This week

No book review this week as I have been writing a book more than reading a book, although I am confident of publishing at least one book review next Sunday. In other news: I saw my first Gatekeeper of the year but butterfly numbers are very low this year I saw my second Hen Harrier…

Letter to the Royal Family

I was one of many signatories to this letter – click here – asking the Royal Family to rewild some of their landholdings. You could write too – see here. This would be quite a good place to start, and would have massive knock-on impacts locally;  

An old issue in The New Issue

The New Issue is a quarterly magazine produced by Big Issue North. The summer edition has an article, beautifully illustrated with photographs and well written by Roger Ratcliffe, tackling the Hen Harrier issue. Nestled between articles about Joan from Hull and her tattoos and a graphic article entitled Wives and Punishment, and near articles on…

Hen Harriers

Hen harriers are nesting in the hills, and the persecution and the brood meddling go on. Here are three items of news, although the first of them is an ongoing item of non-news that may soon be of itself newsworthy. 1. Brood meddling legal challenge The story so far; 2018 – Natural England issue licences…

In today’s Guardian magazine

Is that a fire beater or a white flag? Grouse moor management under fire in this long article in today’s Guardian. Simon the gamekeeper says; Without burning you wouldn’t have the grouse estates: you would have bogs, you’d have rushes and nothing else https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/may/01/its-become-them-and-us-battle-to-burn-englands-moorlands …in a way that almost makes it sound as though he…

Another petition to ban driven grouse shooting

Far be it from me to put people off any petition against driven grouse shooting but I don’t think I’ll be rushing to sign this one. I’m not sure its timing is wise, and as far as I know it has not had the benefit of any ground being prepared so that it might be…

This blog (9) – Ban driven grouse shooting

If driven grouse shooting had never existed we would never invent it now – and that is the test of whether it should remain as a blot on the landscape. It shouldn’t. Just because it has been that blot for c150 years doesn’t mean it should remain as such any longer. This blog has played…

Jones Hill Wood (and brood meddling)

Yesterday, Justice Lang stopped the felling of Jones Hill Wood in the ‘licensed area’ (as defined in License WML-OR58, issued by Natural England on 30 March 2021) and granted the Claimant, Mark Keir, permission for an expedited rolled up judicial review of Natural England’s licensing of the felling. This hearing will take place in the…