It’s all a bit of a blur at the moment…
I left home on Friday lunchtime and have been to Rainham Marshes Hen Harrier Day and The Peak District Hen Harrier Day at Edale.
I have heard Charlies Moores speak with passion about being ‘Proud to Care’ and Chris Packham just being brilliant.
I saw Kerry McCarthy MP having a cuddle with Henry the Hen Harrier and looking forward to a Westminster Hall debate on the future of grouse shooting.
I saw tweets from Andrew Gilruth who was sneaking around the Rainham Hen Harrier Day and saying how disappointing the turn out was – well the turn-out was over 500 folk and that seems pretty good to me! That included Philip Merricks who wouldn’t be interviewed on his views. Maybe H&OT members should ask H&OT what they think of brood meddling and the fact that RSPB has pulled out of the Defra Hen Harrier non-plan at the Bird Fair.
I met some lovely people at Rainham – including the local staff and volunteers – but lots of people who were attending their first Hen Harrier Day because they have become activated by the issue.
Gosh it was hot! But the singing was top-notch!
And then up to Edale for another Hen Harrier Day which was just superb! This time Amanda Anderson was keeping an eye on us – although her sight isn’t very good as she can’t see a dummy Hen Harrier when it’s in plain view.
Findlay Wilde was a great speaker – although that is what we have come to expect (and he rather irritatingly beat me at a bird identification quiz the night before) – remember this guy is ‘only’ 14 years old. What a star.
Then the Police and Crime Commissioner for Derbyshire spoke and he was very good – very strong on wildlife crime (he knew a dummy Hen Harrier when he saw one, Amanda).
Then I had a go, and I ought to say that Alan Davies was linking all this stuff together and he was superb.
Next up was Jon Stewart of the NT in the Peak District who spoke about parting company with their shooting tenant and made the plea that NT members should let the NT know what they should do. Well, it’s clear that NT should cut out driven grouse shooting on all their land – simple as that.
There was then a little pause before Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party, arrived – but she was worth the wait. Passionate and knowledgeable she supported Hen Harrier Day and the ban on driven grouse shooting as part of a wider need for ecological common sense.
Last, but by no means least, Tim Birch of the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust painted a vision for the Peak District not dissimilar to that in Chapter 6 of Inglorious and very popular with the nearly 400 attendees. I wish the Beds, Cambs and Northants WT had similar bottle and balls.
There were lots of great conversations with birthday girls, raptor workers, new activists, old friends (including a guy I used to sit next to in undergraduate lectures), Essex girls (it was ‘ream, reem or ‘reem). fellow campaigners, people only formerly encountered on Twitter, artists, photographers, birders, Birdwatch editors and fellow enthusiasts. It was great.
News from other Hen Harrier day events suggest that they all went well with the sad exception of Highland which had to be cancelled because of 115mph gales! What a shame – after all that work.
More on all of this through the week – but I’m quite tired. Tired after all that energy but I must thank Howard and Andrew (and lots of others including fabulous volunteers) at Rainham, and Lisa from BAWC, for the Rainham event and a massive THANKS! to Stewart Abbott for the Edale, Peak District event which was possibly, no, probably, the best Hen Harrier Day event ever. Also, thanks to BAWC (Phil especially) and loads and loads of others for arranging and setting up and attending Hen Harrier Day events across NI, Scotland and England. And although Wales wasn’t represented in that list Alan Davies was a fantastic compere at Edale – who spoke with passion and truth.
Oh, yes, and by the way, the e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting has passed 76.000 signatures on Hen Harrier Day 2016. Look out Westminster – we are coming.
[registration_form]
Well done all.
And no ‘Dislikes’.
A few ‘Dislikes’ since I last posted but that’s to be expected.
I thoroughly enjoyed my first Hen Harrier day in the peaks, though I’m sad that the event needs to exist at all. Really nice to see so many people who care so deeply about the issues!
H&OT members spoke of their views on brood meddling at last year’s AGM.
I’ve said it before but it bears repeating, Philip Merricks views do not reflect the views of many members of the H&OT. The sooner ex members return to the fold to fight from within the better.
With the figure now well past an excellent 76,500 I think it’s time for a well earned early night.
Well done everybody.
Very well done Mark.
76,622. Can never resist that last look can you!
I am gutted I couldn’t be at any of these meetings but work prevented it. Well done everyone who did. The word is definitely getting out there and it’s only a matter of time now until they have to stop being criminals.
So here’s a brand new petition with a simple aim. It lets you tell the National Trust precisely what they should do next! Namely: Don’t replace the shooting tenant you are about to evict. Instead, start working with better conservation partners to properly restore these moorlands within the Dark Peak SSSI/SPA. There’s no point re-wetting and restoring one side of Kinder Scout whilst the other side is being burnt for grouse farming.
234 people signed the petition in Edale today. You can download/print forms and get friends to sign and then post it back. Or you can simply sign the online version.
Go to:
Mark – the HTML tags didn’t seem to work in my previous comment. Let’s try:
Moorland Vision website: http://nomoorshooting.blogspot.co.uk
38 Degrees online version: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/nomoorshooting
Wasn’t able to be there, but very happy to see all the events were so well received and attended. Also, am encouraged to see the numbers rising so quickly on the petition. I really hope the momentum will continue…must stay on track! Watched a video of Chris Packham’s speech, which was (as one would expect) informed, heartfelt and inspiring… Kudos to all those whose efforts created such a great series of gatherings – onward to 100,000!
I searched for the above petition to the NT, it a couple of minutes at the most and signed. Another grouse moor lease will unquestionably mean more persecution of protected species and the NT know that so they can have no excuses. Conservation is long, long overdue on this land.
Wales was also represented by Iolo Williams at Arne for HHDay South. He made a very passionate speech and talked about Hen Harriers in Wales.
I agree mark. Yesterday was the best Peak District HH Day (I’ve been to all three). In particular I was surprised by the commitment of the Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner to tackle wildlife crime – I thought he’d just come out with platitudes, but he didn’t. All the speakers where great, and Alan Davies did a great job in bringing it all together.
I walk in the PD a lot as it is near my home, so I know its true that the National Trust have made great work in restoring the vegetation on the blanket bog on Bleaklow and Kinder Scout as part of the Moors for the Future project, just as Jon Stewart said. So I feel optimistic that they will continue to protect and enhance the biodiversity on their land holdings.