I gave BASC some credit for their rapid condemnation of the killing of Hen Harriers after the publication of the analysis of the NE satellite-tagging data. But now that Duncan Thomas has voiced his views, presumably his employer’s views too, on TV, along the lines of ‘there’s a tiny amount of persecution occurring and we…
Category: SHOOTERS
Shooting Times – the gift that keeps on giving…
It’s almost as though Shooting Times has been set up to provide weekly evidence to support Wild Justice’s legal challenge of the General Licences… There appears to have been no attempt to use non-lethal means before popping away at this bird, and it is just a little unclear as to what issue listed in the…
Farmers Weekly corrects itself – after a nudge
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Farmers weekly, online, published a slightly irritating article on Wild Justice’s legal challenge over the General Licences last week. We sent them the following letter early today, and had a nice chat with them, and they’ve changed the article in response to our letter. Here’s the letter; Your article on Wild Justice’s legal challenge of…
Guest blog – Plastic shotgun cartridges by Caroline Bedell of BASC
BASC appointed Caroline Bedell as its executive director of conservation in October last year. Caroline has more than 25 years’ experience of the rural economy and environment. With a degree in rural land management, she qualified as a rural practice chartered surveyor. Caroline spent the first 10 years of her career advising and managing rural…
Gilruth/Gregory – mostly ignored but an RSPB response.
Following this morning’s blog about the depths to which GWCT have slipped, I can’t find much coverage of the said press release (hardly surprising is it?). Have you spotted any? There is this one article which more or less republished the original press release and a feisty quote from Martin Harper… This is another sadly…
GWCT plumbs new depths
Here are some quotes from a press release from Abzed’s Ian Gregory which was released yesterday morning: From: Ian Gregory <ig@abzed.com>Sent: 27 January 2019 09:58Subject: Official Figures Reveal RSPB’s “Increasing Failure” To Protect Endangered Birds Embargo 00.01 Monday 28 January 2019 Government data shows the RSPB is four times less successful with hen harriers…
Single use plastic
Shotgun cartridges haven’t always been made of plastic, and not all of them are now. I have no idea of the relative merits of plastic cartridges versus cartridges made of other materials, but this area certainly seems worth thinking about. I look forward to being told that plastic cartridges are ‘traditional’. Here are a few…
RPPDG thoughts
The non-attendance of the pro-shooting organisations at last week’s Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG) meeting (you read about it first here but see also my further blog, the coverage in RPUK here, here and here and The Times) was a big miscalculation on their parts, and one from which their reputations are unlikely to…
Vermin – an unacceptable term
Vermin control I have an issue with the word ‘vermin’, as one man’s vermin is another man’s cuddly mammal or brilliant bird, but the word is still very frequently used, almost unconsciously, by the shooting community to identify those species that might eat game before they are available to be shot. The way that the…
Helping the police with their enquiries…?
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/wildlife-and-the-law/wild-bird-crime/the-birdcrime-report/ The walk-out of shooting organisations from the Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (revealed by this blog on Friday) is very much to be welcomed. They have played an almost entirely negative role in this group. In my opinion, justice, birds of prey and the group’s work are all better off without their presence. We…