RSPB press relase. Hen Harrier chick Thor – now ‘disappeared’. Photo: Steve Downing First Bowland hen harrier chick in three years vanishes without trace Thor was one of 13 chicks to fledge from Bowland, Lancashire for the first time in three years. The rare chick is the latest in a number of hen harriers to…
Tag: grouse shooting
Wuthering Moors 75 – six long years of complaining
Six years ago today the RSPB made its complaint to the European Commission about burning practices at Walshaw Moor and many other driven grouse moors in the UK (See Wuthering Moors 28, 15 October 2012). The RSPB deserves great respect for this important move (even though it is very quiet about it itself these days)….
Wuthering Moors 73 – burning while Gove fiddles
Blog posts titled Wuthering Moors are about the issue of burning of blanket bogs by grouse shooting estates (e.g. Wuthering Moors 28, 15 October 2012), the inability of the government agency Natural England to do its job properly on regulating landowners on protected moorland sites (Wuthering Moors 68 – the background to an unlawful decision,…
More gems from the shooting scene
The Savill’s benchmarking survey is a valuable reference point for those interested in the future of shooting. Here are a few more areas (see this morning’s blog) which caught my eye: the average salary for a single-handed keeper was £21,100 plus benefits. That doesn’t sound like a fortune does it? What might the benefits be?…
Wuthering Moors 72 – burning issues
Blog posts titled Wuthering Moors are about the issue of burning of blanket bogs by grouse shooting estates (e.g. Wuthering Moors 28, 15 October 2012), the inability of the government agency Natural England to do its job properly on regulating landowners on protected moorland sites (Wuthering Moors 68 – the background to an unlawful decision,…
A burning question
On Monday the heather burning season opens and the hills will start to be torched. In the Labour Party’s Green Transformation document, launched last week at the Labour Conference in Liverpool, it states ‘End rotational heather burning and launch an independent review into the economic, environmental and wildlife impacts of driven grouse shooting‘. You will…
Guest blog – Driven Grouse Shooting – your bluff’s been called by Les Wallace
Who I am – Scottish with a fascination for wildlife from childhood – in lieu of formal qualifications (and not being able to flash them about!) – was on the 1990 International Youth Conservation Exchange to Hungary, was the 1993 winner of the BBC Wildlife Magazine ‘Realms of the Russian Bear’ competition and spent nearly…
RSPB: BirdCrime report
Pole trap on Brewlands Estate, Scotland. RSPB’s Birdcrime report reveals 68 confirmed incidents of bird of prey persecution in the UK during 2017, but many illegal killings are going undetected or unreported. Incidents occurred in all 4 UK countries with England having the highest number of confirmed incidents The RSPB believes the introduction of a…
A Bluffer’s Guide to Agriculture Policy (2)
I’ve explained (in oh so broad terms!) how we got to where we are with European Agriculture Policy (see here). This blog is about what’s wrong with the current position. Public policy tends to evolve through tweaks and reform rather than by massive change, and the pace of reform is bound to be slow when…
Guest blog – It’s Another Petition by Anthony Britner.
Anthony is a 29 year old (at the time of writing) natural history enthusiast, birdwatcher, trainee ringer and graduate zoologist from North Wales. Anthony can be found on Twitter via @AnthonyJBritner This guest blog is about another of those “anti-shooting petitions”. This time, it’s a petition to the Welsh assembly to “Introduce a Licence to…