The 4th June marks the 60th anniversary of a landmark piece of environmental protection – The Protection of Birds Act 1954.
It gave full legal protection to almost all British birds, their nests and eggs. It was a progressive piece of environmental legislation.
Back in 1954, Winston Churchill was Prime Minister of the UK, Chiang Kai-shek was re-elected as president of China and, in sport, Roger Bannister ran the first sub four-minute mile and England went out (beaten by Uruguay) in the quarter-finals of the football World Cup.
But there were more Hen Harriers in England on the day they received legal protection than there are 60 years later. How wrong is that?
I intend to be sitting on a hillside watching a pair of Hen Harriers tomorrow morning.
If you feel strongly about this situation then have a look at the e-petition that I launched last Wednesday which now has close to 2500 signatures – maybe it will reach that figure this evening with your help. Thank you to all who have signed.
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Mark – are you sure you are not mistaken? According to the GWCT paper, for which you provided a link in your previous blog, hen harriers only became fully protected at the start of the Joint Raptor Study in 1992 – not 1954? The GWCT research makes it quite clear that gamekeepers are good for harriers; there is no mention that the increase and subsequent decline in harrier numbers at Langholm correlated with the start and end of an unofficial moratorium on the illegal killing of an already legally protected species – so surely this cannot be the case? Sorry for bringing it back to harriers……………
Rich- haha, very droll
60 years and how much progress in that time?