I am getting an increasing number of emails from people saying that they emailed their MP weeks ago and have not yet received anything other than the automated reply (which shows that it did arrive!). Please let me know if your MP has not replied to your letter about driven grouse shooting and we will…
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
What Defra say now – Firm Briefing 14
Many of you will have received a letter like this one which I got via my MP. It looks like Defra is retreating on several areas thanks to Firm Briefing. There is no claim about how well Defra has done in funding the NWCU. No mention of the scale of financial benefit of driven grouse…
Firm briefing 13 – the BASC firm line
A new line has begun to appear in some standard letters being sent out by MPs, overwhelmingly by Conservative MPs, in response to your letters to them about the debate on driven grouse shooting. I suspect that these are designed to be used in responses to BASC members but have found their way into replies…
Where did those 123,075 signatures come from?
The average number of signatures from each of the 650 UK parliamentary constituencies was 189. Calder Valley was top of the list and Edmonton (35 signatures) the lowest of the British mainland but with Newry and Armagh in Northern Ireland on 25 signatures. That’s a massive spread of support, but what comes out of it…
Thank you so much – 123,075
At midnight last night our e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting closed at 123,075 signatures. We now move on to a period of Firm Briefing to MPs and an evidence session in front of the House of Commons Petitions Committee and a debate amongst our MPs. But ‘thank you’ all 123,075 of you for getting…
Driven grouse shooting – what a laugh!
Even the Daily Telegraph (from yesterday) finds something funny about driven grouse shooting. At least, the incomparable Alex does. Please sign the e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting – last chance is today!
Last chance to sign
Our winning e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting has its last day today! You won’t be able to sign the e-petition after midnight tonight (although you will be able to click on the confirmation email that you are sent when you do sign). A late flurry of extra signatures would be nice, and for neatness…
Compare and contrast
The shooting industry (BASC this time): Heather burning good for biodiversity says study. A consortium of 50+ environmental and wildlife NGOs in the State of Nature report (p26): ‘In large areas, uplands are also subject to burning rotations as part of grouse moor management. This can result in heather dominating blanket bogs and has greatly…
State of Nature – BII
The UK is ‘one of the most nature-depleted countries on Earth’ was one of the headlines that the media took away from the State of Nature report. This sounded new and worrying to me, although entirely believable, so I was interested to see the evidence on which it is based. You’ll find that on pp…
Landowners win 8-year battle to save Catfield Fen
The Catfield Fen Public Inquiry report is a comprehensive and overwhelming victory for the owners of Catfield Fen (Mr and Mrs Tim Harris) in their battle to save their fen from the impacts of water abstraction by local farmers. In it the inspector finds that: there is clear evidence that the Fen is in danger…