New figures show only 0.25% of Scots eat grouse more than once or twice a year yet almost a fifth of Scotland is used for shooting the gamebirds. https://revive.scot/revive-revive-coalition-challenges-grouse-consumption-in-scotland/ That’s the finding of a report from Revive.
Category: BAN DRIVEN GROUSE SHOOTING
Minor update to NE Hen Harrier data (with a new error?)
Natural England has recently, but I’ve only just noticed, published an update to its Hen Harrier data to include data from this year (and some from a little earlier too). The update shows that 5 Hen Harrier chicks were satellite-tagged in England by NE in 2018: 3 have gone missing in the North Pennines (Mabel,…
Bowland harriers
Stephen Murphy of Natural England is backing up the Moorland Association’s nonsense that having brood meddling is turning gamekeepers into good guys according to a report in the Lancashire Post. I’m looking forward to writing in some detail about brood meddling again when we receive judgement from Ms Justice Lang but as we said when…
Single use plastic
Shotgun cartridges haven’t always been made of plastic, and not all of them are now. I have no idea of the relative merits of plastic cartridges versus cartridges made of other materials, but this area certainly seems worth thinking about. I look forward to being told that plastic cartridges are ‘traditional’. Here are a few…
A milestone
Congratulations to Les Wallace for passing the 5000 signature milestone. It’s a big ask to think that this petition could get another 5000 signatures inside two weeks but it’s certainly not impossible. And every signature counts. I’m sure that a full economic appraisal of the impacts of driven grouse shooting including intensive burning of heather…
RPPDG thoughts
The non-attendance of the pro-shooting organisations at last week’s Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG) meeting (you read about it first here but see also my further blog, the coverage in RPUK here, here and here and The Times) was a big miscalculation on their parts, and one from which their reputations are unlikely to…
Our days in court
It’s a bit difficult to know what to say about our three days in court (5 and 6 December and 17 January) challenging the decision of Natural England to license brood meddling of Hen Harriers. The judge, is considering the cases made by our side and the RSPB that the licensing was unlawful, and the…
Another Hen Harrier disappears – River
RSPB press release: Hen harrier ‘River’ disappears in suspicious circumstances This is the ninth bird tagged last summer to vanish in similar circumstances Last transmission showed the bird on a driven grouse moor in North Yorkshire Police and the RSPB are concerned that the bird may have been illegally killed The police and the…
Vermin – an unacceptable term
Vermin control I have an issue with the word ‘vermin’, as one man’s vermin is another man’s cuddly mammal or brilliant bird, but the word is still very frequently used, almost unconsciously, by the shooting community to identify those species that might eat game before they are available to be shot. The way that the…
Helping the police with their enquiries…?
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/wildlife-and-the-law/wild-bird-crime/the-birdcrime-report/ The walk-out of shooting organisations from the Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (revealed by this blog on Friday) is very much to be welcomed. They have played an almost entirely negative role in this group. In my opinion, justice, birds of prey and the group’s work are all better off without their presence. We…