I can report some progress on arranging our Hen Harrier Day rally in the Peak District on 10 August. I was checking out some localities the week before last, I have had helpful discussions with the Peak District National Park, the National Trust, the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, the Sheffield Wildlife Trust, the RSPB and Severn…
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What’s up at Natural England?
This blog has learned that the new Chair of Natural England, Andrew Sells, has been taking a strong line on the consultation over the General Licence. He doesn’t seem terribly keen on the consultation at all – or is it the views of the public in response to the consultation that he dislikes? Or is…
Banning driven grouse shooting – a summary of the issues
I’ve written quite a lot over the last few weeks about driven grouse shooting and why I want to see it banned in England. I’ve had lots of responses too – on this blog as comments, on Twitter, on Facebook, by e-mail and face to face. Here’s a summary of what I think are the…
Oscar Dewhurst – gulls
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Oscar writes: I’ve just got back to London after spending three weeks staying at RSPB Minsmere in Suffolk. It’s probably my favourite nature reserve in the UK so I was very pleased to be able to spend three weeks there, photographing almost every day. As I’m sure plenty of you will have seen on Springwatch,…
Thank you and ask a friend please.
Yesterday, ‘my’ e-petition, which is definitely ‘our’ e-petition, to ban driven grouse shooting in England, passed the 4000 signature mark. We are still only half way through Week 3 of its existence so that is pretty impressive. Thank you to all who have signed it. Just to emphasise the initial success of this e-petition…
Sunday book review – buzzing by Anneliese Emmans Dean
I met the author of this book a couple of weeks ago when we were both at the Hay Festival recording programmes of Shared Planet – Anneliese’s episode first broadcast on Tuesday (and repeats Monday at 9pm) whereas ‘my’ episode goes out on Tuesday at 11am. I gave Annliese a lift back to our hotel…
Is this pretty?
Heather burning is vitally important to grouse shooting. Burning the heather on a rotational basis, every few years, creates a pattern of young and older heather. The younger heather produces green vegetation that is eaten by Red Grouse whereas older heather provides more nesting cover. This image from talented wildlife photographer Peter Cairns shows…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill (@cartoonralph)
Malta response from Foreign Office.
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I walked past the Foreign Office the other day when I was in London and it made me wonder when my excellent local MP, Andy Sawford, might get a reply to his letter to them about ‘Maltese spring slaughter’. I found a letter waiting for me on my return. The letter is almost identical to…
Another unsatisfactory response from Defra
I met up with Sir John Randall MP earlier in the week for a chat about a range of issues – mostly about birds as Sir John is a keen birder. Yes, we covered Malta, Hen Harriers, the banning of driven grouse shooting and a range of other topics. We also talked about diclofenac use…