Rare orchids 'may be lost forever'

The Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Railway spoke this week of their fears for a conservation area alongside the line at Selside, where pigs were grazing.

The land is owned by Railtrack, who took legal action against Selside lorry driver John Leslie Davies in February for keeping his pet animals on grassland adjacent to the railway without permission.

Pete Shaw, Friends spokesman, said the situation had been on-going for several years and there was growing concern for the site, which is well known to botanists for being a valuable habitat, containing fragrant orchids, bellflower and juniper.

He added: "As a threat to this ecologically important site increased, conservationists asked Railtrack to take action to remove Mr Davies from the site."

A lengthy legal process resulted in a Court case which finally reached Skipton County Court on February 20, and was won by Railtrack.

The judge ordered the removal of the animals within six weeks, by April 3.

However, Mr Shaw said since then a "piggery" had been re-established within the orchid site.

He added: "These plants may never recover, and unless swift action is taken they may be lost forever."

Mr Shaw went on to say that even three weeks after the deadline nothing had been done by Railtrack to enforce the judgement and remove the pigs.

This week, a spokesman for Railtrack told the Herald: "We've had a long running problem with this gentleman keeping pigs on the railway embankment and on a number of occasions in the past we have had to re-establish boundary fencing."

However, he said even though Railtrack now had an eviction order on Mr Davies, there was the foot and mouth crisis to contend with.

The spokesman added: "We are mindful of the fact that it's difficult at the moment because of the foot and mouth situation, but we are taking advice from legal experts to see what we can do to get the animals moved."

Mr Davies said he did not wish to comment about the matter at this time.