In recent months, this newspaper has carried reports of what can only be best-described as “environmental vandalism”, carried out by those who believe that the engines between their legs or under their backsides are more important than the wonderful flora and fauna of this region.

The Monk’s Trod, a path across Ceredigion, has been ripped up by petrolheads driving modified 4x4 vehicles across areas of the Cambrian Mountains.

In Ynyslas, a unique mini biosphere on the estuary of the Dyfi, moron motorcyclists have taken to dune bashing. This selfish act hastens the demise of the dune system that has developed there over millennia. Indeed, the footprints of a Bronze Age child are clear in the petrified forest there, and this newspaper is of the opinion that nameless child from some 3,000 years ago, had more sense and worldly knowledge than those who have taken to the dunes there in recent weeks.

This off-roading is not a new phenomenon, and magistrates in north Wales are used to dealing with offenders. Rangers from Snowdonia National Park Authority, assisted by officers from Gwynedd Council, are no strangers to being called out to deal with these selfish individuals.

It’s worth bearing in mind that these sad reports come at a time when environment research suggests the United Kingdom, as a whole, has lost some two-thirds of its wildlife over the past five decades — all as a direct result of our activities and appropriation of their natural habitats.

There are countless individuals and groups who dedicate long hours trying to retain our natural environment.

The Cambrian Mountain Society is to be commended for its efforts in trying to conserve this vast region of mid Wales for future generations.

Let’s be clear: Anyone who wilfully and wantonly rides any motorised vehicle — be that bike or 4X4 — across any area that has been designated as a nature reserve, deserve far more than a slap on the wrist or paltry fine. No, those that commit environmental vandalism for the sake of a quick buzz, an adrenaline kick, or simply because they think they can — and get away with it — deserve to lose their licence and their vehicle. It’s that simple.

If they’re responsible enough to drive, they ought to be responsible enough to know where it’s appropriate to drive. Idiots.