It is certainly not just confined to any area of the county but to all areas I'm afraid. Councils, particularly in this current climate are just not going to 'throw' money at conservation currently when they slashing budgets and laying folk off. Ranger/warden services are being hit all over the county and that has an impact on the locations they cover. Complaining to your council might not help but if enough individuals did, well who knows?
Locally to me we have one of the most fantastic conservation minded farmers I have ever heard of, never mind met. Yes, grants are (or atleast were) available for farmers to practice some ecological/conservation minded farming but farmers can be funny folk (sorry if there's any farmers reading this but that's just my personal opinion based on my own experiences) and are unlikely to make such changes because some binocular clad oik has knocked on his door whilst he's having his tea!
I can see there being opportunities for individuals to become involved with work at their local sites in the future and that may become a reality really quite soon at some sites. I wonder how many would give up their own time to get involved though? I know one retired gent who voluntarily picks litter at one site. How many would do that? If we care enough, then we should get involved as and when opportunities arise. Popping into your local visitor centre etc and asking if there are any opportunities for volunteering might go a long way too. Of course this sort of thing really has to be done officially due to the strict health and safety legislation involved.
I guess there are various organisations such as the RSPB, CWT, local councils etc but they will all probbaly cite the same issue: money!
I spoke with the voluntary warden at Eastwood in Stalybridge and he said the same thing, could be managed better and lack of funds. I love t see some changes to local area made including a greater variety of and an improvement of existing habitats, protection of the open areas against development etc.
For farmland areas, the local farmers could be appraoched about changing management and farming practices plus I think that some funding is available?
For other areas, it may well be down to individuals or groups thereof to take action.
One of the best spots in this area has to be Etherow Country Park and the CWT site yet everyone I speak to seems to think it could be managed better so what can be done and who do we approach ?
