BLOG POSTS
It’s got to be Corbyn
…and it’s going to be Corbyn. So we had all better start getting used to the idea. It’s going to be interesting: will Corbyn rise to the challenge of leadership? will Corbyn unite the Labour Party? does Labour want to be united? will Corbyn rattle an experienced David Cameron at PM’s Questions? will the losing…
Dear Minister
Dear Mr Stewart I just wondered how you are getting on with a couple of things. The e-petition calling on you to ban driven grouse shooting passed 10,000 signatures 23 days ago which triggered the need for a government response. By the way, it only took 15 days to get to 10,000 signatures. I’m…
IPSO facto
IPSO are investigating our complaint against the Daily Telegraph and have selected my complaint as the ‘lead complaint’ they tell me: ‘I write regarding your complaint against The Daily Telegraph. As you may be aware, the newspaper received a number of complaints about this article. In these circumstances, we will select a lead complaint for…
Tag on MacDuff, and damned be him who first cries hold enough!
Two more Red Kites have been confirmed by Scottish Government testing to have been illegally killed in north Scotland. Both of these incidents took place in 2014 and are now being made public as the Police have concluded their enquiries. The first victim was found last June near Beauly, and was subsequently confirmed by post-mortem,…
A cap on Hen Harrier numbers
The future of driven grouse shooting in the UK is going to depend rather more in the end, I suggest, on its wider environmental impacts, than it is on its harmful impacts on birds of prey, especially Hen Harriers. However, illegal raptor persecution is a massive problem that this government and previous governments have…
Do you agree with H&OT on brood meddling?
Rare Bird Alert are repeating their poll of earlier in the year and asking whether you agree with the Hawk and Owl Trust’s position on brood management of Hen Harriers (I don’t). It will be interesting to see what the numbers are this time around (here are last year’s). I hope the H&OT get…
Inglorious
Comments Off on Inglorious
I spent quite a lot of the Bird Fair signing copies of books – particularly of Inglorious. This led to lots of conversations with lots of nice people about Hen Harrier Day, Hen Harriers, shooting organisations and driven grouse shooting. There were quite a few ‘Well done!‘s, a lot of ‘What next?‘s and quite a…
More Bird Fair reflections
Continued from yesterday… 4. The Food and Drink Things changed this year and the main, central, ‘foodhall’ area was completely different. Several outlets selling noodles, burgers, fish and chips, churros, bacon baps etc. I can’t say I sampled them all – nothing like! – but what I did have was pretty good. I’d say,…
British Wildlife, August 2015
Interesting article on the creation of the Wallasea Island RSPB nature reserve. As ever, a great column by Twitcher in the Swamp. My Naturally Opinionated is on why we should ban driven grouse shooting. Soldierflies – they are really quite interesting. British Wildlife is always a good read.