The DEFRA consultation over the general licences closes on Thursday at the interesting time of 23:45. It appears to be a serious consultation about the way forward and it asks for evidence to back up your views. If you are thinking of responding online then you will need to allow at least half an hour…
Category: THE STATUTORY AGENCIES: NE, EA, FE etc
Wild Justice asks for apology from Natural England Board
Open letter to Natural England Chair, Board and staff.
Pretty lame – Woman’s Hour
Yesterday Woman’s Hour (a BBC Radio 4 programme – click here and listen after 23 minutes) got together Minette Batters of the NFU, Marian Spain of Natural England and Beccy Speight of the RSPB on the pretext that there are a lot of women running the environment. In the case of the NFU that is…
Wales leads way on general licences
This announcement from Natural Resources Wales on the future of general licences in Wales is very sensible and very welcome. https://naturalresources.wales/about-us/news-and-eventsc/news/nrw-announces-new-licences-for-wild-bird-control/?lang=en It doesn’t mean that bird species causing real problems can’t be killed but it limits the species and situations where the licence to do this is general. General is often, wrongly, taken to mean…
BTO review of general licence species in Scotland good review, poor summary
It’s worth having a look at this blog on the Wild Justice website. A review of the impact of various avian predators (currently covered by General Licence 1 in Scotland) was carried out by the BTO for SNH. The review looks pretty good but its summary is quite misleading – it is the equivalent of…
Guest blog – Sorry Tony, you cannot spin this into a good news story for Natural England by Dominic Woodfield
Dominic Woodfield is the Managing Director of Bioscan, a long established and well respected consultancy specialising in applied ecology. He is a life-long birder, a specialist in botany, habitat restoration and creation and in protected fauna including bats, herpetofauna and other species. He is also a highly experienced practitioner in Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats Regulations…
The Inglorious 12th
Intensive grouse shooting is in the news like never before: Natural England Chair, Tony Juniper, calls for vicarious liability for wildlife crimes (as did his predecessor of course – but this time it is at the beginning of his tenure and not at the end)(see Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Times) Labour calls for review of…
Natural England begging for your money (2)
I wrote the other day about Natural England having a crowdfunder so that it can do its job, because ‘continuing’ its ‘vital conservation work’ is its job. The excellent ENDS Report, which seems to be a regular reader of this blog, has managed to get a quote from my mate, Tony Juniper, Chair of Natural…
Hen Harrier breeding season in England and the licensing issue
The RSPB has revealed, ahead of Hen Harrier Day on Sunday, that as well as the five nests producing 22 fledged young in the Forest of Bowland, RSPB staff were involved in a partnership (for the fifth year in a row) in Northumberland where this year three successful nests (out of six attempts) produced nine…
Natural England begging for your money
Natural England is crowdfunding to carry out its statutory responsibilities. This public body is now crowdfunding for habitat management of sites such as Castle Hill National Nature Reserve (and Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area for Conservation for heavens sake!) on the outskirts of Brighton. According to Natural England this is ‘arguably the…