UKH

Or routes?

Some of the southern sandstone crags will need a machete to get to.

We got a gritstone crag up the road from us in sheffield and we were surprised how many small tree saplings and greenery were taking hold. Not sure what the etiquette is on removing stuff like this when climbers are a small proportion of those enjoying the crags.

Let rewilding  commence. Monbiot will approve.

Great end crag but to be fair, it does that most years anyway. 

Seems like an ideal use of our government-mandated exercise time to walk to a local crag and do some gardening!

This whole Covid thing is a ploy by bats to get into our cracks.

Once establish, they‘ll have the law on their side and we can all go fiddle.  

Cheddar. As usual 

So is a big of light gardening at a local crag considered ok? I don't just mean to climbers. Hard to think if it is or isn't as we climb.

You should know by now, gardening to create a summer rock route is to be applauded, using said vegetation when frozen or semi frozen for progress is frowned upon. (ukc commandment #5). 

Go Bats, go!
If it transpires that non-human activity means that some crags become new havens for endangered/at risk species like bats, etc.  then maybe we should accept that as a good thing and stop climbing there?

Goblin Combe will vanish but on the plus side the ticks will probably starve.

Not while the deer are there they won't.

I can dream can't I?

I stumbled across a bat in a crack on the Gingerbread section at Lawrencefield just before lockdown. Good luck stopping people climbing on that..! 

I walked the dog along the bottom of Froggatt yesterday. The grass has started growing back around the base of the pinnacle. The bits of Curbar I took a look at were even more lush.

And don't forget the Crested Newts

And it should be good for nesting birds too. This is exactly what happened when everywhere was closed for F&M in 2001.

It seems there's probably going to be more polish rather than vegetation on the Warton Crags - plenty of people going for a day's bouldering and chalk marks have even appeared on the more esoteric outcrops.

My money's on Gardoms

You've told me some of your dreams and I think it's fair to say if even half of them came true the world would be a deeply disturbing place.

If after the lockdown it is discovered that bats are using a crag as a roost, then climbers might not have any choice on whether they can climb there or not.

Not for me.

I think you're at least a decade behind the times there.

Have you forgotten the praise heaped for cleaning Nagasaki Grooves last spring? 

Just one local example, I am sure there are many more. I don't have a problem with the cleaning, it's the hypocrisy that irks. 

I went over the top of Froggatt and Curbar yesterday, very green and lush. The ground underneath is greening around the pinnacle and other areas but think its going to take longer for a real impact than what it will actually get.  Trapeze and trapeze direct on Froggatt have a lot of plant growth in them, as do most of the easier great slab routes. Curbar was similar with the more obscure stuff looking a bit fuzzy!!. 

Amazingly trackside does not have any chalk on it

Would be very interested to see the impact lack of access has on successful bird nesting this season.  Completely unscientific but seems to be a lot of birds hanging out on the top of the crags, more than normal??

Before any one gets preachy, I didn't climb and I live in the valley underneath and reached it by use of my legs