In Martin Harper’s blog at the beginning of the week were embedded a few words of support for Ed Hutchings’s e-petition on licensing of grouse shooting. These are the words:
‘For the past four years, we have argued that a system of licensing of driven grouse shooting is essential to help protect our amazing upland wildlife, restore our internationally important peatlands, and protect birds of prey. There is the promise of progress in Scotland as licensing grouse shooting is now official party policy of the Scottish National Party and has been the subject of a parliamentary inquiry. There are also calls for other parties to follow suit across the UK. In England, Ed Hutchings has set up an e-petition calling for licensing of driven grouse shooting. We agree with the objectives of this e-petition and I would encourage you to sign it. ‘
Those words are quite deeply embedded in a blog that is about a range of things but the words are good.
And a number of RSPB social media accounts, including once the main @natures_voice account, have voiced rather luke-warm support for this e-petition in support of RSPB policy. So far they haven’t generated an awful lot of support for Ed’s petition which stands now at 1780 signatures.
It’s going to take some real effort from the RSPB to get this e-petition motoring along – the type of effort which the RSPB has been giving to getting us all to say ‘Yes’ to being contacted by them and the sort of effort that the organisation is putting in to telling the world about Big Garden Birdwatch (27-29 January).
The RSPB is a slow-moving creature and let’s assume that it is working out the best way to support Ed’s e-petition. I’m looking forward to the RSPB’s Chair of Council, Kevin Cox, writing his Guest Blog on the subject here.
As the RSPB’s Chief Executive, Mike Clarke writes in Nature’s Home magazine ‘Each one of you makes us that little bit stronger as we continue to fight to save nature. When caring, committed people come together, you really can change the world‘.
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To date Mark, RSPB support for this has been disgraceful, well done for flagging this up. They put a spanner in the works of the parliamentary debate claiming a licence scheme was the way forward. Now a petition has been set up which broadly supports the view they (Jeff Knott) put forward and they put very little effort into promoting or supporting it.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… RSPB inaction will result in untold cases of illegal wildlife persecution. They must pull their finger out or accept the fact that they have the blood of protected and endangered species on their hands.
New Years resolution.
Every time the RSPB ask me for money this year, I will write back telling them that I have made a donation to RPUK or LACS and will continue to do so until they put a large article in ‘Natures Home’ about the disgusting things that go on unseen on grouse moors.
We need to get the number of people who are aware of these issues up from 123k to at least 1.23million. That number might, at last, start to worry the courts, police and politicians who protect the gentry.
I’m sure a certain, past RSPB employee could write a great article for them.
Mark, I see on Martin Harper’s blog that Jonathan Wallace and Glossy Ibis suggest more support for Ed Hutchings Petition and Martin is supportive of this. The RSPB Say Yes campaign seems an ideal opportunity to test out this new communication system. I have suggested ot to them.
I agree that the RSPB needs to nail its colours to the mast and mobilize its members into signing Ed’s petition which supports their declared preferred option for resolving the problems associated with grouse shooting. The RSPB has the potential to make a very high profile campaign to get its membership behind Ed’s petition but seems curiously reluctant to do so. This blog is under no obligation to promote a petition for a solution that differs from its author’s own preferred solution (i.e. a ban) but has nevertheless provided more publicity and support for the licensing petition than the RSPB has.
That said, I am a little disappointed that more readers of this blog (which I understand to number over 100,000) have not signed Ed’s petition. Whether your preferred option for dealing with the problems caused by grouse shooting is a ban, licensing or something else, my view is that it is worth signing each of the petitions as the more signatures there are the more the government is forced to confront the fact that a very large number of people are angry with the status quo and demand a change. Neither Gavin’s nor Ed’s petition is likely to bring about an immediate change (i.e within months of the end of the petition period) but both contribute to the ongoing erosion of the entrenched attitudes that are bolstering grouse shootings position for the time being and that erosion will eventually bring about a significant change for the better.
It will be fascinating to see what Kevin Cox has to say about the RSPB’s seeming reluctance to give this issue a higher profile. There has never been a better time to make progress in fighting raptor persecution in the uplands – surely a heartland issue for the RSPB?
If it fails to grasp this opportunity – for reasons of politics or other priorities – it will look weak and wobbly. I’d like to think it will come out fighting, but I’m not holding my breath.
Martin is just like Gove I E paying a bit of lip service to something that they either have no serious intention of promoting or in Gove’s case shouting about something that he is not likely to be around in that job to do some things he talks about.Both much more interested in picking up fat salaries.Neither fit for purpose.
I don’t know Martin Harper personally but I really don’t get the impression that he is just interested in picking up a fat salary, Dennis. The RSPB may be proceeding too timidly on this issue but I seriously doubt that that is because its staff are placing personal enrichment or personal advancement ahead of the needs of birds.
That’s a very cheap shot. I spent nearly half of my life working for the RSPB and I certainly don’t agree with everything it says and does – not least on driven grouse shooting. However, it carries out a great deal of fantastic conservation work. This is thanks largely to the enthusiasm and dedication of its staff – many of whom receive quite thin salaries compared to what they might earn elsewhere.
I like Paul Fisher’s suggestion, or New Year Resolution, very much. I have commented before on Mark’s blog on the (lack of) articles about DGS and wildlife crime in ‘Nature’s Home,’ but this seems a good way to me of trying to get members’ voices heard, if enough of us speak. Goodness knows we’ve tried pretty much everything else.
It may just be the time of year, but all three petitions are pretty much treading water at the moment:
Gamble – 24,924
Griggs – 14,185
Hutchings – 1826
No sign of a surge for licensing following Martin Harper’s piece. Still time for the RSPB to bare its teeth (said more in hope than expectation).
I continually get the feeling, via various articles published by the RSPB, that they spend too much time cosying up to the shooting fraternity. Perhaps too reliant on them to implement their predator control on certain reserves?! I suspect there is a lot happening behind the scenes that the membership does not get to hear about and this forces staff, at all levels, to tread a very thin tightrope on issues in any way connected to shooting. It’s really down to the RSPB Council to start clarifying the Society’s position. (Yes, I know it can’t oppose shooting per se because of its constitution, and I wouldn’t expect it to, but that does not prevent it from campaigning hard for better regulation). I, as a member, would like to see a tougher line.
There is no doubt the RSPB could be far more transparent. I’m not aware that any details of Board and Council discussions are shared – beyond the carefully managed highlights that are passed on to staff.