It’s late August and no announcement has been made as to how many Hen Harriers bred, and where, and with what nesting success in England this year. That’s a bit odd. The much-trumpeted DEFRA/NE/shooting organisations ‘joint’ action plan for Hen Harriers published in 2016 has monitoring of Hen Harriers as its first, out of six,…
Category: BAN DRIVEN GROUSE SHOOTING
Very pleased
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I purchased this piece of artwork (by Patricia Malcolm) in the Hen Harrier Day auction. I’m very pleased with it. It will look down at me as I sit at a computer.
The standard response from Scottish Labour MSPs to our e-action
Over 57,000 e-actions have been taken since Hen Harrier Day, pressing elected politicians to act on wildlife crime and generally on the ecological problems associated with driven grouse shooting. Thank you – it’s an amazing response and I’m sure it has quite a way to go still. Below I have posted the standard response from…
Looking back on the last week…
This week of the year has become a busy one in my life in recent years. The run up to Hen Harrier Day, the day itself, the Inglorious 12th and the aftermath of that day create a fair amount of activity. So, how have things gone? Not much grouse shooting this year? There are lots…
Questions and answers in Scottish parliament
Here is an exchange in the Scottish Paliament yesterday – quite useful. Thank you to John Mason MSP (GLasgow Shetleston, SNP) for asking and to Mairi Gougeon for an encouraging answer. John Mason: To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to prevent the persecution of raptors. The Minister for Rural Affairs and…
Thoughts on today’s Inglorious 12th
I’ve enjoyed today’s Inglorious 12th more than most. I’ve had a relatively relaxing day. When I watered the vegetables at 6am this morning before making a cup of tea, I had seen the expected news that Labour had come out in favour of licensing grouse shooting. This is very much to be welcomed. Looking back…
Come on Scottish government!
With today’s call for grouse moor licensing by the Labour Party the SNP needs to act to maintain its formerly leading position on grouse moor reform. In the race to be ‘top UK government’ on grouse shooting reform the SNP government is strolling down the straight, way out ahead of the Conservative Party in England…
Labour calls for grouse shooting to be licensed
On the Inglorious 12th, the opening day of the Red Grouse shooting season, Luke Pollard, shadow DEFRA Secretary said: The government has failed to cut wildlife crime and a decade of austerity has left these birds [protected raptors] vulnerable to poaching, with fewer police preventing poaching and fewer officers able to catch those responsible. We…
The nest protectors by Inkcap
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This week’s long article in the ‘always worth a read’ Inkcap is about Hen Harrier protection.
It’s the silly season on the grouse moors
This piece in The National is a hoot. You can always spot dodgy pseudo-science when something is aiming to ‘prove’ something rather than to investigate it. And in this case gamekeepers are going to collect data on birds of prey on grouse moors. Quite what all this is about, who knows? We know birds of…