In a bit of a coup, Rob Yorke got an exclusive interview with Michael Gove – I’m almost jealous. There are some interesting things in the interview – all words dropping out of the mouths of senior politicians are somewhat interesting, as much in what they don’t say as what they do. But Rob Yorke…
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Bowland Gull Cull 8 – smidgeons of information from NE
In response to this: Sent: 06 February 2018 07:39 To: FOI (NE) <foi@naturalengland.org.uk> Subject: RE: Bowland gull cull Nearly three months ago you told me that the NE investigation into the Bowland Gull Cull was moving to its final stages and that I would be informed of its outcome. I have not heard from…
Press release from Crustacean Compassion
Michael Gove was presented with a petition today signed by over 35,000 people calling on Defra to “Show Lobsters Some Love”. The petition was presented as a giant Valentine’s Day card for Gove to sign in his capacity as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It was presented by Crustacean Compassion, the…
Dear Mr Gove! Wake up to this mess!
Dear Mr Gove You have a mess on your hands and despite the fact that you inherited much of it, you have let Natural England dig you into an even deeper hole. But in any case, it’s now your mess because you are sitting at the desk at which the buck stops. Why would you…
Wuthering Moors (58) – NE fails to regulate burning on blanket bogs
The Moorland Management Plans (MMPs) for places such as Walshaw Moor are largely a response to the complaints to the EU Commission by the RSPB and the Hebden Bridge ‘Ban the Burn‘ campaigners (Hebden Bridge sits below Walshaw Moor in the Calder Valley) over the nature and scale of burning of moorland on grouse moors….
Wuthering Moors (57) – NE paving the way
Walshaw Moor Estate is applying for planning permission to build a big new track through an area of moorland protected for its wildlife interest. Track building has been highly contentious on this site for many years (see here, here) and the statutory nature conservation agency, Natural England, is well aware of that. However, NE is…
Guest blog – Flood and Blanket Bog Management in the Peak by Bob Berzins
Bob writes: I have a life long passion for the outdoors through rock climbing and fell running. A cancer scare in my thirties made me appreciate many things I simply hadn’t noticed before, from the smallest plants to the gap in the sky from a missing raptor. It’s all worth fighting for and that’s what…
Wuthering Moors (56) – the shameful capitulation of state nature conservation
I’m grateful to NE for responding rather rapidly to my EIR/FOI on the moorland management plan for the notorious Walshaw Moor area of west Yorkshire. Although I am grateful to NE for providing the plan, which you can see is very oddly called a Catchment Restoration Plan, they should be deeply ashamed of its content….
We are 12,200 ahead
We, by which I mean the supporters of a ban on driven grouse shooting, are now 12,200+ signatures ahead of the forces of conservatism who wish this unsustainable hobby of shooting birds for fun and profit to continue. But it’s not quite as simple as that, as there are three e-petitions including Ed Hutchings’s e-petition,…
Guest blog – Protecting Scotland’s honeybees by Callum MacGregor
Callum Macgregor is a postdoctoral researcher, currently based at the University of York. His research interests cover the ecology and conservation of pollinators (especially butterflies and moths) under the influence of human-induced environmental change. In his private life, that passion for insects extends to all wildlife, especially birds, and a particular enthusiasm for raptors and…