Following the victory of Wild Justice last week, a legal victory not a campaigning one, I have written a series of blogs about different aspects of the subject from the can of worms of non-compliance with existing legal requirements on registering captive gamebirds to the implications for other jurisdictions, and from the details of what…
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From my MP
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I have now had a letter from DEFRA via my MP which is pretty much identical to this one – click here. These things take a while but I am glad that DEFRA has had to inform all we interested and concerned constituents what they think. Of course the letter still says that they want…
No Waxwing winter this year
It doesn’t look as though this will be a Waxwing winter as numbers seen around the country so far are very low. And the first indications of an invasion are usually large flocks, by this date, in Shetland, eastern Scotland, the northeast of England and East Anglia. Maybe next year? But after looking at this…
Guest blog – 100 acres of Bog, Heath and Grassland destroyed by tree-planting, by Miles King
Miles King has written regularly on this site. His previous blogs and more information about him can be found here. Twitter: @MilesKing10 . Berrier Farm under Trees: 100 acres of Bog, Heath and Grassland destroyed by tree-planting. England desperately needs more trees, we are constantly told. And it’s certainly true that tree cover here is…
Gamebirds victory (16) – the 500m myth
DEFRA Secretary of State, George Eustice, says; The negative effects of gamebird releases on protected sites tend to be localised with minimal or no effects beyond 500m from the point of release. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/defra-concludes-its-review-into-releasing-gamebirds-on-and-around-protected-sites I wonder why Mr Eustice thinks that. Might it be because that’s what was in a DEFRA Witness statement made by an…
Gamebirds victory (15) – the 500m buffer zone.
There is a narrative developed by DEFRA and Natural England that the Madden and Sage review, and the bits that they didn’t look at, all combine to mean that any impacts of gamebird releases are limited to, and are known to be limited to, 500m from release sites. This is not true. It’s not true…
Driven shooting ceases for a month in England
BASC is quite often ridiculous, but their guidance on shooting and explanation of what Lockdown2 means for shooting is quite clear and really very sensible (although if readers can spot exceptions to that then comment away here!). Driven shooting is off (and the grouse shooting season ends on 9 December anyway) but rough shooting and…
A new lockdown
Depending on where you live, today may mark the start of a new lockdown, but depending on your behaviour, it may not make very much difference to what you actually do. Because of caring duties for two mothers in their 90s our household hasn’t got out much since March and we have got accustomed to…
USA moves towards a Biden presidency?
I am very fond of the USA and of individual US citizens who, as a rule, on their home turf, I have found to be wonderful hosts and friendly people. But they do elections in a strange way, don’t they? The matter of selecting a President appears, as far as votes counted are concerned, to…
Gamebirds victory (14) – NE’s got some work to do
If you read the DEFRA witness statement (paras 11-21) you’ll find that Natural England has a lot of work to do checking sites before DEFRA can be sure that gamebird releases are not wrecking our best wildlife sites. If only there were a regular and frequent programme of assessing important wildlife sites which was properly…