The MPs (and peers) above added their support to a letter in support of the British Game Alliance. You can read the letter here. I haven’t checked the peers but all the MPs are Tories (plus Jim Shannon DUP). I don’t have any problem with their doing this, nor really with the content of the…
BLOG POSTS
Yorkshire mum may not be doing the right thing by her children.
I blame the government, particularly Liz Truss (who dismissed the Lead Ammunition Group‘s report), the Food Standards Agency (chaired by a grouse moor owner, for not publicising their advice) and, of course, the shooting industry (who have known of the health risks of game meat shot with lead ammunition for years and years and years…
Werritty is coming and the Scottish government is ready and eager for action
Three regular readers of this blog (all from England actually) wrote to the Scottish government about recent cases of disappearing eagles and trapped Hen Harriers and got the same reply, part of which is produced below; The wording doesn’t make it sound like Werritty ought to be too concerned at being ambitious for change… ‘a…
More changes at Defra
Robert Goodwill and David Rutley have left Defra and Zac Goldsmith has arrived. Goldsmith’s role is a joint one at Defra and international Development. The ministerial team at Defra is now Theresa Villiers (Seccetary of State), George Eustice and Therese Coffey (Ministers of State), Zac Goldsmith (Parliamentary Under Secretary) and Lord Gardiner of Kimble (House…
Guest blog – Hookpods by Paul Sterry
. Bird Photographer of the Year and Hookpod As naturalists, photographers and conservationists, the Bird Photographer of the Year (BPOTY) team sees firsthand the mounting pressures on bird populations around the World. If bird photography is going to thrive and not become metaphorically speaking a dying art we must all do our bit to reverse…
Quite sporting…
Sporting Gun is never going to displace Birdwatch, British Birds or British Wildlife from my affections but I am thinking of subscribing just to keep an eye on the more moderate and sensible end of shooting. A friend who shoots (yes – imagine it!) brought me back a copy from the Game Fair – they…
Waitrose drops lead from game meat sales
See this piece in The Guardian. Well done to Waitrose who, eventually, have taken a lead on lead. By the 2020/21 shooting season all game will be lead-free in Waitrose. As well as giving Waitrose massive credit for this move, much credit also needs to go to those scientists and members of the Lead Ammunition…
Wild Justice and general licences
Wild Justice wrote to Natural England and Defra last week to warn them that legal action would follow next year if they do not take account of the legal issues raised in the Wild Justice legal challenge of general licences (see Wild Justice blog with details). Given the time that the legal process takes, and…
International Bog Day (yesterday)
Yesterday was International Bog Day which reminded me that I recently got an email from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust thanking me for my donation to their peat appeal – an appeal which raised over £47,000 for peatland restoration work. And here’s the team saying thank you! You don’t get many 3-second videos! I notice there…
Ticks
Ticks – even talk of them is enough to make one itch. Remember that Mountain Hares are killed in enormous numbers, causing massive population declines, on grouse moors largely because they carry ticks. And the ticks carry the virus that leads to louping ill (in sheep and Red Grouse for starters). So I was interested…