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Guidebook writer VIVIENNE CROW shares her love ofthe great outdoors

Last updated 11:42, Wednesday, 09 July 2008

IF YOU believe the national tabloids, the biggest threat to an individual’s safety comes from teenagers wandering the streets in hoodies.

So, imagine my surprise when I felt threatened by a 50-something, dog-walking rambler on the fells recently.

My partner and I were eating our lunch just below Nine Standards Rigg near Kirkby Stephen, enjoying the views, when there was a sudden ‘kerfuffle’ several hundred yards away.

Ewes and their lambs, grazing peacefully a few seconds before, were running as fast as their legs could carry them and the lapwings were in a flap, swooping and diving in a vain bid to protect their nests.

We soon saw the culprit – a small dog darting about, poking its muzzle into tufts of grass inquisitively, oblivious to the alarm it was causing.

We watched it for quite some time and assumed that it had escaped from its owners, but eventually, a couple of walkers appeared – it was their dog. They made no attempt to put a stop to the mayhem it was causing; in fact, they seemed as oblivious as their pet.

“Excuse me, did you know your dog could be shot for chasing sheep?” I was polite despite being annoyed.

“He wasn’t chasing sheep. That’s just what sheep do when they see a dog; they run,” was the uninformed response I got from the woman.

Yes, they run – because they’re scared. And when they’re that scared, there’s a danger of ewes aborting or breaking their necks as they flee over the edge of steep-sided gullies. The dog probably means no harm, but the sheep doesn’t know that.

“And what’s it got to do with you anyway?” added the man, angrily storming over to where I was sitting. Towering over me and jabbing his finger in my face, I felt small and vulnerable.

“You people ought to mind your own business,” he shouted.

So, whose business is it when farm animals are in distress on the open fells?

Whose business is it when the nests – and chicks – of bird species that are in serious decline are destroyed simply because one or two dog owners don’t care enough to keep their pets under control?

“I care about this place,” I explained calmly.

“I want to be able to come up here in 20 years and still be able to hear the curlews and the lapwings. We should look after an environment like this.”

Big mistake! This man had obviously heard the word ‘environment’ once too often.

“Oh! Go hug a tree! You bloody people…” His tirade, fiercer now, continued for some time.

I later discovered the reason for his defensiveness; he knew he was in the wrong.

At the start of the path he and his companion had just come up was a sign clearly explaining why dogs should be kept on a short lead during lambing and ground-nesting season.

I’d put their behaviour down to ignorance, but it was worse than that; they simply didn’t care…