Today we go to court – to the Court of Appeal – although I won’t actually be going anywhere. I’ll be facing the same computer screen at which I spend a lot of my time. I had better have a shave and put on some clothes before then although video cameras will be off. Both…
Category: BAN DRIVEN GROUSE SHOOTING
Interesting and important paper
Peatlands cover <3% of the world’s land surface but account for >33% of soil carbon – that’s a fact with which to amaze your dinner guests (when you are allowed to have them again). This paper reviews studies of the impacts of road and track building through peatlands – this sort of thing: see here,…
Hen Harrier brood meddling on trial (3)
Assessing the success or failure of brood meddling for Hen Harriers cannot adequately be measured by looking at survival of chicks in captivity even if this were to be compared with correctly comparable nests in the wild. How about post-release survival too? There are plenty of potential reasons why captive-reared chicks might fail to survive…
Hen Harrier brood meddling on trial (2)
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The investigation of brood meddling of Hen Harriers which Natural England has licensed has resulted in 14 chicks being taken into captivity and 13 of them being released into the wild again. That sounds quite good, but how would we assess how good it is? Obviously, we can’t simply compare the number of captive-reared chicks…
Hen Harrier brood meddling on trial (1)
On Wednesday and Thursday this week, three Court of Appeal judges will hear appeals from myself and the RSPB on the subject of Natural England’s controversial licensing of brood meddling of Hen Harriers. The three judges will be considering the legal point of whether Justice Lang was right to dismiss our judicial reviews on this…
Yesterday
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My yesterday was divided between an excellent meeting with World Land Trust trustees and quite a lot of activity with my legal team ahead of next week’s Court of Appeal brood-meddling hearing. On the former, despite the impacts of covid, 2020 was a successful year as far as fund-raising was concerned, but also more importantly,…
Hen Harrier brood-meddling appeal delayed – but only by one day!
I heard today that the brood meddling appeal will now take place, it seems, on 27 and 28 January. That’s next week.
Ban driven grouse shooting – debate postponed
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This email arrived overnight to tell me that debates in Westminster Hall are now postponed due to COVID. It’s a shame that the ‘Don’t criminalise trespass‘ petition won’t get its well-deserved debate and ‘Ban driven grouse shooting‘ also has to wait for a few more weeks for its latest outing. But it makes quite a…
A couple of interesting and ueful exchanges in the House of Lords on Tuesday
Hen Harriers and moorland management
The week after next may see a flurry of activity on the future of driven grouse shooting and Hen Harrier conservation. On Monday 25 January we may see a Westminster Hall debate on driven grouse shooting (following one on trespass) and then on Tuesday and Wednesday 26 and 27 January the much delayed appeal of…