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…
Category: THE STATUTORY AGENCIES: NE, EA, FE etc
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…
You might have missed this rally in the news
Back in April they said this – we’re going to have a rally. And they had help, advice and support from the Countryside Alliance, the National Gamekeepers Organisation (I always want to put the apostrophe in there, but they don’t…) and BASC (but it’s not just shooters, oh no!) And they did get a crowd…
Natural England praises moorland estates
One can almost forgive the Moorland Association’s over-the-top spin – that’s all they have left to give. There are a few pairs of Hen Harriers on English grouse moors this year. Not as many, I think we will find, as are nesting in other places but the Moorland Association had to jump the gun (apt…
Flows (2)
This area of bog and cotton grass used to be a conifer plantation. Who’d have known? Thirty- three years ago when I first worked in the Flow Country of Sutherland and Caithness I often drove along the road north of Lairg which heads past Crask Inn to Altnaharra where you have the choice of continuing…
New Natural England chair faces massive criticism on social media
Natural England’s new chair, my mate Tony Juniper, has been roundly criticised on social media for his support of Natural England’s licensing of brood meddling. Here is a selection of the comments to give you a flavour: To grant #broodmeddling licences to vested interests 4 one of England’s rarest breeding raptors on grounds that ‘if…
General Licence 31 – Woodpigeons and serious damage to crops
This general licence was published yesterday evening by Natural England – the next ones look as though they will be published by Defra. I’ve had a quick look at it. Noticeable is this passage; This appears to be a recognition of the point raised on this blog last week (and raised in the Wild Justice…
Statutory agencies – fit for purpose?
Wild Justice’s successful legal challenge over the General Licences is the third legal challenge in which I have been involved against this statutory agency in just over a year. First there was my legal challenge of the brood-meddling licence that NE issued in early 2018. As regular readers will know, this case was contested by…
SNH says ‘no’ to Strathbraan Raven cull
Raven. Photo: Tim Melling Excellent news from Raptor Persecution UK – SNH rejects 2019 licence application for Strathbraan Raven cull. That’s good news on which to end the week. Well done to Ruth Tingay and the Scottish Raptor Study Group for taking their challenge. I’m glad I contributed to their crowdfunder. But what are our…