Questions and answers in Scottish parliament

Here is an exchange in the Scottish Paliament yesterday – quite useful. Thank you to John Mason MSP (GLasgow Shetleston, SNP) for asking and to Mairi Gougeon for an encouraging answer. John Mason: To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to prevent the persecution of raptors. The Minister for Rural Affairs and…

The milk of avian unkindness

When I was a kid our milk was frequently attacked by marauding gangs of Great Tits and Blue Tits. For younger, perhaps puzzled, readers this was a long time ago in the days when doorstep deliveries of milk were the norm and milk was full fat and the ‘cream’ was noticeable in floating to the…

A few updates on numbers

The Wild Justice, RSPB, Hen Harrier Action e-action has been supported by over 38,500 people since Saturday – click here to add your support. Thank you, the numbers are amazing. The Trees for Life Beaver petition to the Scottish government has passed 7,500 signatures – click here to support The Cornwall Badger vaccination fundraiser is…

Natural England and crowdfunding

Last year I wrote about Natural England asking you for your money, through crowdfunding, to carry out a mixture of tasks which ranged from the daft to what seemed to me to be Natural England’s statutory duties (and therefore what I was paying for through my taxes). Tony Juniper responded to the ENDS report with…

BASC and NE – cosiness

Natural England has a range of memoranda of understanding and partnership agreements with a range of organisations. That’s not unusual (although my experience is that it is only the shakiest of professional relationships that need such generalised written agreements). I’ve asked Natural England about some of these and heard back from them about their agreement…