Bloody gamekeepers

[Mr H in Yorkshire]

It's the first couple of crystal clear nights here in living memory, so the gamekeepers have lit dozens of heather burns. Now I cannot even see clearly across the valley.

[MalcolmP]

When I saw the title I thought it was going to be about them interrupting you "hello helllo whacha doin then",  like the police frequently do when I am out and about late at night !
At least the police usually soon move on.
 

[Sunshine]

55 minutes ago, Mr H in Yorkshire said:

It's the first couple of crystal clear nights here in living memory, so the gamekeepers have lit dozens of heather burns. Now I cannot even see clearly across the valley.

Sorry to hear that, and who are gamekeepers and what are heather burns? 

[Marvin Jenkins]

2 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Sorry to hear that, and who are gamekeepers and what are heather burns? 

People who keep game and burn heather🤷🏻

[MalcolmP]

37 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

 what are heather burns? 

I would guess :-
That which the Scots suffer when they fall over whilst using haggis on hillsides, to emulate the English habit of cheese rolling ?
"Gamekeepers" are obviously, therefor, Ghllies. (aka Gilies)
 

[Sunshine]

24 minutes ago, MalcolmP said:

I would guess :-
That which the Scots suffer when they fall over whilst using haggis on hillsides, to emulate the English habit of cheese rolling ?
"Gamekeepers" are obviously, therefor, Ghllies. (aka Gilies)
 

I’m more confused than a moose in a phone booth.

[Mr H in Yorkshire]

52 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

I’m more confused than a moose in a phone booth

When they aren't poisoning raptors, the game keepers set fire to the heather to encourage the growth of new shoots which the game birds feed on. The pollution is vile, but the land owning lord gets money out of it.

[Gfamily]

The RSPB are looking to know more about the practice, and have set up a website where you can let them know about where there have been heather burns.

 

https://upland-burning-rspb.hub.arcgis.com/pages/report-a-burn

[johnturley]

It's a bad practice, which results in polluting run-off into the local rivers, and the water companies have to spend more money treating water before it can go into supply. Yorkshire Water have banned it where they own the land in question.

In addition, it reduces the ability of the peat to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

John 

Edited October 15, 2023 by johnturley

[Sunshine]

1 hour ago, Mr H in Yorkshire said:

When they aren't poisoning raptors, the game keepers set fire to the heather to encourage the growth of new shoots which the game birds feed on. The pollution is vile, but the land owning lord gets money out of it.

This sounds like something which would have taken place in England during medieval times, I struggle to comprehend all this.

[Mandy D]

1 hour ago, Sunshine said:

This sounds like something which would have taken place in England during medieval times, I struggle to comprehend all this.

There are moves afoot to return England to medieval times ...

[teoria_del_big_bang]

I was at primary school with Heather Burns.

Steve

[saac]

10 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

There are moves afoot to return England to medieval times ...

Is Blackadder coming back ?  

Jim 

[saac]

1 hour ago, Sunshine said:

This sounds like something which would have taken place in England during medieval times, I struggle to comprehend all this.

All you want to know about heather burning, but were too afraid to ask  

https://www.gwct.org.uk/policy/briefings/driven-grouse-shooting/heather-burning/

Jim 

[Mandy D]

12 minutes ago, saac said:

Is Blackadder coming back ?  

Jim 

Dunno, but he might be an improvement, if you get my drift!

[MalcolmP]

3 hours ago, Sunshine said:

I’m more confused than a moose in a phone booth.

What is a phone booth !
Was it something medieval, ante3G ? Like antebellum, before ringtones,

I'm trying,  very !!
 

[saac]

4 minutes ago, MalcolmP said:

What is a phone booth !
 

I'm trying,  very !!
 

It's where superman changes uniform.  

Jim 

[scarp15]

4 hours ago, Gfamily said:

The RSPB are looking to know more about the practice, and have set up a website where you can let them know about where there have been heather burns.

 

https://upland-burning-rspb.hub.arcgis.com/pages/report-a-burn

The RSPB quite correctly are actively making a case for strengthening licencing regulation concerning the practice of Muirburn; the burning of heather on peat moors on UK commercial grouse moors. I will not go hiking on these nature depleted almost desert like landscapes and would certainly not set up a telescope near to one around this time of year.

 https://community.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/b/nature-s-advocates/posts/licensing-driven-grouse-shooting-the-case-for-change

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by scarp15

[Sunshine]

2 hours ago, MalcolmP said:

What is a phone booth !
Was it something medieval, ante3G ? Like antebellum, before ringtones,

I'm trying,  very !!
 

Ever watch Dr.Who? that’s the most recognized phone booth on earth.

[MalcolmP]

1 hour ago, Sunshine said:

Ever watch Dr.Who? that’s the most recognized phone booth on earth.

Oh yes, watched it since the start with William Hartnell, he was the best. It went seriously downhill later, especially with the trivial, comical, Tom Baker. *
That was not a typical ubiquitous British phone box - we called them boxes over here, not booths-
The typical public one was glass paneled red painted - long gone now, put out of action by the coming of the mobile phone, (hence my attempt at humour involving bell and ringtones) Are public booths still common over there ?
 * I am in serious trouble now, because most people would have you believe Tom Baker was the best, but by the time he arrived TV was a popular past-time and few youngsters were by then brought up on books of good hard science fiction. 

 

 

[Sunshine]

3 hours ago, MalcolmP said:

Oh yes, watched it since the start with William Hartnell, he was the best. It went seriously downhill later, especially with the trivial, comical, Tom Baker. *
That was not a typical ubiquitous British phone box - we called them boxes over here, not booths-
The typical public one was glass paneled red painted - long gone now, put out of action by the coming of the mobile phone, (hence my attempt at humour involving bell and ringtones) Are public booths still common over there ?
 * I am in serious trouble now, because most people would have you believe Tom Baker was the best, but by the time he arrived TV was a popular past-time and few youngsters were by then brought up on books of good hard science fiction. 

 

 

Oh yes I am aware of the iconic red English phone boxes, though i feel referring to them as “boxes” takes away from them as such an iconic piece of English history, regardless, boxes it is. As for phone booths here across the pond they are occasionally spotted but never in use anymore as they have also gone the way of the dinosaur. Those red British phone boxes are highly sought after over here and when one is spotted somewhere, there’s always someone looking to take their photo next to one. Case and point, my wife and I while touring Canada’s east coast we drove past a vineyard which had one of those iconic red phone boxes right in the middle of the field between the garpe vines, it was strategically placed to attract attention and bring passers by into the vineyard where the highlight was the rolling hills with that red box among the vines, everyone wanted a photo and everyone stopped in the shop to see the bottles for sale. A brilliant move by the vineyard owners, it worked as we left with a bottle or two once we took some photos with the beautiful red box. The tents in the background are both a shop and a wonderful restaurant where we ate among the vines, had the box not been placed there, it would have been just another vineyard we would have driven past.

Edited October 16, 2023 by Sunshine

[Mr H in Yorkshire]

Isn't it amazing how threads evolve! Yesterday, last post was explaining what a heather burn was, and today wake up to Dr Who's tardis. Anyway, I retract my whinge, the weather is cloudy again for the foreseeable future. I love Yorkshire despite.

[Knighty2112]

If you live in my neck of the woods in ‘ull (or if you want the posher name we also go by the longer moniker of Kingston Upon Hull) we had (and still do) have our own telephone exchange, so we had white coloured phone boxes rather than red ones which everybody outside of the Hull area in the UK had. Not quite sure what quirk of history caused this. 
 

Here’s two outside the old Lowgate Post Office in centre of said city! Not been past this place for a while, so not sure if they are still there! 

Edited October 16, 2023 by Knighty2112

[Stu]

12 hours ago, Mandy D said:

There are moves afoot to return England to medieval times ...

That sounds like overly ambitious forward progress to me….. 🤪

[Mr H in Yorkshire]

2 hours ago, Knighty2112 said:

not sure if they are still there

I first encountered these in Beverley. I've just read that in Hull the last few working ones have been given listed status but they are the K8 design, large window type, not half as interesting looking but cheaper to maintain.