Rain Dogs was blocked by felled trees last year, and more recently, 'no cycling' and 'no horse riding' signs have sprung up all over the shop.

I called Clare Saunders at Surrey CC Highways, to find out if she knew anything about what was going on over there - the signs look pretty similar to those supplied to the Council. Clare confirmed that the signage had been supplied by her at the request of the landowner. This is where it gets interesting. The landowner is under pressure from English Nature to stop damage to the area, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). English Nature has statutory powers, and can make councils and landowners do all kinds of things.There's more information on them here.

The thinning / removal of most of the silver birches and coniferous trees is actually in response to demands from English Nature. The area is host to a number of wetland species, and the silver birch and coniferous trees were guzzling all of the water and drying out the area. Apparently, water runs off Leith Hill and into the area in which Rain Dogs is situated. This has affected trail work undertaken by Surrey CC in the past. The rather odd trail resurfacing on Stepmother a few years ago, which had to be approved by EN so as not to affect the water flow from Leith Hill.

The landowner was also worried that mountain bikes were bringing horse riders into the area, something I find rather odd, bearing in mind most horse riders are quite keen to avoid mountain bikers. That said, there's been quite a bit of horse pucky dropped on mountain bike - specific trails recently.

In short, the land that Rain Dogs is situated on is a SSSI managed by English Nature. That's why the trail was blocked. The landowner has not only had to put up signs, but remove a lot of the silver birch and conifer population as well.

To extrapolate: In the medium to long term, it's also likely that the lack of thirsty trees will make the hillside soggier, and therefore more prone to erosion. One reason why it was dry before the boundary crossing (into deciduous woods) was the trees. With the trees gone, it's going to get a load wetter.

Hopefully this answers a lot of questions we've all had as to why the trail was suddenly blocked, without warning.