It will take a big shove to get Les Wallace’s epetition over the 10,000-signatures line by the end of next week – but it’s quite possible. Over 700 signatures have been added in the last 24 hours. A few more days like that would bring the required ‘run rate’ tumbling. The grouse shooting industry fears…
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
Bowland harriers
Stephen Murphy of Natural England is backing up the Moorland Association’s nonsense that having brood meddling is turning gamekeepers into good guys according to a report in the Lancashire Post. I’m looking forward to writing in some detail about brood meddling again when we receive judgement from Ms Justice Lang but as we said when…
Various
I went to the pictures last night – to see Mary Queen of Scots. Good film! I recommend it. She had her head lopped off down the road from here at Fotheringhay. The anniversary comes up on 8 February. It’s impossible for me to watch a film without noticing the bird noises. There were some…
Single use plastic
Shotgun cartridges haven’t always been made of plastic, and not all of them are now. I have no idea of the relative merits of plastic cartridges versus cartridges made of other materials, but this area certainly seems worth thinking about. I look forward to being told that plastic cartridges are ‘traditional’. Here are a few…
A milestone
Congratulations to Les Wallace for passing the 5000 signature milestone. It’s a big ask to think that this petition could get another 5000 signatures inside two weeks but it’s certainly not impossible. And every signature counts. I’m sure that a full economic appraisal of the impacts of driven grouse shooting including intensive burning of heather…
RPPDG thoughts
The non-attendance of the pro-shooting organisations at last week’s Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG) meeting (you read about it first here but see also my further blog, the coverage in RPUK here, here and here and The Times) was a big miscalculation on their parts, and one from which their reputations are unlikely to…
Our days in court
It’s a bit difficult to know what to say about our three days in court (5 and 6 December and 17 January) challenging the decision of Natural England to license brood meddling of Hen Harriers. The judge, is considering the cases made by our side and the RSPB that the licensing was unlawful, and the…
Another nail
River – a female Hen Harrier fledged in Bowland in 2018. Photo: RSPB The loss of yet another Hen Harrier is another nail in driven grouse shooting’s coffin. We don’t know much about River except she went to Yorkshire and disappeared on a driven grouse moor in the Nidderdale AONB. She was tagged in Bowland…
Another Hen Harrier disappears – River
RSPB press release: Hen harrier ‘River’ disappears in suspicious circumstances This is the ninth bird tagged last summer to vanish in similar circumstances Last transmission showed the bird on a driven grouse moor in North Yorkshire Police and the RSPB are concerned that the bird may have been illegally killed The police and the…
Vermin – an unacceptable term
Vermin control I have an issue with the word ‘vermin’, as one man’s vermin is another man’s cuddly mammal or brilliant bird, but the word is still very frequently used, almost unconsciously, by the shooting community to identify those species that might eat game before they are available to be shot. The way that the…