Standing up for Nature
The RSPB is today warning that vital laws that protect nature in England will be under threat in Autumn when the new Prime Minister assumes office. The warning comes as both candidates in the Conservative Party leadership contest have spoken recently of their commitment to reviewing remaining EU laws currently in English legislation. This, the RSPB…
Which is your favourite Whitehall government department? It’s got to be Defra hasn’t it? They are the ones who are going to solve England’s environmental problems including those of our wildlife. Floods, pesticides, sewage discharges, bird/poultry flu, a new agriculture policy post CAP, wildlife crime, habitat loss and degradation, overfishing, tree diseases, non-native species and…
Dear Mr Pursglove, First, congratulations on your promotion to Minister of State at the Home Office and Ministry of Justice. As your colleagues resigned in droves I wondered whether you would be one of the few remaining government ministers. I am writing to you about an endangered bird called the Woodcock. It’s a wading bird,…
If Defra were a school it would be judged inadequate, would be served a notice to improve and be put in special measures. But it isn’t, so it jogs on as the government department near the bottom of the political pecking order and with few friends in government or in the real world. Defra sprung…
Good to hear more about bird/poultry flu on this morning’s Today programme. ‘Patchy’ does seem to be the word, which will make any biologist’s antennae start wiggling – what is the cause of the variation? But note that the patchiness has some pretty big chasms. Gannets down by ‘up to 25% in some colonies’ –…