Yesterday’s mystery bird was a partridge – although I’m not sure which species of partridge because my identification skills are rather dependent on plumage characteristics and call. The cause of death was probably being shot! There are five very obvious, bright, round shots distributed through the bird’s body. In fact, look closely, and there…
Category: LEAD AMMUNITION
Mystery bird competition (2)
Yesterday’s mystery bird was a Pheasant – did you all get it? I find bird identification much more difficult when they are plucked and X-rayed. It was part of a package of game birds that a group of us bought at Lidgate’s in Holland Park Avenue, London some time ago. We assume this Pheasant was…
Mystery bird competition
What is this bird and how did it die? Answer tomorrow, and much more through the week.
Lead – mark this quote for later.
There is a piece in the Sunday Telegraph today about the findings of the Lead Ammunition Group. There isn’t anything new in it for readers of this blog (The findings of the Lead Ammunition Group, 9 September 2015 ) except some quotes. Those quotes from the chair of the group, the ex chief executive of…
Reply from Mike Clarke (CEO RSPB) and Martin Spray (CEO WWT)
Dear Mark Thanks for your email regarding our work on lead. We agree that there is clear and compelling evidence of the impact of lead ammunition on wildlife, as well as on human health, which is why our organisations support a ban. As you know and acknowledged in your blog, both our organisations (along with…
Buying some samples
Iceland made a lot of fuss about selling frozen Red Grouse in their stores some time back (see Red grouse get to Iceland, 10 July and Iceland fail to demonstrate their grasp of the subject, 13 July) thanks to publicity in the Daily Mail (editor Paul Dacre – grouse shooter). On a recent…
Defra – a shameful department (2)
George Monbiot’s article in today’s Guardian reinforces the view that Defra has sunk to about as low as it can get. He points out that Defra announced the impacts of NOx pollution on human mortality and a consultation on how to fix it on the Saturday just before the media were swamped with the news…
A friendly challenge to Martin Spray (WWT) and Mike Clarke (RSPB)
(This blog is long!) Dear Martin and Mike Your two organisations deserve huge credit for the role that they have played in getting us to a position where the prospect of lead ammunition being banned, on human health, animal welfare and nature conservation grounds is very high. This has taken years, and consumed years and…
Lead – time to move on
No doubt, shooting organisations will seek to rubbish and delay the implementation of the findings of the Lead Ammunition Group. There will be a long list of attacks on ‘antis’ and ‘townies’ and attempts to cast doubt on the science. They may even say things like ‘We need to consider these findings carefully, once peer-reviewed,…
M&S – good decision (badly worded)
M&S decided last year not to sell grouse because it could not be assured of the sustainability of its sources of game meat. This year, M&S found an excuse to continue that position because it was a poor year for grouse supplies. With the findings of the Lead Ammunition Group now published it would be…