High opposition to grouse shooting in grouse shooting areas

 

If driven grouse shooting were all it’s cracked up to be then you’d think that local people would be its greatest supporters. Well, they aren’t!  It seems as though the inhabitants of Chelsea and Fulham are its strongest supporters – those who whizz in to a grouse moor for a while, shoot, and leave?

If we look at the number of signatures on the two rival e-petitions (Gavin Gamble’s excellent e-petition calling for a ban, and the mysterious Jane Griggs’s e-petition saying that all is fine) from English upland constituencies which have driven grouse moors within them (my estimates – there may be one or two missed – please let me know) then this is what we find:

#signatures for banning grouse shooting#signatures in favour of grouse shooting
Richmond141274
Skipton and Ripon155217
Hexham104158
Berwick upon Tweed10496
Derbyshire Dales15174
Scarborough and Whitby9559
Ribble Valley10753
Penrith and the Border12348
Bishop Aukland5746
Westmorland and Lonsdale15542
North West Durham7028
Calder Valley17027
Lancaster and Fleetwood9525
Sheffield Hallam18023
Middlesborough South and East Cleveland5923
Keighley9221
High Peak21216
Colne Valley9915
Morecambe and Lunesdale7013
Penistone and Stocksbridge11011
Shipley949
Pudsey716
Macclesfield9217
Staffordshire Moorlands528
Stalybridge and Hyde501
Oldham East and Saddleworth382
Total
27461312

 

Well, that’s hardly local endorsement for intensive grouse shooting is it? It’s noticeable that the disparity in feeling is very, very high in the Peak District, and of course in the Calder Valley where locals blame increased damaging floods on moorland management. Of 26 constituencies, only three show a majority in favour of grouse shooting.  Hardly a groundswell of support, is it?

But let’s take the next few days to increase the numbers of signatures calling for a ban even more please. Please sign Gavin Gamble’s e-petition calling for an end to driven grouse shooting today – it closes on Easter Monday and you might forget if you don’t do it now.  Many thanks.

[registration_form]

6 Replies to “High opposition to grouse shooting in grouse shooting areas”

  1. Sorry I cannot find a box to tick in favour of grouse shooting and how the moorlands should be managed. I know a few upland farmers who take the management of the moors very seriously and admit they have not always got things right and, are now working to improve the way they manage the moorland. George Win Darley a land manager wrote an excellent article in the Yorkshire Post a few weeks ago expressing how new initiatives were helping to protect wildlife on the North York Moors, this coming from a man who has supported and encouraged wildlife projects throughout Yorkshire. I am a long serving warden of a nature reserve and have represented our local RSPB group and, nationally working with FWAG plus many local farmers who are doing more to protect birds/wildlife than some of the single species the RSPB favours. This campaign is political and self defeating the RSPB should grow up and live in the real wold and accept other peoples way of lives (consultation not confrontation). I have been a member of the RSPB for the last 40 years in the early days they were a conservation group for birds now they are a commercial campaigning organisation. I am a very disappointed member who has had to take the hard step of cutting out of my will a large legacy that ran into many thousands of pounds.

    Terrance Weston-Warden and wildlife consultant.

  2. Googled “Terrance Weston-Warden” wildlife consultant.

    No results found for “terrance weston-warden” wildlife consultant.

    Nothing for “terrance weston” wildlife consultant

    Nothing for “terrance weston” warden wildlife consultant

    Nothing for “terrance weston” warden

  3. I find it remarkable that people post comments on a blog they so clearly have not actually read if they are under the impression that the campaign to ban driven grouse shooting is run by the RSPB (more’s the pity) and they do not have enough information to find the pro-driven grouse shooting petition (not sorry about that).

Comments are closed.