Dave Hewitt writes: Just when you thought the Ochils were threatened with enough things already - windfarms, pylons, masts - along comes a new concern. Those readers who potter about on the slopes above Tillicoultry might well have bumped into a quiet old shepherd named Alec. Even if you've never actually passed the time of day, you'll likely have seen him, as his method of working his patch was to do so on foot, just him and his dogs. This suited the terrain, all steep slopes and hidden corners where any kind of vehicle would be more liability than luxury.
Alec stood down late last year, having worked the Ochils for 47 years, and FotO wishes him (and his dogs) a long and happy retirement. His job has not, however, been handed to another Tilli-based shepherd, but to one of the men at Backhills farm, on the Frandy side of the hill. An odd choice, but the worrying aspect is that the new shepherd uses a quad-bike, and drives right over the main Ochils ridge.
Until Alec retired, there was no gate in the skyline fence on Ben Cleuch, and so no scope for anyone to drive across. Late last year a gate appeared - just east of the fence-junction between Ben Cleuch and Ben Buck, at a height of around 700m. FotO is concerned about this, because the topmost ridge in the Ochils is not a place where either walkers or wildlife should be encountering vehicles. The most obvious problem is damage to the ground: from the gate to Ben Cleuch summit is dry, but the next stretch east is wet in places. The first time tyremarks were seen (on 25 November), they were very obvious and left ruts.
Then there is the intrusion. Surely when walkers cross the highest piece of ground for miles around (and Ben Cleuch is, to use a popular cliché, the jewel in Clackmannanshire's crown), they should be able to do so without encountering noise and diesel fumes. Escape from all that is integral to why most of us take to the hills. Wildlife suffers, too. The number and variety of birds on the high Ochils has diminished over the past decade, and mechanical intrusion isn't likely to improve this situation.
Set against that, no one could reasonably object to the shepherd making occasional sorties up top, so long as it was for a valid reason (a ewe in distress or a fence needing repaired), and not as a routine short-cut. Indeed, the Backhills shepherd drove up from time to time, staying on "his" side of the fence, in the years before the new gate. When Donald the shepherd at Rhodders next door drives along the Silver Glen track and the Millar Hill ridge, it would be churlish to complain - he's just doing his job. But Donald's patch is not the roof of the Ochils, and there is undoubtedly a difference in this respect. The highest ground of any range should be kept sacrosanct if at all possible.
As yet, I've only once (on 12 April) seen a repeat of the November tyre-tracks, and on that occasion the ruts weren't nearly as bad. So it could indeed be that the visits are going to be only very occasional, which would be OK. But there is potentially an even more worrying aspect to this, as the spongy ground east of Ben Cleuch could prompt the farmer to put in some kind of track, to ease the passage of any vehicle. A gravel track along the main ridge would be completely inappropriate, but it could happen with frightening ease. Upland tracks have appeared in many parts of Scotland, and can be dug without formal planning permission, on the basis that they're needed for agricultural purposes. The Clacks ranger service has been contacted about this, and has confirmed its relative powerlessness: the council can't intervene unless there's a change of land-use.
A track is a hypothetical worry as yet, but there is something strange going on, as a couple of puzzling markers have been found. The first (pictured below, and spotted by Ken Crocket on 11 March) was at NN908003, a dozen paces south of the Law-Ben Cleuch path. It was 60cm high and wooden, the arrow part mostly red, and the number 22 was written on it. On 31 March, Ken Stewart (see the back page) and I found another one, on the north side of the fence beside the grass track leading from Andrew Gannel Hill to Maddy Moss, at NN921007. This was identical, apart from bearing the number 25. The purpose of these posts remains a mystery, and if any reader knows, please enlighten us. They might relate to some orienteering/running event, and it could be that we're putting two and two together and making five (or putting 22 and 25 together and making 76); but the worry is that they're in some way marking out an "upgrade" of the existing paths and grass tracks. Presumably numbers 23 and 24 are around somewhere, and possibly 1-21 as well, although no others have been found thus far.
More on this next time, by which stage the situation should be clearer, for better or for worse. Long-term, it's to be hoped that the overall steepness of the Daiglen side of Ben Cleuch will keep vehicles at bay, but we need to keep an eye on this one.