Standing up for Nature
The Talking Naturally podcasts are a fortnightly good listen. I’ve subscribed to them on my phone. In the latest podcast I am interviewed about Hen Harrier Day, Inglorious, how much I am loved by the shooting industry and the beer for honours question. It’s the type of thing you’ll like if you like this sort…
Dear Natural England A few things for your attention please. 1. Yesterday I submitted an FoI request to you asking for all the records of, and documents related to, NE Board discussions on SSSI, SPA and SAC designation programmes, ‘gate zero’ and changes in strategy and approach. I look forward to seeing them soon or…
You see? I said Henry was with me at Langholm. There’s Sir John’s monument again atop the hill. In the foreground there is not only a six foot Hen Harrier (isn’t he lovely? don’t you just want to give him a cuddle?) but also a couple of bits of wood nailed together in the shape…
Whether you can or can’t attend Hen Harrier Eve, and whether you can or can’t attend Hen Harrier Day, you can, if you use social media, add your name to a message that will go around the world at 10am on Hen Harrier Day saying: “We’re missing our Hen Harriers – and we want them…
I’m planning a meal out with friends and I’m trying to find the restaurant in London that is most aware of the issues surrounding game meat, particularly Red Grouse meat, for this treat. I won’t be eating grouse wherever we go, but I’d like to spend my money on my friends at a restaurant which…
Admittedly you can’t see my friend Henry in this photo, but I promise he was here. And ‘here’ is Langholm Moor, the Duke of Buccleuch’s place which hosted the first Langholm study and is hosting the second one (of which more on Thursday). It’s a crow trap in the foreground, and Whita Hill in the…
This is a screenshot of Amazon taken on Sunday evening and Inglorious is #1 best seller in Target Shooting – despite not being published and not being reviewed except here. I think what we take from this is that target shooters may not read many books?
As climate change worsens, the expected range of the Red Grouse will shift north, perhaps leaving northern England altogether, at least those are the predictions of climate change modelling (see, for example, here). But in the Daily Mail (and only the Daily Mail as far as I can see – editor Paul Dacre, grouse moor…
There’s a newish estate in Bracknell where all of the roads are named after birds. Each of the signs has a picture of the bird and a QR code, which takes you to the relevant page on the RSPB website. Apparently, this was all the idea of a local councilor, perhaps to make up for…
Andrew Walker, Catchment Strategy Manager at Yorkshire Water, replies to my blog of earlier today: “You are right to be concerned about rotational heather burning on blanket bog; we are too. As you are aware from our previous correspondence on the matter, last October, we are working with key stakeholders to find a more sensitive…