Mr James Cross, Chief Executive Natural England, Foss House, Kings Pool, 1-2 Peasholme Green York YO1 7PX Dear Mr Cross We are writing to ask Natural England to consider, as a matter of urgency, the complex of woodland known as Fineshade Wood (SP99) in Northamptonshire for notification as a Site of Special Scientific Interest…
Category: THE STATUTORY AGENCIES: NE, EA, FE etc
Fineshade Wood should be an SSSI
When they came into being, all those years ago, SSSIs were selected as representative examples of wildlife-rich habitats. There was no expectation that every qualifying site would be protected. Roll the clock on a few decades, and we can see that the SSSI notification has been very important in protecting our wildlife – hundreds of…
Letter to my MP on Fineshade Wood
Dear Mr Pursglove As part of your ‘Listening to Corby and east Northants‘ campaign I’m sure you would like to know how I feel about the possibility of a major development at Fineshade Wood. I’m against it! I was glad to see that you too were against it when you were seeking election and I…
Awful of Natural England, and confused of RSPB
BBC Wildlife Magazine has a good article about the Hen Harrier plan (welcomed by the RSPB) which will do nothing for the Hen Harrier. I am quoted as saying that neither the RSPB nor Natural England should have agreed a plan which does not have targets in it. What is a plan without a…
Natural England looks for a scientist
The Natural England Board is looking for a scientist. This type of role might once have looked quite attractive when Natural England was seen as an organisation that worked hard for the conservation of nature, but is now far less attractive when it is difficult to see Natural England as anything other than a rather…
Legal clarification from Natural England
I’m grateful to Natural England for getting in touch today over the issue of medication of Red Grouse raised in Ruth Tingay’s Guest Blog of Monday. Here is what NE wrote: ‘In the recent guest contribution to your Blog, Dr Ruth Tingay asked for clarification from Natural England and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) regarding the…
Forest Enterprise Scotland position on toxic lead ammunition
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Forest Enterprise Scotland seem to be moving rather more slowly towards getting rid of toxic lead ammunition – although I get the impression that they are probably heading in the right direction. What do you think – this is what they sent me as a statement?: Forest Enterprise Scotland (FES) said: “Due to concerns regarding…
Forest Enterprise England to dump toxic ammunition
There is, of course, no need for anyone to wait for a legal ban on lead ammunition, or for Defra to stir themselves – they can just switch themselves. The legal move will sweep up the recalcitrant, the uninformed and the bloody minded and selfish. For example, the RSPB made the decision to drop lead…
Stody Estate fine confirmed
The Rural Payments Agency has just (30 minutes ago) confirmed the amount of penalty imposed on the Stody Estate – it’s €263,308.10 (which according to my currency converter app is £192,160.63). This differs from the figure estimated by raptorpersecutionscotland by a fair margin – perhaps they will be blogging about this later in the day…
Stody fine
The raptorpersecutionscotland blog is on a roll at the moment and yesterday disclosed the fact that the Stody Estate has been fined, probably three quarters of its single farm payment, for the Buzzard killing on its land revealed by the conviction of its former gamekeeper Allen Lambert. This is excellent news and shows how the…