In a letter in yesterday’s Times (what an awful paper it is these days – I didn’t buy it, I promise) there was a letter by the Hawk and Owl Trust chair Philip Merricks. Apparently ‘no conservation body is doing more to bring the illegal persecution of hen harriers to an end’ than the Hawk and Owl Trust.
Really Philip? Are you living in blah-blah land or La La Land? The H&OT is doing more than the RSPB is it? Is it?
And then, apparently, we all have to work with land owners because they hold the future of the country’s wildlife in their hands. No Philip, every one of us holds the future of wildlife in our hands and we are in charge.
Despite the good work that the H&OT do on the ground, at nature reserves like Sculthorpe, it is putting itself beyond the pale with the vast majority of ordinary birders and conservationists who are more and more disappointed at the strident nature of its public utterances.
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That means they would have to be doing more than this then… http://www.rspb.org.uk/henharrierlife/
Although the H&OT trust have an amazingly good site at Sculthorpe, I decided to cancel my membership on the account of what they have said recently. Working with land owners who (not all) have no regard for any form of wildlife and only see it as a pest.
It’s becoming more and more obvious that Philip Merricks, and possibly HOT as a whole has more in common with land owners involved with shooting than with raptor conservation.
The man is definitely showing signs of megalomania and sociopathic tendencies.
He, commanding HMS Hawk and Owl, is single handedly going to solve the Hen Harrier ‘problem’ (and become Middle east peace envoy).
Please someone tell me i’m wrong but in the near future i see DEFRA side-lining the memeber of the Hen Harrier Joint Recovery Plan altogether by permitting HOT to start brood management. They will call it a trial but give no time limit or goal and then ‘roll it out’ into the next area and then the next and the next.
Please someone tell me this won’t happen.
Anyone tempted to take Merricks serious should listen to the ‘Talking Naturally’ podcast in which Charlie Moores skillfully just lets him humiliate himself. I’d liken it to watching an episode of The Office. You’re cringing and squirming but can’t help having an uncomfortable chuckle at the same time. This man fully deserves to be ostracised by the conservation fraternity. It’s a shame to see a one time ally (H&OT} fall by the wayside but this guy has a very dubious and different agenda to the rest of us.
The man is bloody delusional if he thinks HOT has done more than RSPB ( protection in Bowland since early 1980s, skydancer, current life project) , NERF and various raptor groups, BAWC, even dare one say it Mark Avery or Chris Packham. He is labouring under a common delusion of the landed classes that they count more than the rest of us and their views are superior, when quite clearly in the modern world neither is true. The sooner HOT get shot of him the sooner they can join the real world again!
You are not ‘in charge’ Mark.
You have your precious Hunting Act yet landowners like me break it with complete impunity and you can do nothing to stop it. I am personally proud to stand up, be counted and openly break your shoddy disreputable law and I am able to do so thanks to the Police’s wilful refusal to do anything about it.
As a landowner I am entitled to manage my property in a humane, low carbon and thoroughly criminal manner. You have no right nor ability to prevent me doing that because at the end of the day your stipulations are absurd and based not on science but ignorance and bigotry.
It’s actions that matter not words and at the end of the day my illegal actions are continuing and your bluster will have no effect. I have spoken at length to the police and they are not going to take any action if I continue to flout the law – nor are they going to take any action if I allow local hunts to flout the law on my property.
All the Hunting Act has done is turn wildlife crime into a right. My land is a wildlife sanctuary. Wildlife is given sanctuary from compliance with the Hunting Act.
Throughout history our rights have been won and safeguarded by deliberate criminality. I follow the path of King and Ghandi.