Standing up for Nature
Teresa Dent CEO GWCT Dear Teresa I hope you are well. It seems most odd writing to you, down in Fordingbridge, about the menu of London’s oldest restaurant but, as you may have seen, it was their idea not mine. So, as you are the chosen champion of Rules restaurant, could you please comment…
In an amazing U-turn the Countryside Alliance has shown itself to be on the side of wildlife conservation all along. Its Campaigns Director, Tim Bonner, is seeking balaclavas to be banned from the countryside. Probably because of this sort of activity, I guess. Sir Barnabus White-Spunner was sticking to his knitting. Since it is London…
BASC are wriggling on lead. Their previous Chief Exec appears to be in favour of a lead-free future, on the basis of the evidence. So BASC is preparing to disparage and demean their long-serving and much-respected former Chief Exec, it seems. I cannot understand why BASC is so against a ban on lead ammunition –…
You’ll remember, perhaps, that the Countryside Alliance complained about the RSPB to the Charity Commission and got told to sling their hooks? ‘Your central complaint is that the RSPB has misused data and made unfounded allegations in their Birdcrime Report. Having examined the issues raised and met with the trustees, we have concluded that we…
You might have wondered what happened with the complaint about the RSPB from Sir Ian Botham and others to the Charity Commission. Or maybe you thought it was so daft that you weren’t wondering at all. Well, I was wondering why we hadn’t heard anything about it and now I know why. Although Beefy’s complaint…
Scottish gamekeeper, George Mutch, was yesterday sentenced to four months in prison for trapping a Goshawk and beating it to death. Mutch is the first gamekeeper to be jailed for killing raptors. Click here to see some of the video evidence that led to the conviction in December. It’s never a good thing for anyone…
Simon Barnes writes so well, and I tend to agree with him too. In today’s Independent on Sunday he makes the point, made here and elsewhere in the past, that it’s very nice to see Prince William arguing against illegal killing of wildlife abroad but why the silence here at home? How about coming out…
Video evidence was used to secure a conviction of a Scottish gamekeeper for wildlife crime yesterday in an important case. I don’t know any more about this case than you can read here, here and here. This killer killed a Goshawk. The fact that video evidence was admitted, I guess making it a pretty straightforward…
It is difficult to believe, and I don’t believe, that BASC and the Moorland Association aren’t putting out misleading information about grouse moors to MPs (see my analysis of their ‘misinfographic’ here). I contacted both BASC and the Moorland Association to ask them whether they stood by every word of their information the other day….
This infographic has been sent to MPs by the Moorland Association and BASC recently. It allows me to make a few points. 1. They say: ‘Managing heather helps preserve and protect UK’s biggest carbon store‘. Not so according to The Times (1 October) reporting a recent study by Leeds University : ‘The owners of…