Your guesses for the end of July

You are an optimistic bunch – really you are! Here are the guesses as to how many signatures we will have gained by my bedtime on 31 July: 51495 Robert Kingsbury-Barker 51798 Roger Little 53471 Sue 54356 Peter Swallow 54731 notso 55333 Steven Savage 56000 Emma Thompson 57356 Graham Sorrie 58713 Kate Cartmell Done 61645…

Guest blog – SCOTLAND the Big Picture by Peter Cairns

Based in the Cairngorms National Park, Peter Cairns has been a conservation photographer for 20 years. Co-founder of projects such as Tooth & Claw, Wild Wonders of Europe and 2020VISION, his latest initiative focuses closer to home.             Much of what is written on this blog quite rightly shines a…

Wuthering Moors 53

I recently contacted Natural England  and asked them the following questions which they have been kind enough to answer as follows: Q1: Has NE’s James Cross met Richard Bannister of the Walshaw Moor Estate in 2016?   A1: Yes, he has, on 4th February 2016.   Q2: What was the subject of their meeting?  …

M&S AGM

Marks and Spencer – your AGM is a week tomorrow. Please can you tell us all whether you really are planning to sell Red Grouse meat in your stores this autumn or whether we ought to start a boycott of M&S goods now? M&S claims to have an industry-leading code of practice for game meat…

Oscar Dewhurst – Barn Owl

Oscar writes:  I finished my second year university exams in Durham about a month ago, and was in Suffolk for 10 days soon after that to do some photography. One of the birds I spent most time photographing was Barn Owls which were hunting in some fields either side of a small road. Luckily they…

Win a signed copy of the new paperback Inglorious

It’s not a big prize, but it’s better than nothing! Let’s see whether you can predict the number of signatures on our e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting at my bedtime on 31 July.  That will be after 10pm but might well be before midnight – although if timing is critical, because it might be…

50,000 signatures

50,000!! Pardon my excitement – but I am excited! A couple of years ago the idea that there would be popular support for banning the favoured hobby of the rich – blasting Red Grouse out of the air for fun – seemed somewhat optimistic. Now it seems like a popular movement. Thank you to all…

Inglorious – new edition in paperback

Available from 28 July – or probably earlier! This is the paperback edition of Inglorious and it contains an extra chapter to bring things up to date.        

49,000 signatures

49000 signatures. That sounds very close to 50,000 signatures. And that is half way to 100,000 signatures. And that gets us a debate on the future of grouse shooting in the Westminster parliament and much more understanding of the problems caused by the hobby of a few at the expense of the many. Here, in…