According to the Carluke Gazette: About 5.15pm on May 4, Police Scotland received a report regarding a male who shot and killed a Hen Harrier, near to the B7040 from Leadhills to Elvanfoot. Inspector Martin Speirs is reported to have said: ‘A number of witnesses have come forward, and significant enquiry is underway. I urge…
Category: BAN DRIVEN GROUSE SHOOTING
Poor show from National Parks
The Campaign for National Parks has published its ‘manifesto‘ – which is actually a small begging letter – for the general election. It’s a disappointing list. The CNP wants: Strengthening national planning protections for the National Parks Protecting the funding currently committed to the National Parks for the next five years so they can be…
‘The’ book on the Hen Harrier
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Bloomsbury (of which Poyser is now a part) are reissuing Donald Watson’s classic book on the Hen Harrier this summer. My copy of the book sits within reach on my desk right now and it was the first Christmas present that my then girlfriend, now wife, gave me, very nearly 40 years ago. Watson’s…
A recap
I’m sure the Scottish government, the SNP, the Scottish Gamekeepers Organisation and Scottish Land and Estates wish that these images would go away – but we should make sure that they are kept in the public domain. They illustrate the failure of wildlife protection in Scotland. The bird that flies through this video and then…
Nature being let down by the system
I’m not entirely sure which shocks me the most – the deed itself or the inability of the conservation, political and legal systems to deal with it. The video released today by the RSPB is nearly four years old. It seems to show a Hen Harrier being flushed off the nest and shot. The RSPB…
Bad Defra; bad grouse moors.
There is dancing in the streets of El Rocio this morning as news spreads of the reprimand given to the UK government (esp Defra) by the EU over the poor job done by the UK to protect blanket bogs from burning. Blanket bogs don’t prosper under a scorched earth strategy and all this crap about…
Heather burning and health
I definitely wasn’t awake at this time so I am grateful to a reader of this blog for pointing me in this direction. On Radio 5 Up All Night on Thursday 30 March at 2hr 21min 19 secs into the programme, there was a discussion about the smoke from heather burning and its potential health…
The RSPB on driven grouse shooting
Martin Harper has penned (or keyboarded) an interesting BB eye in this month’s British Birds magazine. It is entitled ‘Why it is in the driven grouse industry’s interest to clean up its own act’ and it rehearses the long list of ills with intensive management of driven grouse moors with which so many of us…
Scottish Land and Estates statement on North Glenbuchat eagle
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Scottish Land and Estates which represents rural businesses across Scotland has issued a lame statement ‘supporting’ the appeal for information after the disappearance on yet another tagged eagle in a very small area near Strathdon in the Cairngorms National Park. Here is their statement: ‘Scottish Land & Estates, which represents rural businesses across Scotland, today…
Mine’s a pint of Hen Harrier
Get your Hen Harrier here from the excellent Bowland Brewery. And what might Prince Charles have said when necking a Hen Harrier?