Following the success of the Wild Justice legal challenge over the General Licensing system that Natural England has operated, there has been an outpouring of abuse towards anybody to do with this case (and some who have had nothing to do with it) in the press and on social media. But some of the same…
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Tim Melling – King Penguins
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Tim writes: This is one of the largest King Penguin breeding colonies on the planet. It is at a place called Salisbury Plain on the British Dependency island of South Georgia. King Penguins take about 14-16 months from egg-laying to fledging, so only nest once every two years. But this means there can be eggs,…
Songbird Science
Songbirds and science The following blog is based partly on the witness statement from Wild Justice (passages in red) which was part of the claim issued to the court on 21 March (and emailed to Natural England although they will not have had a formal sealed document for some time after that due to court…
Non-news: I know Tony Juniper!
Today’s Daily Telegraph has a bit of a go at Tony Juniper for knowing me… It has emerged that Mr Juniper has close links with the group’s [Wild Justice’s] co-founder, former RSPB conservation director Mark Avery. The pair appear to go back a long way. Two years ago, Mr Juniper collaborated on behind More Binoculars,…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
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Carrion Crows – new licensing regulations
I’ve only scanned this and it needs careful reading but it appears to represent a massive change. Click here.
Pigeon Pie and the General Licences
Woodpigeon. Photo: Tim Melling Let us take Woodpigeon as an example. Under what circumstances do Woodpigeons cause serious damage to crops – and what constitutes serious damage? And which crops can be seriously damaged by Woodpigeons at which times of year? How is the shooting of Woodpigeons solely for food consumption legal – we suspect…
NE start to talk
On Farming Today, Marian Spain, the interim Chief Exec of Natural England starts to talk about what the new system of licensing to cover the 16 species on the former General Licences will look like. Marian is quite clear that ‘the licences were unlawful’. Wild Justice will be looking at the new system of licensing…
Guest blog – Rewilding: a personal perspective by Paul Sterry
Rewilding – a personal perspective There was a time in my life when the worst question you could ask me was ‘Where were you born?’ I would squirm and try to change the subject but if pressed I had to answer ‘Basingstoke’. In my formative years this was a source of deep embarrassment. Jane Austen…
First steps to new licensing system
Late last night Natural England posted this which includes these words: The decision to revoke these licences was not taken lightly. Natural England explored all other options available, but was left with no choice but to revoke the licences in order to comply with the law. General licences will be restored as quickly as possible,…