Sometimes I have a book for a while and I keep putting it down and the voice in my head says ‘I’ll settle down and read it a bit later’ and when that happens it’s a pretty good bet that I’m not going to be gripped by the book. This was one of those books…
Tag: golden eagle
A sense of place
At the New Networks for Nature event there were lots of good bits. There was a bit where three people talked about Sense or Spirit of Place. One of the speakers was poet Andrew Forster who lives in the Lake District now, but used to live somewhere else, in Scotland. I guess that there were…
Thoughts on Inglorious from Ronnie Graham
Mark writes: below you’ll find a long series of comments on Inglorious by Ronnie Graham (of whom I know, but who don’t know personally). I thought you might find it interesting because Ronnie is interesting – a shooter and a raptor worker. His comments are reproduced in whole below and my comments (which I have…
Regulatory failure
There’s an excellent post today on the Raptor Persecution Scotland blog about what manner of things might be in any grouse meat that you eat. Watch out Henry! I wonder how much medicine from medicated grit gets into Hen Harriers, Peregrines and other wildlife through ingestion? Has anyone looked at that? Game meat, including…
Poached
Yesterday evening I went to an International Film Premiere which was strange in itself. But I knew about half a dozen people who appeared in the film and about half of the people in the audience! Weird! The film is called Poached and it’s about egg-collecting or egg-stealing – Poached! Geddit?! It’s a film about…
Guest Blog by Ed Hutchings, ex-shooter
Born in East Anglia, but raised in the Arabian Gulf, Ed Hutchings was always going to have two things – itchy feet and an inquisitive mind. After leaving university with a degree in hospitality, he embarked on a career as a sommelier for a decade, working at various Michelin-star restaurants; in the process winning the…
A cap on Hen Harrier numbers
The future of driven grouse shooting in the UK is going to depend rather more in the end, I suggest, on its wider environmental impacts, than it is on its harmful impacts on birds of prey, especially Hen Harriers. However, illegal raptor persecution is a massive problem that this government and previous governments have…
Why driven grouse shooting is doomed
I’m quite often asked whether I really want a ban on driven grouse shooting – I do! And then I’m sometimes told that ‘It’ll never happen’ and I say ‘It will’. This is why. Let’s start with the very obvious, but rarely stated, fact that driven grouse shooting is not essential. We don’t need it….
Iceland fail to demonstrate their grasp of the subject
Last week, Iceland foods (prop Malcom Walker – a keen shooter) was reported in the Daily Mail (editor Paul Dacre – grouse moor owner) as being about to stock frozen grouse in their stores. This blog posted the following questions to Iceland (and emailed them to Mr Walker): Iceland says: All Iceland brand products are…
I write books
It’s not a great idea to have two books coming out within days of each other in the same month – but these things happen. And, as friends have said, it’s better than not having two books coming out within days of each other in the same month. On 20 July, Behind the Binoculars –…