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Four weeks – 106,000 signatures to ban driven grouse shooting

Mark Comments Off on Four weeks – 106,000 signatures to ban driven grouse shooting

It’s exactly four weeks since this e-petition launched and we are over 106,000 signatures. That’s amazing! I see that Calder Valley has just overtaken Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey on signatures – I reckon it will end up as top constituency when all e-petitions close ahead of a general election some time after 14 October….

RSPB press release

Mark 2 Comments

Booming year for Britain’s loudest bird 102 male booming bitterns recorded on RSPB reserves for the first time Bitterns were on the brink of extinction 20 years ago with only 11 males left in Britain. The RSPB is calling on governments across the UK to underpin nature’s recovery with new laws and to ensure adequate…

UK Biodiversity indicators published (3) – lack of government investment

Mark 2 Comments

Last week, the latest UK Biodiversity Indicators were published. Did you see the government press release about them? Did you hear Defra ministers quizzed about them on every news bulletin through the day? I’m keener on th ‘stqate’ indicators (ones that are about real biodiverity numbers) than the ‘pressure’ or ‘response’ indicators, although there is…

UK biodiversity indicators published (1) – who knew?

Mark 19 Comments

Last week, the latest UK Biodiversity Indicators were published. Did you see the government press release about them? Did you hear Defra ministers quizzed about them on every news bulletin through the day? Is this the first you have heard of them? I’m fond of these indicators for two main reasons. First, government ought to…

Some more information on brood meddling

Mark 15 Comments

You may remember that c10 days ago I published some information received from Natural England about brood meddling (see here). There was some information missing from that response which has now been supplied in the form of this interesting email from Prof Ken Norris to the rest of the scientific steering group; Note that this…

The environment is still in jeopardy from Brexit

Mark 9 Comments

I know people voted both ways in the referendum, obviously. I know people have different views about these things, obviously. But I simply say this: people didn’t vote to lose their jobs, didn’t vote to see our environmental standards, workers’ rights, consumer protections ripped up. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/sep/02/brexit-latest-news-boris-johnson-threatening-to-deselect-tory-rebels-to-provoke-early-election-claims-gauke-live-news Sounds quite sensible to me. Who said it? It…

A very interesting paper on Hen Harrier diet

Mark 9 Comments

AbstractThe hen harrier is a heavily persecuted bird of prey in Great Britain since its diet includes Red grouse, a game bird shot in driven and walked-up grouse shooting. Unlike walked-up shooting where shooters walk up moors and flush grouse with dogs, in driven grouse shooting the grouse are driven by beaters towards static shooters….