This blog has been a bit critical of the National Trust in the past, suggesting that it isn’t taking its nature conservation work sufficiently seriously, and so it gives me great pleasure to highlight an excellent piece of work, nearing fruition, by NT. It’s such good news it is worth being the second blog of…
Category: THE WILDLIFE NGOs – RSPB, Wildlife Trusts Wild Justice, BSBI etc
Plastic environmentalism
The Conference speech by the new Defra Secretary of State, Owen Paterson, will have been like discordant music to the ears of the environment movement. It would be very difficult to find many working in the environment who think that the EU is perfect but it would be almost impossible to find people who think…
Golden opportunity for the RSPB
The RSPB’s annual report on people being nasty to birds for 2011 is now published. It tells the usual sorry tale of wildlife crime illustrated with depressing images of trapped, poisoned and shot birds. The report highlights the Law Commission’s review of species legislation as the golden opportunity to improve protection for birds of prey…
RSPB AGM
AGMs are often soul-less affairs – not so with that of the RSPB which was held yesterday in London’s QEII Conference Centre. This day in the past was a working day for me, and quite a stressful one too, as the period in the morning where you have to think on your feet and answer…
Mown down – the Grasslands Trust
Last week’s news that the Grasslands Trust has gone into liquidation is sad to hear but it may only be the first and most public sign of the impact of the recession on our tangled bank of wildlife conservation organisations. I know many of the Grasslands Trust’s staff personally, including their Chief Executive Lucy Cooper,…
Taking mud to Essex
Last week Environment Secretary Owen Paterson launched work on Europe’s largest man-made wetland nature reserve – at least so say the RSPB and Crossrail whereas Defra is noticeably silent on the matter. Luckily, there is photographic evidence of the event. In an amazingly complex and difficult project, for which the RSPB’s Chief Executive Mike Clarke…
Leading the way
Do you remember that the Shooting Times were given a copy of a WWT Council paper on their position on lead ammunition back in the spring? As I said at the time, it’s hardly surprising that a nature conservation organisation is against the use of a type of ammunition that poisons some of its victims…
A young eagle’s lingering death
I usually stick to one blog each day but this story is just so striking and so horrific that it demands publicity. Here is the link to the RSPB press release. You may have to read the release a few times before you can quite believe it.
What’s in a name? Where is the movement?
Your votes in the poll on your preferred future name for the RSPB show you to be a pretty conservative bunch – no surprises there. Almost two thirds of the 600+ votes were for ‘no change’ with the remainder of the votes split more or less equally between a name that would stick to birds…
Wednesday
Do have a look at the comments on the online poll on the best future name for the RSPB. Voting will close later this week so don’t delay to have your say. And even if you have voted – do have a look at the comments. I’m waiting for the next round of reviews for…