Westminster Hall debates are important ways by which Parliament can discuss matters of importance outside the House of Commons chamber. Earlier this month there was a Westminster Hall debate on Wildlife Crime sought by the members of the Environmental Audit Committee to give the Government a nudge after the EAC published their excellent report on…
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Animal Aid on grouse shooting
Today Animal Aid is calling for public subsidies to be withdrawn from millionaire grouse shooters. In its new report on grouse shooting, Calling the Shots, the UK’s largest animal rights group sets out its case. It contains extensive reference to the Walshaw Moor affair as well as to persecution of birds of prey and the…
Your money, not theirs
Farmers Weekly has a poll on its website (a website not usually visited by huge numbers of non-farmers) about whether it is right to transfer money that goes to farming from subsidies to green schemes. The answer has to be ‘yes’ because subsidies represent untargetted income support to rich and poor farmers, good and bad…
A length of hedge
I have been exploring the area around Edinburgh. I’ve seen Velvet Scoter and Long-tailed Ducks (neither is a species I see often), and came across 110 Whooper Swans in a field, saw a Peregrine at Aberlady Bay and have seen a variety of waders (although no Purple Sandpipers so far), but the thing that I’ll…
SOC Conference
I very much enjoyed the SOC Conference in Troon. The SOC made me feel young – not for many decades have I stayed up until 0330 drinking and talking like I did on Friday night (Saturday morning). There were lots of great talks but I’ll stick to a seabird theme here – partly because I…
Have you seen a Cuckoo lately?
The BTO Cuckoo-tracking project is just fascinating. ‘Our’ cuckoos are now in central Africa. Have you heard the one about the Scot, the Welshman and the Englishman? Chance is a Scot, a Scottish cuckoo tagged at Loch Katrine. He is in Nigeria at the moment and he followed a very similar route through Europe on…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
Guest Blog – Kids and nature by Andy Simpson
It is hard to imagine a great childhood that would not involve being outdoors, being active and exploring natural places. From playing conkers and wading through fallen leaves in the Autumn to discovering the magic of a rockpool at the seaside, those are the memories of glorious days we want our children to have. I…
A message from Pitcairn
Last week I met two islanders from Pitcairn; Melva Warren Evans and Simon Young. We met in London and I asked them about their hopes for the Pitcairn protected marine area which their community wants to see the UK government establish. Melva was born on Pitcairn and is one of the descendents of the crew…
RBBP – a treat
The report of the Rare Breeding Birds Panel is a treat, a delight, a pleasure. That’s partly because the Panel does a very good job in compiling the records and writing them up, and partly because British Birds does a good job in publishing them but largely because birds are brilliant! In each of these…