East Barns Enclosures Saga

Firts some back story:- posted 25th October

'Only a week or so ago this was a wilderness area bordering on the sand dunes and beach adjacent to the Barns Ness Lighthouse. It was a favourite area for dog-lovers to walk their dogs and for some years myself, my wife and our neighbours used to walk our dogs here on a twice weekly basis very much enjoying the unspoilt landscape. The council in their wisdom have decided to graze sheep over the winter months to reduce the grass height and allow wild flowers to re-establish themselves. To do this they have totally enclosed about 20 acres of this beach scrubland in fences. They have included some access points but unfortunately the final access point which allows you to walk back along the beach they have made a stile, which is fine for humans to clamber over but very difficult to lift large dogs like greyhounds and retrievers over. So today my wife and her friend had to retrace their steps and walk right back to their original access point which is a kissing gate. Is this ecology concerns gone mad !!

Today when we arrived to walk the dogs there were two council workmen putting up another stile near to where we park. My wife took the opportunity to remonstrate with them about the useless of stile for large dogs like our greyhound.
They, of course, had no say in what they were being asked to do but listened politely and no doubt did not pass on the complaint to their managers.

I saw this as a photo opportunity as it is not often that you can see traditional crafts like stile building. However, the workmen seemed a bit bemused by what they were attempting to do and there was a lot of measuring of timber and scratching of heads. I somehow don't think farm workers would have turned up to build a stile with a massive set square. Patiently I waited for the active part of the task and was able to catch them knocking in posts. No beads of sweat I am afraid or hammered fingers !!

The lack of dynamism in my blip might also be accounted for by my inexperience with my new compact camera a Sony RX100. as these were the very first photos I have taken with this camera. I guess you will be seeing more of my learning curve with this camera over the next few days.