A commitment from DEFRA

In today’s Westminster Hall debate on restoring nature on a massive scale to help stop climate breakdown there was an important commitment made by DEFRA minister, Zac Goldsmith. . . Several hon. Members talked about the problem of burning peatlands. There is no doubt that they are right; the Government share that view. There has…

Statutory agencies – fit for purpose?

Wild Justice’s successful legal challenge over the General Licences is the third legal challenge in which I have been involved against this statutory agency in just over a year. First there was my legal challenge of the brood-meddling licence that NE issued in early 2018. As regular readers will know, this case was contested by…

Let’s see the back of Craig Whittaker in Calder Valley

Calder Valley was the constituency that provided the most signatures for my e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting. In fact it produced 871 (out of 123,077) signatures. The rival e-petition, supporting grouse shooting, accumulated just 31 signatures in Calder Valley (and only 25,322 overall). And yet Conservative MP for the Calder Valley, Craig Whittaker, spoke…

Guest blog – Impressions from the RSPB AGM by Lyn Ebbs

By education and training I am a microbiologist and worked in the NHS and biotech sector. I finished my working career in clinical research and patient safety in the pharmaceutical industry, so am a firm believer in evidence-based science. I’ve been a member of the RSPB for many years and started volunteering for them when…

NE use at all?

Just as Defra did not submit written evidence to the inquiry into driven grouse shooting – nor did Natural England. The fact that NE have been spending our taxpayers’ money on a detailed study of ranging behaviour and mortality of Hen Harriers since 2002 has not led them to think that they might have anything…