If the GWCT cannot conjure up a single scientific publication to support the 500m buffer zone for non-native gamebird releases near protected sites, and they can’t, then it seems that no-one can – read the Wild Justice blog here. DEFRA is planning to consult on the #500mmyth next week along with other aspects of the…
Author: Mark
Born Bristol, UK
Educated: Cleeve House School Bristol, Bristol Grammar School and Downing College Cambridge
Ph.D. University of Aberdeen, Winter activity of pipistrelle bats.
NERC post-doctoral Research Fellow, Edward Grey Institute, Oxford University
Former Conservation Director of the RSPB, 1989-2011
Good news – Sandringham supports White-tailed Eagle releases on their doorstep, perhaps
The Daily Telegraph has an exclusive where they say that the Sandringham Estate is supporting the release of White-tailed Eagles next door at Wild Ken Hill. This is good news if true. The statement from the estate given to the Telegraph doesn’t actually say that they support the W-t Eagle reintroduction – it says they…
Stroll on Pheasants!
In the latest Shooting Times, gamekeeper Alex Keeble writes about the dubious practice of catching up gamebirds after the shooting season for captive breeding purposes. He advises caution as this is a potential source of diseased birds. Ahead of the expected DEFRA consultation on gamebird releases next week, this gamekeeper writes: You may think that…
Mountain Hares to be moved to Langholm by friendly gamekeepers?
The Scottish Gamekeepers Association say they plan to talk to the Langholm Initiative about returning Mountain Hares back to Langholm. The suggestion that this would involve up to 25,000 animals a year, the number that have been culled in recent years (2015 figure), are certainly exagerrated – but this ‘proposal’ looks more like a new…
Humiliation?
James Hansen makes good points here but I think he’s wrong to think that the UK government, this government, or its Prime Minister, will feel humiliated by … well, actually, by almost anything. We seem now to live in a world where many politicians feel no shame about acting in contradiction to their words, or…
I’ve only just found this site – useful
The Parallel Parliament website looks very useful – I’ve only just found it. You can find information about departments – such as DEFRA; … MPs and peers, Here’s my MP; … and up to date information on petitions, such as this one on Badgers; This petition information is right up to date (except the only…
8 million pageviews
Yesterday this blog passed another milestone – 8 million pageviews since 21 April 2011. That first post was unexceptional, but one has to start somewhere, and its title, Don’t let them get away with it, might well have become a watchword for this blog. It took me couple of months before I got Google Analytics…
RSPB statement on Public Accounts Committee report: achieving long term environmental goals
RSPB Chief Exec Beccy Speight says: This inquiry has laid bare the urgent need for Government to get a grip on the nature crisis. Ten years after pledging to ‘improve the natural environment within a generation’ the reality is that 15 per cent of the UK’s wildlife is at risk of extinction. Positive words and…
Here we go again…
An immature White-tailed Eagle from the Isle of Wight reintroduction project has spent a few daysin Northants recently, at Pitsford Reservoir, before continuing its wanderings southwards into Oxfordshire and maybe back to its release site on the IoW. Here in Northants we don’t really consider ourselves to be within striking distance of ther IoW but…
Wild Justice asks GWCT…
… to fact check Secretary of State, George Eustice’s statements on gamebirds for scientific accuracy – click here.