Yesterday I drove up to Wheldrake Ings to have a chat with the Countryfile crew (above, Charlotte Smith on right) about Wild Justice. I was listening to The Jam’s ‘News of the World’ just before I stopped at the Ferrybridge Services and saw this news of a Hen Harrier that died with its leg in…
Tag: grouse shooting
Now and again I get something like this
I have just finished reading you (sic) very good book, “Inglorious” and even though I have lived a very different lifestyle to yours, at the end of the day we both share the same ideals, which is to help bring an end to driven grouse shooting. Five years ago I hadn’t even got a contract…
Good news – 4 Hen Harrier nests in Bowland
The RSPB has just released the news that there are four Hen Harrier nests in the Forest of Bowland on the United Utilities estate. this area is managed for water resources with low intensity farming and low intensity grouse shooting. The Forest of Bowland is a large area with several intensive grouse moors within its…
Bransdale moor, North Yorks
Recently, Kevin Hollinrake MP, was singing the praises of grouse moor management after a visit to Bransdale Moor in his constituency. Henry and I went to Bransdale in 2015 on a tour of shooting estates – here’s what I wrote at the time. And here is what Raptor Persecution UK wrote about Bransdale at the…
Inglorious 12th
In two months time, on Monday 12 August, the grouse shooting season will open. This is a land use whose days are numbered. Intensive grouse shooting is underpinned by wildlife crime and that wildlife crime is widespread. Remember the long-term study of Peregrines across the north of England which shows that their numbers and nesting…
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…
Muddle of brood meddling – round 2
Last year, Natural England licensed the daft idea of brood meddling of Hen Harriers. I mounted a legal challenge, and so did RSPB, but we lost in court. The judge decided that because this was a trial it was science and because of that it’s OK (that’s my layman’s take on it). Both the RSPB…
Hen Harrier Day 2019 #HHDay19
It looks like there will only be one Hen Harrier Day event in the UK in 2019 – but everyone who cares about this bird and wants to see an end to its persecution is invited. Hen Harrier Day events started in 2014 and have been held at locations from Northern Ireland to inside the…
Why I wrote The Blue Hare – by Hugh Webster
After his site was hit with technical problems on the same day my book was reviewed there, Mark kindly offered me the option to post a guest blog on how I came to write the book. The idea to write The Blue Hare came to me in October 2016 while I was working at a…
Sunday book review – Who Owns England? by Guy Shrubsole
I’ve been looking forward to reading this book and it hasn’t disappointed me – I recommend it. I went to the book launch on Tuesday and drank red wine, met some friends and we all sang The Manchester Rambler which was fun. But I was keen to discover what Guy had found out and how….