Dear Andrew I hope you are well but I fear that the organisation of which you are the Chair, is gravely sick. Natural England seems to have caught a disease whose symptoms are an inability to work for nature conservation in the uplands but instead to align itself with one small sectional interest, grouse shooting,…
Tag: grouse shooting
Wuthering Moors 68 – the background to an unlawful decision
How did NE get into the position of allowing an unlawful Habitats Regualtions Assessment to be done? In this blog I will explain what I think has happened. But let me repeat that it is a serious matter when the government nature conservation agency produces an unlawful Habitats Regulations Assessment – Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? …
I’m a bit puzzled
I know, or at least I think I know, that Ian Coghill recounted a tale of what Michael Gove had said to him, Nick Downshire (chair of the Moorland Association) and Amanda Anderson, to a room which consisted largely of grouse moor managers. I know this because the intelligence rapidly trickled back from that meeting…
Sunday book review – Curlew Moon by Mary Colwell
Yesterday was World Curlew Day. Everybody likes Curlews these days. GWCT and Curlew Country want your money to save the Curlew, BTO want your money to save the Curlew and RSPB is spending over a million pounds over five years on Curlews but isn’t gagging for your money it seems! Wow! The author of Curlew…
RSPB assists in search for missing eagle in Scotland
Press release from the RSPB: Another satellite tagged eagle has disappeared in highly suspicious circumstances. RSPB Scotland has today (17th April 2018) been assisting Police Scotland in the search for the white tailed eagle in the Glen Quaich area of Perthshire. Duncan Orr-Ewing, Head of Species and Land Management at RSPB Scotland said: “This…
Natural England continues not to come clean – Bowland Gull Cull 9
The story so far: Smidgeons of information on gull culls from NE – 14 February 2018 Bowland gull cull licensing facts still kept secret by NE – 6 February 2018 FOI Bowland gull cull – November 2017 Quick response from NE on Bowland gull cull – 7 September 2017 Any NE news on Bowland gull…
Guest blog – Peak District Moorland Monitors
Thanks Mark, for allowing us the opportunity to introduce ourselves! We are the Moorland Monitors – a group of local people from raptor, mammal and ecological backgrounds who want to combine forces to protect the wild species and wild spaces of the Peak District grouse moors. We believe that local people and visitors can play…
Natalie Bennett says ‘Ban driven grouse shooting’
Natalie Bennett is a Green Party politician, and says; ‘I first learnt about the damage driven grouse shooting moors were doing to their neighbours with disastrous land management practices after the 2015/16 floods. And I found out about the carbon emission impacts of their activities. Then I learnt about the plight of the hen harriers…
BREAKING: A new species discovered on grouse moors (by Alan Cranston)
BREAKING NEWS: Scientists have been astounded by the discovery of a new species on Britain’s uplands. Given the scientific name Apodemus loricatorum aprilis asinus, it is found only on driven grouse moors. Research has shown that it can survive only in that specialised environment and scientists are excited by its extraordinarily rapid evolutionary development. Professor…
Guest blog – Balls by Olaf Lipor and Ian Parsons
We hear so much about the introduction of the government’s new ‘Fat Tax’ that we no longer really listen to the detail. But, as birdwatchers, we really should be listening, because this new tax is going to hit us very hard financially. The new tax will substantially increase the price of foods that are high…