BLOG

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…

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 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…

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…

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…