You have just two days to add your voice to those of what I expect to be thousands and thousands of others in responding to an EU consultation on lead.
I’ve responded in some detail on some aspects but you could send in a quick few words fairly easily. I say fairly easily because it took me a few minutes to make the system work for me but you’ll probably be quicker than I was!
Here is the link – please have a look and send something, however brief in favour of banning lead ammunition from all wetlands. BirdLife International has made it pretty easy to know what to write. You don’t need to be an expert to show that you care, so please do make your voice heard.
I have not noticed that the RSPB has asked me to do this – and I am a member. I’m really disappointed in them and in WWT for not promoting this campaign – both organisations have agreed policies by their Councils that are completely in tune with the BirdLife International position and yet the majority of communications I have had with them recently have been about how I spend my money not how I help them to change the world for the better.
I’m getting a bit cheesed off with NGOs that want members’ and supporters’ money but don’t seem to mobilise those same members in favour of nature. It’s almost as though the RSPB regards us as a million chequebooks for them rather than a million voices for nature. Not good enough!
And for heavens sake if WWT is not busting a gut to get a poison banned from use in wetlands then who should be. Not remotely good enough!
But well done BirdLife International!
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Our wildlife is so precious- we should do all we can to protect it
As far as I know, there is also plastic used in the cartridge cases, and the wadding can be plastic. Doubt if all cases are removed.
While doing a beach clean yesterday I found an empty plastic cartridge case and disposed of it so yes they aren’t all removed.
A walk across land that is shot over quickly confirms that a huge number of cartridge cases are abandoned on the ground. I have noticed that this can be particularly the case in some European countries. We are often told that shooters are true country people who have the preservation of wildlife at heart; this behaviour (i.e. not bothering to take spent cartridges home for responsible disposal) betrays an altogether different attitude.
I agree about the NGOs.
As an occassional donator to Birdlife international, I get regular news items , and the chance to donate, sign petitions, etc but never any pressure to become a regular source of small amounts of money. Their news items are always worth a read – an excellent mix of conservation success, problems, issues we need to be aware of……
The national NGOs however do indeed seem to increasingly see their membership as an income stream.
I had hoped the new Data regulations would mean that there would be more choice over what is received from NGOs (campaigns, international, national, merely begging letters, etc etc) – Butterfly Conservation did indeed give me options to separate out fundraising, policy, campaigning, conservation projects, etc. The RSPB one has given me no option to select which bits of the RSPB I want to hear more about…. simply wheter to have everything they chose to send (as a please give us money message) by post or by email. Rubbish.
“I have not noticed that the RSPB has asked me to do this ”
I seem to have stopped receiving e-mails from RSPB although I did ‘opt-in’ when it was recently requested. I wonder if there is some glitch in their IT systems? Has anyone else had a similar experience?
Symptoms of a wider malaise, I fear. The major NGOs don’t seem to have made it past 2010 – or perhaps 2000. On a larger scale than lead, RSPB, NT and the Wildlife Trusts have just published a study suggesting restoring biodiversity under a new agricultural regime will cost an extra £2 billion per annum, using sums straight out of the 1990s. What planet bare they living on when the Government wont give the NHS an extra £4 billion ? The risk of this sort of bidding is that the countryside is simply abandoned – as Michael Gove is demonstrating, there are some in the Conservative party who have realised they have little to fear from the loss of farmers votes – but that the environment could swing key urban electors.
But, more seriously, it isn’t even necessary because far from needing to spend more the foundations are already in place for a more intelligent land use that saves mush of the money it currently needs by turning current collateral damage into positive forces for the wide3r economy – quality of life & health, resilience against climate change. carbon capture and air quality, amongst other positives.
Thanks for publicising this Mark.
Wardens and volunteers do great work on RSPB reserves, but the leadership is not robust. The society has punched below its weight for years. It should at the forefront of campaigning, but it seldom raises its head above the parapet on controversial issues. Well done, Mark, for highlighting this.
Thanks for the heads up Mark – I will make a submission today. I totally agree with your comments on the NGOs – particularly WWT.
Mark, your comments implying WWT isn’t working enough on the problem of lead poisoning are pretty off! As we’re the ones who see most of the dead birds, it’s not surprising how much blood, sweat and tears we have put into the issue. The national and global progress that has been made on tackling lead poisoning due to WWT’s continuing extensive work on the evidence, policy and understanding of this issue shouldn’t be underestimated. And the latter aspect of understanding is important. In theory this should be a simple problem to resolve but in reality it clearly isn’t. We know lots of hunters who use non-toxic ammunition and (amongst all our other work) we are developing a good understanding of the complexities of the issues in transitioning to non-lead.
Lead ammunition will not be used in the future as it’s not good for any aspects of society or the environment and I’ll be able to say with confidence to the lovely murmuring Bewick’s outside my office window that we did that for them (oh and the pochard, and the pintail, and the…).
I’d like to write more but I’ve got to get back to working on lead poisoning!
Ruth – when did WWT ask its members and supporters to respond to this consultation? Just run your recent campaigning activity past me as I have missed it…
Lots of good work – but not being made the most of…
Being right is not good enough – it is necessary to be active too (otherwise the active wrong-uns win).
Openly campaigning might be the best approach sometimes. Sometimes it may not. Or maybe both campaigning and behind the scenes lobbying and diplomacy are needed by different interests with different agendas to get the desired outcome…