By: Blonde Two

Imagine you are writing a DofE expedition risk assessment; how many possible Dartmoor hazards would you be able to record?

There are all the usual ones of course: wet rivers, man-shaped rocks, tussocky grass, foot-sucking bogs, blood-sucking ticks, carnivorous sheep, charging ponies, horny cows (you know, those Scottish ones), finger-nipping adders, lightning-striking storms, flashing floods, bank-holiday drivers …

It is a long list and we Blondes have mitigated for them all, but now there is a new kid on the risk assessment block, a blow-in, un nouveau arrive; now we have our very own bone-crunching vulture. (Here is an interesting post from Dartmoor’s Adrian Colston on the subject.)

The good news is that the lammergeier, despite having a wingspan of over 2.75 metres, a scary beak and flamboyant feather stockings is unlikely to want to suck the marrow out of the bones of a smelly, rucksack touting teenager.

Mind you, it is suggested that the lammergeier enjoys picking up tortoises and dropping them on the floor. Rucksack/shell not much difference really is there? Maybe we Blondes do need to do a bit of additional paperwork!