14 Replies to “Hen Harrier Day – the video”

  2. Well after such great performances on youtube etc what a pathetic performance by RSPB on BBC this morning approx 7.45 A M in response to a Moorland Association spokesman the RSPB guy agreed that they did a lot of good and not a single word about the illegal killing of Hen Harriers and other raptors that goes on.
    Is this organisation taking large donations from guys involved with Grouse shooting or is it simply because of royal connection.
    Pathetic is a vast understatement and devalues the week-end performances by everyone who spoke at the meetings.

  3. A big thank you to everyone who went to the meetings in such atrocious weather; just wish I’d been able to get to one. Chris Packham’s comparison with our protection of listed buildings and art ( and some folks veneration of ‘A listers’ !) just shows how too-faced we can be as a species! Is it because ‘WE’ made the buildings and the art, but didn’t have a hand in the creation of wildlife, so many folk don’t appreciate their worth or think they are important? Well, buildings can and have been destroyed and rebuilt, (at huge cost) but once a species is gone……. it’s gone.

    More education about our precious wildlife from the nursery school age, please!

  5. Dennis, always best to have all the facts before you comment.

    On the 7.25am interview Pat Thompson did not mention illegal persecution, but it was all he mentioned on his second interview at 8.25am.

    The earlier interview was a shortened version of the second, sometimes you are not always responsible for what the media outlets broadcast or the length of time you have to say everything.

    Your anti-RSPB agenda is as always unhelpful and a little tiresome.

    1. How v unhelpful to broadcast a single interview as two different ones. There are lessons here: believe nothing you hear on the BBC, and Dennis – you should sit by the wireless hanging on to the words from R4 24/7 lest you should miss something you need to disbelieve. If your anti-RSPB is drawing flak you must be over the target.

  6. Ben – I’ve just watched the interview that is on the BBC News website, and the RSPB response was, frankly, less than hard-hitting. In all dealings with the media, you have to be prepared for your comments to be edited, shortened or even mis-represented. Skilled and experienced performers work hard and prepare thoroughly to ensure their points come across clearly in even these difficult circumstances.
    I think it is entirely reasonable to expect the RSPB and other big NGOs to perform well on big occasions, and to point out shortcomings if and when they occur.

    1. Alan – I think you are a bit harsh there. I always preferred, and prefer, live interviews as no-one can muck about with them. You are, to quite a large extent, at the mercy of the editor on what they use and also what they put before and after your little moment of media. It’s not easy. Generally, the mjedia are pretty fair, even quite sympathetic to non-professional NGO spokespeople, but sometimes I’ve felt badly dine by in the past. Not often, but sometimes.

  7. Mark – I was being harsh! But for many of the general TV-watching public, all the effort that you and others put into yesterday, all that’s been said on these blog pages over the last weeks and all the hopes and fears of those of us that care about our wildlife had to be captured and expressed in the one or two minutes of that interview.
    My impression was that to get any idea of what it was about, you had to ‘read between the lines’ of what the RSPB rep. actually said – and most people would not be able to do that.
    Statements like:
    ‘It’s not all perfect…’
    ‘Some bird species… are actually missing’
    ‘We are also concerned with some other management practices…’
    are so vague that, unless you already knew what lay behind them, you would learn nothing about what actually goes on and what the fuss is all about.
    I just feel that your good work deserved better. I’ve supported the RSPB all my adult life, but they’re not always above criticism.

  8. Ben,you will find that the main fact there are very very few Hen Harriers in England is they are illegally killed on the Moors.
    When a RSPB chap at approx 7.45 A M comes on TV I expect the first thing he says to point this out and not agree with the Moorland Association chap that they do a lot of good.
    You will have to put up with me criticising RSPB when they make such pathetic responses just the same as when I am happy to praise them when in my opinion it is deserving,conveniently you have either ignored those comments or have not read them.
    I am a member and was at Radipole and consider I have a right to voice my opinion,they have conveniently stopped me from voicing my opinion on their forum because quite honestly there contribution to Hen Harrier persecution when being continually asked to back the last two e-petitions before Marks has been absolutely zero.
    The RSPB like to give criticism but they and many members cannot take some back
    maybe if you go under the title of Ben A it would at least explain your sentiments.

  10. Got to agree with Alan and Dennis.
    I could not believe it when the mouthpiece of the RSPB responded to the Moorland Association message with ‘It’s not all perfect’. Most viewers will have thought ‘Well you can’t expect perfection. Stop bleating on’.
    Instead of trying to show how balanced their view is and how clever they are by commenting on biodiversity, waders, peat bogs etc we need people speaking a clear and solitary message – STOP KILLING LEGALLY PROTECTED SPECIES.
    All of the other arguments are for another day.
    I may pay my subscription to the RSPB but it does not mean they speak for me in all things. This is a case where they could have toed somebody else’s party line for once.

    1. Terry – thanks for your comment, but please pay your sub. to the RSBP!
      We need a strong RSPB more than ever at the moment, and the more members it has, the more influence it can exert.
      However, it has got to up its game on this and several other issues.

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