industryq1

Very intensive

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I was sceptical but wanted to understand the other side of the argument. This book brought me over to the author’s side. Very important for anyone who wants a considered opinion on the conservation of our British upland environments.

Changed my mind!

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I have never encountered such an obvious attempt to mislead the reader. If you are looking for an unbiased and scientifically accurate book on moorland management, this is not it.

The author is so fixed on trying to get the reader to hate his imaginary bogeyman "The Conservationists" while making out that the ultra weathly landowners who control thousands of hectares of moorlands, are nothing more than poor victims, that it all becomes tedious very quickly.

The author repeatedly presents data to show how bad "The Conservationists" are at something but seems to always fail to show how the other side of his argument performed. it's all very frustrating for someone who came to actually learn something new.

This is a book aimed at reinforcing a particularly skewed perspective of moorland management using misleading representations of the scientific research that has been published on the subject.

Completely Bias

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Ordinarily, I do not write reviews. However, this book contains quite a few strong opinions which are poorly evidenced - with Coghill showing a lack of understanding and formal training with regards to ecological principals, and also environmental legislation (taking time to incorrectly explain the meaning and nature of the HRA process). As an ecologist, I would suggest reading with some level of caution.

The book was recommended to me by someone who is a keen shooter, and I had hoped for a balanced discussion of how landowners, the fieldsports and conservation industries can cooperate for the benefit of wildlife (something that is sorely needed, if we are to bring about meaningful change in this country). The book contains some interesting points, however, Coghill descends into a disappointing, bitter, limp-armed attack on the RSPB and Natural England for 80% of the book. This is somewhat ironic, given that Coghill repeatedly refers to and criticises 'single issue groups', which it seems that the GWCT must have now become.

2/5

Interesting but poorly evidenced

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