Throw it!

Parish council will be repairing several of the "field ways" this spring and has started to mark out the boundaries.

Probably only those who have seen the type of agricultural field structure we have in Bavaria will understand this fully. A look at today's Geotag in Satellite mode might help.

For the most part, we don't have fences or hedges and fields are small and get smaller each time the owner dies & German inheritance laws require a property be divided up amongst the heirs who, if they can't agree, means fields are divided up even more. Law also says every owner must have access to their field with appropriate machinery. Thus we have masses of "field ways" owned by the parish.

From time to time, the situation gets so ridiculous that a huge exercise is undertaken where each strip is valued according to the type of soil, size etc and thrown into a pot. Back in 2011, I explained it in more detail with a Blip of the last time it was done here in my birth year, 1954.

Law says that within 1m of the boundary, the land cannot be ploughed up or fences erected. As can be seen the farmer (not from our parish) has ploughed up about 1m on to the parish path & in doing so undermined the stone foundation and with the increasing size & weight of modern farming machinery this leads to paths being damaged.

The field path system is a joy for walkers as they are open to all, but the lack of hedges a disaster for insect, animal & bird wildlife.

PS the fenced-off area is the parish water well. The area is protected by certain laws limiting the use of fertilisers & slurry but I still don't see how someone can plant maize/corn just 5 metres from the boundary with all the dangerous (glyphosate) sprays & artificial fertilisers that still are allowed.