I’ve spoken to quite a few journalists over the last couple of days – all have said that Natural England is refusing to comment on the General Licence issue. I find this shocking – if Natural England won’t talk about it then Defra should. But Natural England should. Where is their Chair? Their Chief Exec?…
Category: THE STATUTORY AGENCIES: NE, EA, FE etc
Press release from Forestry England
CALL OF THE WILD: MICHAELA STRACHAN RALLIES PUBLIC TO DISCOVER FOREST WILDLIFE The Forestry Commission is inviting people to join the largest ever survey of England’s forest wildlife. The Big Forest Find is taking place in the nation’s forests, as volunteers and visitors embark on a journey of discovery through England’s wooded landscapes. The project…
White-tailed Eagles to come back to lowland England
White-tailed Eagle. Photo: Mike Crutch Natural England has issued a licence to allow the release of White-tailed Eagles on the Isle of Wight. For details see here. This is excellent news and the first releases are scheduled for summer this year. Woohoo! More information from the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation – click here and the…
We’ll see you in court, Natural England
Yesterday, Wild Justice’s lawyers issued the claim form seeking permission for judicial review of Natural England’s decision to issue the General Licences GL04-06 on 1 January 2019. We haven’t yet got a nice court seal on our claim form as there is a backlog, apparently. We have notified Natural England of our application for judicial…
We couldn’t have done it without you – says Natural England to the criminal elements in grouse shooting
Yesterday’s devastating scientific description of the impact of grouse shooting on the threatened Hen Harrier (the original paper, my blog on its findings) was greeted by Natural England Director, Rob Cooke with the following: This research identifies the scale of the problem hen harriers have faced on grouse moors. It makes for sobering reading and…
Restoration burning is a myth
An open access paper in Biodiversity and Conservation looks at the burning of blanket bogs. Its Abstract ends with these words, More frequent burning will result in a greater proportion of land in the early post-burning stages, potentially resulting in a thinner moss layer, more bare peat and less healthy Sphagnum, with potential consequences for…
What a laugh!
It must be difficult going in front of a Parliamentary Committee to justify why you should get a job, but that is what the Chair-designate of Natural England has to do. And that’s what birder, fisherman, environmentalist and wildlife enthusiast Tony Juniper did very well yesterday. It’s difficult because you are talking to a small…
Tony Juniper for NE Chair
So the rumours were right. Tony Juniper is heading to be, almost certainly, the new Chair of Natural England. Congratulations to him – he is a star of the environment movement – and fingers crossed he, with Marian Spain, can make a difference at what is a sadly failing organisation. And, it has to be…
Minor update to NE Hen Harrier data (with a new error?)
Natural England has recently, but I’ve only just noticed, published an update to its Hen Harrier data to include data from this year (and some from a little earlier too). The update shows that 5 Hen Harrier chicks were satellite-tagged in England by NE in 2018: 3 have gone missing in the North Pennines (Mabel,…
BTO report being used by SNH to justify Raven culls
A BTO research report, which looks quite good to me, is being used, wrongly, by SNH to justify further Raven culls. The report, essentially, says that killing a few Ravens won’t make any difference to the Scottish Raven population level. That is certainly true (and I give you that finding freely – no charge!). However,…