Did you notice that we have a new Prime Minister? That’s not the only movement… Michael Gove goes (to Cabinet Office) – I’m sorry to see him go because I would have liked to see him deliver on some of his best promises. All bets are off on everything – is that any way to…
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Wild Justice and Bird Fair invite Fieldsports Channel to ask their questions
Chris Packham and I were invited to the Game Fair today to face questions, in front of a Game Fair audience, from Charlie Jacoby of the Fieldsports Channel – and then the invitation was rudely withdrawn by the likes of the Countryside Alliance, BASC and GWCT (see here, here, here). After a bit of fixing…
Game Fair opens under a cloud
Today the Game Fair opens under a cloud – however sunny a day it might be in Hertfordshire. From the top to the bottom those involved in shooting have, by their words and actions, lowered the reputation of game-shooting as a legitimate pastime. And yes, I recognise that there are many decent and honourable people…
Game Fair debacle – not much goodwill to differing views
I still haven’t heard from the Game Fair directly – that’s a bit rude of them. And I haven’t heard from BASC yet on whether they regard me as an extremist – and on what grounds. I was interested to see the tweet above from Kerry McCarthy MP about a Defra minister going to the…
An important step for the Seahorse Trust.
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A step in the right direction for the Seahorse Trust. Yesterday the Seahorse Trust sought, and was granted, permission to bring judicial review proceedings. Permission was granted on all grounds following a 3 hour hearing at Court 46 of the Royal Courts of Justice. There will now be a full 2-day substantive hearing in the…
Game shooting industry sinks deeper and deeper
I mentioned last week, at the very end of this blog post, that I was planning to be at the Game Fair at Hatfield House on Friday . I didn’t make a big deal of it as I have been to c20 Game Fairs over the years and been on a panel for a good…
Feedback on Pheasants
I’ve had some lovely feedback on my British Birds paper on Pheasants. Here are some examples: I read this excellent and thought-provoking BB review with great interest and respect! It is very balanced and well informed and one can but hope that the shooting hierarchies will think about the issues constructively – though I regret…
August Birdwatch
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August’s Birdwatch magazine arrived with me yesterday and I’ve already read lots of it – even though it is a bumper issue with 96 pages. There’s an interesting article on what I’m still going to call Marsh Harriers in normal speech (Western Marsh Harriers, more correctly these days) which reminds me that I probably saw…
Guest blog – Volunteers in the conservation sector (3) by Louise Bacon
Volunteers in the conservation sector: Part 3: Being a county recorder – volunteers with a spiralling data problem? I took on the role of butterfly county recorder around a decade ago. As someone working in the environmental records centre network and an active county naturalist, it seemed the obvious thing to do at the time…
6,000,000+ page views
This blog has had over 6 million pageviews since it started running in April 2011 (or actually since Google Analytics started running on it in July 2011). I have no idea whether to feel delighted or disappointed in that figure – but that’s what it is. Thank you for your ongoing interest in what I…