A new international internet birding magazine, World Birding TV, has just launched. Guess what? Episode 1 includes coverage of our campaign to ban driven grouse shooting and we get the chance to see and hear Amanda Anderson looking unconvinced and sounding unconvincing. Henry is filmed at the Bird Fair and a gamekeeper finds evidence of…
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Conservation partnership unites to protect precious dune habitat in Sutherland from development
I like the look of this partnership but I also know the site – and it’s lovely. There’s a golf course just on the other side of Loch Fleet for heaven’s sake! ‘The Scottish Wildlife Trust, RSPB Scotland, BugLife and Plantlife Scotland have come together to campaign against a proposal to build a…
Spectator blurred vision (2)
The not-so-talented Viscount Ridley, writing in the Spectator, reproduced the tall tale of breeding wader numbers that was also used by Ian Botham in his stumbling discussion with Chris Packham on the Today programme. We also know that the BTO quickly distanced itself from any approval of these quite fantastic claimed numbers of breeding waders….
What you thought of the standard SNP response – Firm Briefing 10
Here are just four quotes from what you thought about the standard response to your letters about driven grouse shooting from your SNP MPs in the Westminster parliament: ‘I too thought it a total cop out response.’ ‘…all bullsh*t I’m afraid‘ ‘…there is the stain of almost incessant illegal persecution, not something that plays…
Spectator has blurred vision (1)
You may remember (or you may not, which is why I am reminding you) that I contrasted the view of Hen Harrier biology of Charles Moore, Spectator columnist and grouse shooter, with that of published science by the RSPB (Compare and contrast, 23 August)(see the data above and Mr Moore’s comment at foot of…
The SNP standard response – Firm Briefing 9
Before tackling the tricky issue of SNP MPs in the Westminster parliament, let me just say that support for our e-petition has been very strong in Scotland: it has received c12,000 signatures from Scotland out of a UK total so far of 118,000 – that’s c10% of all signature compared with Scotland representing c8.4% of…
A few goals for 20 September
Our rather successful e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting runs until midnight (I think) on 20 September. Every signature is valuable in showing MPs and the world that this is an issue that requires urgent attention. I’d be very pleased if the total approached 125,000 at the end – there will be another significant milestone…
Firm Briefing 8 – some tips and requests
‘Firm Briefing’ is what we are giving our MPs in the run-up to the expected debate on the future of driven grouse shooting in the Westminster parliament at a date to be determined (but likely to be October or November). Our aim is to get a good and truthful debate on the future of driven…
Sunday book review – Britain’s Birds by Rob Hume et al.
This book is very good. Why would you need another bird identification guide or field guide? Because this one is very good! This is a quite straight forward bird identification guide – there isn’t much mucking about with other information – and that’s good. It covers birds you might see in Britain and Ireland –…
Tim Melling – Bottle-nosed Dolphins
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Tim writes: these Bottlenosed Dolphins were playing in the wake alongside our boat and stayed with us for several minutes. Their leaps out of the water become predictable giving chance to focus on the right part of the sea and click the shutter at just the right moment. This was taken on the Pacific coast…