I spent some time, on both Saturday and Sunday, talking to BASC people on their stand at the Game Fair. I’ve always thought that BASC was the serious and nice end of shooting with lots of wildfowlers and not many grouse shooters, and my conversations strengthened that view. They also plied me with cold drinks…
Category: SHOOTERS
Quite funny really
I don’t quite know what to make of the report concerning the BBC’s impartiality in reporting on rural affairs. Maybe you should read it for yourself and see how many times it makes you laugh. It made me chuckle quite a lot. Apparently the RSPB get a lot of air time because they are good…
Simon Barnes again
My blog, yesterday, about Simon Barnes’s departure from The Times caused quite a stir. It was read by more than 4000 people and received comments here but also mainly on Twitter. Opinions were divided as to whether Simon’s departure (and yes, I should have called a sacking a sacking, not a redundancy – but sacking…
Nonsense (2)
Yesterday’s blog was about the media coverage of the GWCT’s farmland bird survey. I was struck by the quotes, in The Times, of Jim Egan saying that the survey had been set up ‘partly to counter claims by green groups that farmers were doing little to protect birds‘. Ben Webster’s piece also said that Jim…
Toffs
A couple of days ago I suggested that the recent Defra minister Richard Benyon might be called a ‘toff’. This was greeted by a stream of comments angry on the toffish ex-Minister’s behalf. Let’s just get the meaning of this four-letter word out of the way first. Toff – a member of the upper classes,…
Every picture tells a story
I recently reviewed the magnum opus by Tim Sands (Wildlife in Trust) which chronicles the first 100 years of the Wildlife Trusts for BBC Wildlife magazine. I picked the book up again recently (which in itself is something of an achievement as it is very heavy) and made a rough note of the species illustrated…
GWCT science again
The GWCT describes itself thus: ‘The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust is the leading UK charity conducting scientific research to enhance the British countryside for public benefit’. Not, you note as ‘very good’ or ‘one of the leading’ or ‘has a distinguished record’ but ‘the leading’. That’s blowing one’s own trumpet quite loudly. I only…
Whose science counts? Don’t droop your ‘h’s!
I remember attending a Game Fair, in fact it was the last one in 2011 (rained off this year) when in the space of two days I heard people say that we British have the ‘best farmers in the world’, the ‘best foresters in the world’ and the’ best shooters in the world’ – and…
BASC and Countryside Alliance – the chocolate scare
You may remember that the Food Standards Agency recently updated its advice on eating game shot with lead. And you may remember that BASC (see link) and the Countryside Alliance (see link) trotted out some outrageous nonsense about there being more lead in chocolate than in the meat of game that had been shot with…
Blue-blooded squirrels in Cornwall?
Everyone likes red squirrels – I know I do. And everyone would like to see red squirrels return to their widespread former distribution, even if that meant seeing the back of the non-native grey squirrel – I know I would. I’ve said this before, and it momentarily caused a stir, ‘If I could click my…