Standing up for Nature
We used to talk about joined up government, but I haven’t heard the phrase used so often these days. Maybe that’s just as well when the Defra Secretary of State regards biodiversity as the spice of life and the Chancellor regards it as the kiss of death for the economy. But we would have to…
I told you that I went to see my MP Louise Mensch a little while ago and she said that she would write to the Treasury asking for the evidence that the Habitats Regulations are a brake on the UK economy and to Defra asking about implementation of the Birds Directive (given the decline in…
Defra has started a consultation on reform of the Common Agricultural Policy – don’t panic, you have until 5 March to respond. But Defra only wants views from those who may be affected by these proposals. And that appears to mean English farmers, environmental groups, rural communities, non-governmental organisations and other interested parties. But there…
I am still waiting for a copy of the letters that my MP, Louise Mensch, should by now have sent to the Treasury and Defra asking for the evidence from HMT that the Habitats Regulations are a brake on the UK economy (and Defra’s response to the fact that I intend to make a complaint…
On Wednesday, Defra announced their next slow pace towards a large amount of badger-bothering. What they said wasn’t very much and wasn’t very clear. It seems that some time in the autumn, that’s autumn 2012, there will be a six-week trial of farmer-led badger killing in two ‘pilot’ areas of southwest England which are yet…
The Defra Agriculture Minister James Paice told his fellow farmers that he wanted them to be able to opt out of their current agri-environment agreements if CAP reform changed the rules. This seems fair enough to me. I can’t quickly find his words on the Defra website but the Farmers Weekly report them here. Mr…
I was pleased to see that in Martin Harper’s blog yesterday (which is always worth reading after you’ve read this one) that Martin encouraged RSPB members to sign up to the epetition on vicarious liability. I expect that the RSPB will give this a bigger push in the New Year and I will let you…
December isn’t a great month for butterflies (but then November wasn’t a great month for nature as a whole), although, of course, they are all (apart from the painted ladies and red admirals) still out there as eggs or pupae or some other clever way of getting through the winter if you really want to…
On one of the last day’s of my trip to the USA I watched a killdeer calling in alarm as a man, unwittingly I think, disturbed the bird from its chicks. The bird’s cries cut through the mist of the June Gloom on the California coast – I won’t forget the sound of them as…
The latest (up to 2010) official figures for the UK Farmland Bird Index (and for that for England alone where things are just a tad worse) were published on Tuesday. They show a further decline in numbers of the suite of 19 farmland birds which brings the index to its lowest ever point. Take a…