Myth-buster from Scottish raptor experts

Ahead of the Glorious Twelfth the Scottish Raptor Study Group has produced a ‘Moorland Myths Busters Guide’ for six of the most popular myths held within the driven grouse shooting sector. ‘Game bird licensing is unnecessary The failure of the intensive end of the game shooting industry to operate within the law over 60 years…

Guest blog – Thunder in the Uplands by Findlay Wilde

  There is a dark day looming. The Inglorious Twelfth is just a few sleeps away, and yet it is troubling the sleep of many people; people who care about the wildlife balance in the uplands, people who are angry about the on going illegal persecution of raptors, people who feel like their natural inheritance…

Dear Natural England

Dear Natural England I’m planning to do some walking over  grouse moors during the grouse shooting season and I came across your very useful website as I was trying to plan my trips.  Living in Northamptonshire, my nearest grouse moors are in the Peak District National Park so that’s where I started my search. Your…

NT, grouse shooting and public access

I’m grateful to Andy Beer of the National Trust for his response on this blog this morning. NT, in deciding, rather unnecessarily in my view, to seek  ‘partners who can demonstrate how moorland management and shooting can deliver great nature conservation in a way that is compatible with public access’ open up some interesting questions to…

A response from the NT’s Andy Beer

  Dear Mark Thank you for the invitation  to respond to your blog, which I picked up on Twitter. When we made the decision to terminate the existing tenancy in 2016, we felt that we sent a strong signal about our sense of purpose in delivering the High Peak vision. That sense of purpose remains…

NT has been prompted into saying something – but not much

This appeared on Twitter a little while ago. The offer is still open to the National Trust to do a better job of explaining why they want to persist with grouse shooting on their land (for they don’t have to).  Copy deadline tomorrow evening so that it could appear before Hen Harrier Day and well…

The National Trust grouse shooting muddle

I’m getting feedback from many people about how disappointed they are with the NT position on grouse shooting on their land – the land whose purchase and management we, as NT members, have funded. One guy told me of a conversation he had with a NT staff member where he was told that ‘the upland…

England is 320 pairs of Hen Harrier short of potential

News on the RSPB Skydancer blog reveals that this year there were 3 successful Hen Harrier nests in England (out of 7 attempts) – they produced 10 fledged young. Considering this was generally regarded as an excellent vole year – whereas 2016 was a poor vole year – the standstill in Hen Harrier breeding numbers…