Dirty lazy barstewards

[Chippy_Tea]

Decades-worth of damage done to Lake District by anti-social visitors claims landowner

Some visitors to the Lake District are causing decades-worth of destruction to the environment with their behaviour, according to one landowner.

After Government restrictions lifted and the recent heatwave, United Utilities has seen an increase in anti-social behaviour from visitors to its estates.

In recent weeks the fire service has had to put out fires at Haweswater and Thirlmere and staff have had to tidy up illegal wild camping sites – including abandoned tents.

The fires have badly scarred the affected land at Haweswater and Thirlmere and have put at risk some Sites of Special Scientific Interest, United Utilities said.

Moorlands of bilberry and heather were burned and will take up to 20 years to recover to the levels they were at prior to the fire.

At Deergarth How island and Hawes How island, both plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites at Thirlmere, significant damage has also been done.

Work has been ongoing on the islands to restore them back to their historic condition.

In the last two years, United Utilities said, visitors have continued to chop down trees, light fires and trample over flora which has also had the impact of scaring off nesting birds.

The water company is urging visitors to respect the environment and leave it how they find it.

Camping, fires and barbecues are not permitted on United Utilities estates in the Lake District.

Ross Evans, estates and land manager from United Utilities, said: “The Lake District is an incredible place to visit and we want people to come and enjoy our estates and see how beautiful they are.

“However, what we’re seeing is a small section of visitors who aren’t respecting the environment and are causing damage to the environment which will take decades to repair.

“There are so many fantastic trails and footpaths for people to follow that showcase the beauty of the area and we’re asking visitors to stick to these and not light fires or bring disposable barbecues.

“These can quickly get out of hand and cause real damage to the environment and put those who lit them at risk as well.

“The Lake District is home to so many great permitted camp sites and other accommodation options, visitors to the area should use them and allow us to protect our fantastic estates for future generations to come and enjoy.”

United Utilities is supporting the National Park’s Safer Lakes partnership which sees local emergency services, landowners, conservation charities and volunteers work to tackle issues across the area.

The Lake District National Park Authority has also recently launched a Lake District Kind campaign to help people get the most out of their time in the area and encourage positive visitor behaviour.

The authority is asking everyone – whether they are new to the area or a seasoned visitor – to be more mindful while enjoying the Lake District and help look after the landscape.







.

 

[trummy]

I am totally and utterly bewildered by some peoples actions. 40 years ago I had many holidays there, including camping wild (but you would not know where I had been.) The area is to busy now, its been ruined.

One contributory factor is the price of tents just so cheap now. First new one I bought cost two weeks wages, still got it, still serviceable.
I dont know what the solution is, I wish I did.

 

[Hanglow]

It's bad in the Highlands and Islands too. Education is one thing, a lot of people just think that chopping down a tree/branches is perfectly acceptable to make a fire, which they also think is just part of camping. As for the rubbish, I don't know what the answer is. British people just have very little respect for themselves and the environment it seems.

I went for a walk near Glasgow today to do a bit of mushroom hunting and found these in the wood, as well as lots of other rubbish.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I am totally and utterly bewildered by some peoples actions. 40 years ago I had many holidays there, including camping wild (but you would not know where I had been.) The area is to busy now, its been ruined.

They will go home and tell all their friends how lovely it was and show them the pictures they have taken but i can bet you they will not show them the state they left the place in.

 

[Stevieboy]

As a wild camper / bushcrafter, this is shocking. They obviously haven't been taught the creed "Leave no Trace"

If you're man enough to carry it in - then be man enough to carry it out!

 

[Oneflewover]

It seems to be more and more common, right across the country. The amount, and type, of rubbish left on our beaches here in Dorset has to be seen to be believed. We went to Wales the other week in holiday and on the way back we stopped in the Brecons, I love it there. Anyway, used disposable BBQs, broken bottles, discarded fast food wrappers, cans. To top it off someone had used a spot behind some rocks as a toilet and just left their offerings with accompanying bog roll.

I just don't get it, it's one of the things that makes me really despair. Is this the 'normal' behaviour of some people who live in towns and cities, and it's just being pushed out to the countryside? Or have people really become a***holes over the period of the pandemic?

 

[Stevieboy]

It seems to be more and more common, right across the country. The amount, and type, of rubbish left on our beaches here in Dorset has to be seen to be believed. We went to Wales the other week in holiday and on the way back we stopped in the Brecons, I love it there. Anyway, used disposable BBQs, broken bottles, discarded fast food wrappers, cans. To top it off someone had used a spot behind some rocks as a toilet and just left their offerings with accompanying bog roll.

I just don't get it, it's one of the things that makes me really despair. Is this the 'normal' behaviour of some people who live in towns and cities, and it's just being pushed out to the countryside? Or have people really become a***holes over the period of the pandemic?

I think people have always been A$$holes - but they've been forced to holiday in England instead of Ibiza - so instead of dumping their rubbish there, they're dumping it here!

 

[Jim Brewster]

Disgusting behaviour.. I mean who the hell takes a watermelon on a camping trip?

How idiotic do you have to be to pick out a beauty spot to stay at, and then simultaneously turn it into a rubbish tip? Morons

 

[Stevieboy]

How idiotic do you have to be to pick out a beauty spot to stay at, and then simultaneously turn it into a rubbish tip? Morons

They won't be looking at the views - they'll be gazing into their phones....

 

[Class68driver]

Society as a whole has become cheap and disposable with little care for anyone or anything else. This sadly is not a minority, humans have become more selfish as the years pass by and eventually it will be our downfall. Unless we radically change which I don't think we will we'll go the same way everything else that has inhabited the planet before us.

 

[chillipickle]

Absolutely discraceful behaviour,

A little bit like fishing etiquette....leave the place how you would expect to find it.
WTF is wrong with people these days eh ?

 

[An Ankoù]

Nothing new, I'm afraid. I bought a really solid family tent some while ago now and was astonished to find an exact replica half tethered and blowing itself to pieces on a nearby campsite, It seems the owners had had their holiday and just left it behind. I suppose a few hundred quid for a family holiday was money well spent and there was nothing to bring home- you wouldn't take a hotel room home with you, would you!
Bluddy chavs.

 

[HSD]

As a kid growing up in Cornwall we were taught to pick litter up if and when we found it, (wouldn’t dream of dropping it ourselves!) which wasn’t often back then, I’m not imagining some idyll I think people were just more considerate/had more self respect/fear of consequences.

 

[DavidDetroit]

Society as a whole has become cheap and disposable with little care for anyone or anything else. This sadly is not a minority, humans have become more selfish as the years pass by and eventually it will be our downfall. Unless we radically change which I don't think we will we'll go the same way everything else that has inhabited the planet before us.

That's way overstated. Yes, there are some, but look at the posts here--not on board with the the negative.

 

[DavidDetroit]

I used to litter and do all sorts of stuff I'm not proud of. I grew up, got on board and became a proponent of the planet. Most do. Some don't.

 

[DavidDetroit]

fishing etiquette

I'm not a fisher so forgive me if I don't get this quite right.
I was with my brother and his best friend. We came upon a guy throwing out a hook and dragging the bottom of a stream. I didn't think much of it (ignorant to fishing rules) but my brother and his friend blew up! They demanded the guy leave immediately. It was going to come to blows if that guy didn't leave.
Apparently, dragging the bottom is cheating. Proper behavior is necessary and far more do it than not.

 

[Clint]

Sounds like they were trying to foul hook a fish rather than entice it to take a bait...

 

[Keith 66]

My wife & i have just been sailing for a week over the river Medway, we had a couple of barbeques ashore with friends, nothing left behind. Actually we always take a few black sacks with us, this resulted in five sacks of rubbish from just a hundred yards of old sea wall, so much plastic, it is everywhere.
It starts at home & in school, I worked as a D&T technician in a new build academy, On the walls of our workshop were displays teacher & i had made, Recyle, Reuse etc etc, She was an inspiring teacher & some of the kids took this onboard. Far too many just didnt give a toss.
Why should they when just the other side of the wall was the school canteen, designed by a modern architect with no clue about sustainability in any real sense. Only enough room for a fraction of the kids to sit down for lunch, instead the place was designed to generate plastic waste from vending machines, pasta in pots, drinks bottles, fast food, after they had eaten most of the packaging just went on the floor. Our society is built this way. Go to a music festival, ten thousand tents left behind because they cant be bothered. Their parents were like this & probably grandparents too.
Sorry folks you can make all the rules & laws you like but until there are people to enforce them preferably Singapore style it will keep happening.

 

[Stevieboy]

My wife & i have just been sailing for a week over the river Medway, we had a couple of barbeques ashore with friends, nothing left behind. Actually we always take a few black sacks with us, this resulted in five sacks of rubbish from just a hundred yards of old sea wall, so much plastic, it is everywhere.
It starts at home & in school, I worked as a D&T technician in a new build academy, On the walls of our workshop were displays teacher & i had made, Recyle, Reuse etc etc, She was an inspiring teacher & some of the kids took this onboard. Far too many just didnt give a toss.
Why should they when just the other side of the wall was the school canteen, designed by a modern architect with no clue about sustainability in any real sense. Only enough room for a fraction of the kids to sit down for lunch, instead the place was designed to generate plastic waste from vending machines, pasta in pots, drinks bottles, fast food, after they had eaten most of the packaging just went on the floor. Our society is built this way. Go to a music festival, ten thousand tents left behind because they cant be bothered. Their parents were like this & probably grandparents too.
Sorry folks you can make all the rules & laws you like but until there are people to enforce them preferably Singapore style it will keep happening.

I was going to mention Glastonbury....how is this green in any way ?

 

[Justin Dean]

Sounds like they were trying to foul hook a fish rather than entice it to take a bait...

Spinning?