Reports of a new political party, the Scottish Gamekeeping Party seem to be exaggerated. That’s a shame. I had been planning to join and had jotted down a few points for the manifesto; free pints and chasers in all pubs for those wearing ridiculous amounts of tweed health warnings on all farmed meat ‘WARNING: does…
BLOG POSTS
Press release – UK now values nature more by National Trust
UK values nature more as a result of lockdown, according to summer solstice poll A third of adults are more interested in nature as a result of lockdown More than half say they plan to make a habit of spending time in nature ‘when things go back to normal’ Just over two thirds of adults…
Guest blog – Afterwards… by Louise Bacon
I used to be a biochemist studying human immune system malfunction whilst being a part-time naturalist and conservationist. Then I converted to being an environmental data geek, which is what I do part of the time in a vague attempt to pay the bills. I have been a birder since childhood, and am now the…
Political wildlife protection
People say that wildlife protection should not be a political matter – by which they usually mean a party political matter. But it is, and it should be. Let’s examine the protected status given to Mountain Hares in Scotland by the Scottish Parliament yesterday after a vote of MSPs. First, it was a great result!…
Press release – Langholm Initiative
First £1m secured for community’s dream of huge nature reserve The Scottish Land Fund has awarded the Langholm Initiative charity £1 million towards the purchase of 10,500 acres of Langholm Moor in the south of Scotland, which would see the local community creating a vast new nature reserve. The charity hopes to buy the wildlife-rich and culturally…
Press release – Scottish Rewilding Alliance
SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT VOTE A BLOW TO ENDING BEAVER DEATHS The Scottish Rewilding Alliance welcomes the attempt by Mark Ruskell MSP to amend the Animals & Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Bill to require the government ensure ‘favourable conservation status’ for Scotland’s beavers before issuing lethal control licences. The attempted amendment followed the announcement by…
Information request to Natural England
The following information request has been sent to Natural England: Dear Natural England.I write to request information under the EIR/FoI regulations.My request is in relation to individual licences issued by NE for the purposes of killing bird species such as Carrion Crows, Jays etc.My request is in response to information that has been obtained by…
Guest blog – Natural England licences; a cover up? Part 2 by Bob Berzins
Bob Berzins is a campaigner and activist. His novel Snared is available now. His previous guests blogs here all focus on the management, or mismanagement of upland areas such as the Peak District, Walshaw Moor and the North York Moors. Continued from Part 1 – click here. Continuing my efforts to find out what individual…
Brood meddling – you can’t make…
Dear Natural England You know that you’ve had to release the advice of the Scientific Advisory Group on brood-meddling under EIR regulations. That means that many with an interest in this project have seen the advice and are chatting about it between themselves. You should expect that some of this information will emerge over the…
I’m looking to you for help
Over 21,000 people have signed a petition supporting better protection for Mountain Hares. The Scottish Parliament will vote on the amendment tabled by Alison Johnstone MSP this afternoon/evening. Please add your signature to increase the pressure for change.