Which is your favourite Whitehall government department? It’s got to be Defra hasn’t it? They are the ones who are going to solve England’s environmental problems including those of our wildlife. Floods, pesticides, sewage discharges, bird/poultry flu, a new agriculture policy post CAP, wildlife crime, habitat loss and degradation, overfishing, tree diseases, non-native species and…
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Always think of the land!
It’s somewhat ironic that a few weeks after the Labour Party said it was dropping its policy to renationalise water utilities the idea is gaining more currency in public debate. On Today this morning, at around 08:23, Baroness Young, a Labour peer, was asked about the idea and sounded somewhat sceptical and on PM this…
Not much interest in the Inglorious Twelfth not even in the Shooting Times
The media coverage of the Inglorious Twelfth is very muted this year. Daily Telegraph – a rambling piece as much about Pheasants and partridges as Red Grouse. At least it admits that game shooting is in crisis but says it is an ancient sport. That’s as ancient as the Victorian age as far as driven…
The eve of the Inglorious 12th
Tomorrow is the Inglorious 12th – the start of the Red Grouse shooting season. Since the first Hen Harrier Day events on 10 August 2014 in Derbyshire, Northumberland, Dorset and Northern Ireland we have come a long way, together. Driven grouse shooting is on its knees and cannot survive long. That’s partly because of the…
Gamebird releases and bird/poultry flu – an astounding risk to take
Today the RSPB calls for a moratorium on gamebird releases, because of bird/poultry flu, in an article in the Guardian. I’m interested in bird flu and in gamebirds. Thanks to Wild Justice’s activity on gamebird releases I’m quoted at the very end of the article. The quote I gave the Guardian was slightly longer than…
Letter to my MP
Dear Mr Pursglove, First, congratulations on your promotion to Minister of State at the Home Office and Ministry of Justice. As your colleagues resigned in droves I wondered whether you would be one of the few remaining government ministers. I am writing to you about an endangered bird called the Woodcock. It’s a wading bird,…
Defra fails nature – in the big things and the little things
If Defra were a school it would be judged inadequate, would be served a notice to improve and be put in special measures. But it isn’t, so it jogs on as the government department near the bottom of the political pecking order and with few friends in government or in the real world. Defra sprung…
Bird/poultry flu on Today today
Comments Off on Bird/poultry flu on Today today
Good to hear more about bird/poultry flu on this morning’s Today programme. ‘Patchy’ does seem to be the word, which will make any biologist’s antennae start wiggling – what is the cause of the variation? But note that the patchiness has some pretty big chasms. Gannets down by ‘up to 25% in some colonies’ –…
Press release – Wild Moors and League Against Cruel Sports
Natural England restricts gamebird shooting on Thornton Moor. Fresh doubt has been cast over the future of the controversial game bird shoot on Yorkshire Water’s land at Thornton Moor after Natural England has refused permission for a significant part of the operation. The government’s habitats watchdog has said in a decision notice issued to Yorkshire…
Farming Today about 10 years out of date
I enjoyed the piece on Farming Today this morning where a farm was monitored for 10 years and by sensible application of agri-environment schemes its farmland birds increased and remained as profitable as farms around it. That’s obviously good news. And it appears to be a good replicate of the findings at the RSPB’s Hope…