Pip Howard is a British forester who lives and works in France. He worked with Save Our Woods and now at Forestcomms working on the pan European landscape research project HERCULES. This is his second guest blog here – the first was Real life bugs or a living planet? Campaigning…
BLOG POSTS
Review of Inglorious from the USA
I’ve had a few conversations with American friends about grouse shooting and several have started with the American being sympathetic to grouse ‘hunting’ and them ending up saying ‘but that’s not hunting at all’. Correct! Driven grouse shooting is the most unsporting of sports and is akin to a computer game where one blasts away…
Mostly for friends and family
My phone seems to have died – you won’t hear much from me for a few days.
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
National Wildlife Crime Unit
This small unit is far from perfect: despite all the plaudits given to it, it has been ineffective in addressing most domestic wildlife crime. Still, we’d be worse off without it than we are with it (and it has a tiny budget). So please sign this e-petition and tell your MP that you have signed…
Awful of Natural England, and confused of RSPB
BBC Wildlife Magazine has a good article about the Hen Harrier plan (welcomed by the RSPB) which will do nothing for the Hen Harrier. I am quoted as saying that neither the RSPB nor Natural England should have agreed a plan which does not have targets in it. What is a plan without a…
Who was the best/worst Secretary of State for Defra?
OK – which of these Secretaries of State for the Environment, three Labour and three Conservative, do you think was the best? and worst? Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.
Politician does something – SHOCK!
They do things differently in Scotland (I’m told – and I will be over the border this weekend so I will be keen to find out for myself). In November 2015 (yes! that recently!), the Wildlife Crime Penalties Review Group published its findings on how wildlife crime in Scotland is dealt with by the criminal…
Liz Truss – why are you suppressing the scientific evidence on lead?
It wouldn’t surprise me if Defra made a shockingly bad decision and failed to reduce the environmental risks of lead ammunition – they have been subject to energetic lobbying from the shooting industry and rather limp pleas from the two environmental NGOs who should be making the running (WWT and RSPB). It is clear that…
Ban toxic lead ammunition
Rob Sheldon’s e-petition to ban toxic lead ammunition is making progress without much help from WWT and practically none from the RSPB. It recently passed 12,000 signatures and also received a response from Defra which does not mention that the report of the Lead Ammunition Group, which was submitted in June 2015, still has not…