Many readers of this blog may no longer care what the Hawk and Owl Trust thinks about things, in its post Philip Merricks state, but that would be uncharitable. And so when tipped off that the H&OT have developed a policy on lead ammunition I was keen to see what it was. This is what…
BLOG POSTS
Guest blog – Blake Lee-Harwood of Sustainable Fisheries Partnership
Blake Lee-Harwood is a UK-based environmental campaigner who has spent long periods working with NGOs like Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and RSPB as well as stints as a government advisor and consultant to industry. He is passionate about wildlife, and particularly the marine environment, and spends his non-working hours either mucking about with boats…
Press release – #SaveSevernsFish
Last chance to save the fish in the Severn as the Environment Agency, planning Inspectorate and Marine Management Organisation deliberates a landmark decision. This crucial decision could see thousands of fish, including cod, sprat, salmon, and whiting, drawn to their deaths each day as they are sucked into double-decker sized water-cooling systems of the new…
Dear Marian Spain, CEO of Natural England
Dear Marian I am writing to you to ask that you carry out an urgent, independent review of the functioning of Natural England’s wildlife licensing work. I believe that is clearly underperforming and in some very serious ways. Since the bits of your licensing system that I can see are only a few, and since…
The 2019 Natural England licensing scandal – a few bits of context.
It’s helpful to remember that all wild birds are protected by law in the UK. There are few exemptions and even those exemptions are carefully prescribed. So, you can shoot gamebirds but only in season (apart from that there aren’t many constraints on shooting wildlife for fun, unlike in many European countries). If you want…
Rule of six? Hit for six!
It was such a bad move from the shooting industry to lobby for exemption from the Rule of Six for gamebird shooting. Drawing attention to yourself when you are in such a poor position is never a good idea. Just now, and it may only last for a while, millions of people are sensitised to…
Lots of Knots at Snetts
Snettisham Beach this morning as the mist cleared and the tide rose – brilliant. We didn’t exactly have the place to ourselves as there were lots of people with binoculars and telescopes (maybe 100 or so) but we were all outnumbered by around 100,000 waders or more – probably more than half of them were…
Revealing more details of the 2019 Natural England licensing scandal (2)
We know that last year Natural England was shovelling licences out of the building authorising all and sundry to kill unlimited numbers of any of the species formerly listed on the general licences anywhere in the UK (see earlier blog today and links therein). Is this because the applications described in detail and clearly the…
Revealing more details of the 2019 Natural England licensing scandal (1)
Recap: Bob Berzins discovered that Natural England had issued what amounted to a general licence for conservation purposes after they had stopped issuing general licences for conservation purposes (sounds odd doesn’t it – see Bob’s guest blogs Natural England licences; a cover up? Part 1 and Natural England licences; a cover up? Part 2). And…
Press release – Trees for Life
Comments Off on Press release – Trees for Life
Call for reports of red squirrel sightings across the Highlands to boost reintroduction project Trees for Life is asking people across the Highlands to report sightings of red squirrels for the Great Scottish Squirrel Survey from 21-27 September. The rewilding charity wants to increase sightings of the animals across the region during the week and…