How social?

If you all turn to p273 of your copies of Inglorious then you will find an exhortation from me to use social media in our campaign to ban driven grouse shooting. Written in January 2015 it lists the Twitter followers of the following organisations and individuals. Here are what they were then and what they…

Thunderclap at 5pm – please sign up

The thunderclap organised by Stewart Abbott, who is also organising the Peak District Hen Harrier Day event, is being broadcast at 5pm today. If you have a Twitter, Facebook or tumblr account then please sign up to it (I wonder how many readers of this blog are on tumblr?). I wonder whether that will deliver…

Microbeads

Tomorrow is World Oceans Day – why not sign this e-petition promoted by Greenpeace, the Marine Conservation Society, FFI and EIA.

Worth waiting for

This is a press release from the Yorkshire Dales NP in response (a slightly slow response) to the pole trap incident of last week. A bit late thought it may be, it is well worth reading.   Birds of prey traps condemned by National Park Authority Grassington, June 7, 2016. Illegal persecution of birds of…

The alternative Countryfile interview.

On Sunday Countryfile sank lower than even I thought was possible with a hopeless piece about grouse moors. Here is the link and the piece starts at about 22 minutes into the programme. Presumably, in the interests of BBC balance, Springwatch will be showing this image of how Mountain Hares are looked after on grouse…

RSPB speaking softly and left its stick at home.

The RSPB continues to talk up the hopeless Defra Hen Harrier plan even though it shows no sign of making a difference on the ground. In a rather unspecific update Martin Harper says that there is only ‘a tiny handful’ of Hen Harrier nesting attempts in England to date.  Tiny handful? Attempts?  This long-heralded update…

Intransigence

Today we should hear news about the status of Hen Harriers in England in the first year of the Defra Hen Harrier recovery project. See here for the only real Hen Harrier recovery plan. There should be 330+ pairs of Hen Harrier nesting in the English uplands and last year there were 12 pairs (from…

Oscar Dewhurst – Short-eared Owl

Oscar writes: I had been sat in North hide at Minsmere for an hour earlier on this day, then walked around to the sluice bushes to see if two Firecrests I’d found the previous day were still there. They were, but remained elusive so I got talking to someone who had been in the hide…

40,000

40,000!  Thank you! You and I are making all sorts of people sit up and take notice. We are about 40% of the way through the time and 40% of the way to the target of 100,000 signatures.  Does that make you feel optimistic or pessimistic about getting to 100,000? Well, as far as I’m…