Solidarity Sunday again a big event, Sunday 26th January, with up to 3,000 people showing solidarity with the Barton Moss Earth Protector Camp

There were good numbers of locals, and busloads from Wales, Scotland and all over England

Check these links for more info

http://www.channel4.com/news/fracking-protest-barton-moss-tweets-energy-industry

http://www.channel4.com/news/fracking-barton-moss-peter-lilley-vanessa-vine-manchester

There is now a local group, Frack Free Irlam and Cadishead, and many groups are forming all over Greater Manchester, including Frack Free Tameside, Frack Free Chorlton and Bolton Against Fracking

It is with regret that I inform the forum that IGas have obtained a Waste Mining Permit from the Environment Agency for exploratory drilling at Barton Moss despite large public opposition, including many written objections to the Environment Agency, especially from the local community, many of whom know that the intentions of IGas are to bring extreme energy to Salford, some birders might know the probable implications of this, but any who don't know anything about extreme energy, I would urge you to research fracking & coal bed methane

Just over six years ago Barton Moss was the site of profound joy for the Greater Manchester Birding Community in the form of the Desert Wheatear twitch and as many forum members know this area is full of amazing farmland birds

An Earth Protectors Camp is now set up along Barton Moss Lane, with many tough, courageous people who are passionate about saving the environment braving the Salford winter to bring awareness of the situation, this has already worked with the situation now having been featured on the BBC, Granada & Quays News as a result of the camp being set up

If you are birding in the area, say hi to our happy campers, and donations of food, clothes & blankets are very much appreciated

This article is perhaps the most recent article on the situation

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-25060266

James Walsh wrote:

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Hi David,

Barton Moss is also part of the network of Mosslands known as the Salford Mosses (Chat Moss, Irlam Moss, Astley Moss, Cadishead Moss, Little Woolden Moss)

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I'm not sure it's ever been known as the 'Salford Mosses' James (certainly not in official birding terms anyway); seems to be a very recent 'tag' it has obtained? Astley Moss isn't even in Salford

Hi David,

Thanks for your most recent message, for further explanation of this thread:

The title of the thread is Salford Mosses / IGas site, the potential fracking site that this thread was set up to inform birders about is on Barton Moss, a popular site with birders, and the site of the very popular Desert Wheatear in 2007

Barton Moss is also part of the network of Mosslands known as the Salford Mosses (Chat Moss, Irlam Moss, Astley Moss, Cadishead Moss, Little Woolden Moss), this network of habitats is very popular with many Greater Manchester birders

It is also very popular with the general public, it has gained the name "The Green Lungs of the City" (as the mosslands store carbon) and is also known as Salfords Rainforest, due to the uniqueness of the habitat and the ecological parallels that can be drawn with rainforest habitats

It is very concerned members of the general public who have set up the Say No To Fracking On Barton Moss group & the Frack Free Greater Manchester website as a way to inform the general public about extreme energy

It is somewhat distressing to inform birders what is happening here, but the facts of this situation are very important knowledge for Greater Manchester birders

I hope this post gives my previous posts some extra clarity

James

Thanks for the reply James, and a good answer.

The posts seemed to contain general anti-fracking links, rather than anything specific to North West birdwatching habitats, but on second inspection there is mention of possible disruption at Martin Mere, as well as the frackfreegtrmanchester link.

Regards,

David Walsh

As always, potentially inappropriate threads/discussions are carefully watched and will be moderated when appropriate. This thread has rightly been allowed to run as have similar threads which James has alluded to and whilst there may be some underlying political motivation, as long as the thread sticks to the facts and remains visibly unpolitical then there is no real problem. It is worth mentioning though, that any links to politically motivated websites etc will be removed as they would in any other thread.

Hi David,

Nice to hear from a fellow Walsh, this thread is on the General Birding Discussion, not the Information/Sightings forum, this is a very important issue for birders, as some of the country's most precious, important and rare habitats might be at threat, even sites such as Martin Mere Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Reserve are under threat from fracking

So, I'm informing birders what is happening to our birding habitats, very relevant to General Birding Discussion

There are several other threads on this forum that could be seen to be political, for example, the HS2 discussion, now that is another political hot potato, but it's a very relevant discussion for birders as it affects some of the sites that support bird populations, sites where many of us go to do our birding

It would be great if our politicians were so good that we didn't need to discuss politicial issues and we could all get on with birding, but unfortunately that isn't the case, not yet anyway

Back to the thread subject, there has been some good news for birders on the Fylde, the Cuadrilla site at St Annes has been abandoned, Cuadrilla are saying because of the over-wintering geese populations, this could be very good news for birders if this sets a precedent

While I am against fracking, does this thread not constitute a political agenda, rather than providing information on bird sightings, in the same way that the travellers at Pennington Flash provided a platform for rantings on entrenched viewpoints?

Very successful public meeting today, about 50 people, speakers from One Million Climate Jobs Now campaign, Frack Free Salford & Manchester, Say No To Fracking On Barton Moss, Friends of the Earth & Frack Free Fylde, very informative discussion and facts on extreme energy and the economic green alternatives

It would appear that concerned parties have until 17th October to make their thoughts known to public officials regarding the issuing of a permit to IGas for exploratory drilling, as a pre-curser to possible fracking activity

I'll put further details such as who to write to on here asap

-- Edited by James Walsh on Thursday 26th of September 2013 11:13:52 PM

Public Meeting - Fracking and Barton Moss

Thursday, September 26 at 7:00pm

Friends Meeting house, 13 The Polygon Wellington Road Eccles Manchester M30 0DS


I urge all concerned parties to come to this meeting, it seems not many sites are currently safe from the frackers, even Martin Mere Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust Reserve

http://www.wwt.org.uk/news/news/2013/08/wwt-news/wwt-news-conservation/wwt-concerned-at-fracking-proposals/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ntJwWZO5Yk&feature=youtu.be

Report from Ian R Crane @ the IGas "Community Event" @ Barton, Tuesday 17th September

The event was basically a glossy attempt from IGas to say that there's nowt wrong with a bit of fracking

Few people turned up to the event, the majority were well informed people, very against fracking OUR mosslands

Tomorrow (Thursday) at 7.30pm the ITV tonight programme is titled "The Truth about Fracking"

ITV report from Pennsylvania in the USA and from Sussex

Coverage of the issue on BBC North-west News @ 6:30pm today

If you are on facebook, there's lots of coverage of the issues on: Say No To Fracking On Barton Moss