We’ll have to see what ‘Green Brexit’ Gove actually says today, and then watch like hawks (harriers, eagles, kites and falcons) what he actually does. But there is clearly something afoot when the Today programme stirs itself on the subject of agricultural payments (click here and two bits – at 08:10 and 08:55). The first…
Tag: grouse shooting
Sunday book review – Bowland Beth by David Cobham
I very much enjoyed David Cobham’s previous book on raptors, A Sparrowhawk’s Lament. This new, slim offering has many of the same features that made that book such a pleasure to read; a love of raptors, a selection of anecdotes and a range of snippets of conversations with others involved in the subject. But this…
Responding to PDNP consultation – some hints
The Peak District National Park wants to know what you think – so you should tell them. This is the consultation document and this is the 52-question questionnaire. Here’s a tip: if you are planning on responding then it’s a good idea to open these two things in two separate tabs so that you can…
RSPB calls on NE to act (Bowland Gull Cull 1)
RSPB press release: The RSPB has learned that large numbers of protected birds are being killed on a grouse moor in Lancashire. A RSPB staff member working in the Bowland area discovered two estate workers shooting nesting lesser black-backed gulls – on a grouse moor managed by the Abbeystead Estate – leaving their chicks to be…
How you can help the Hen Harrier
Remember this video? Filmed in 2013, but only released in May this year, and it resulted in no prosecution. Hen Harriers are killed on grouse moors because they eat Red Grouse that people want to shoot for fun. Hen Harriers have had full legal protection since 1954 and yet the main factor determining their range…
A short history of a lot of talking
It’s good to talk. But talking can also be used as a refuge from taking action. If there’s one thing that is likely to get me animatedly irritated (and friends have seen this happen a few times) is when somebody comes onto the scene of the grouse shooting/moorland/raptor persecution issue and says something along the…
See you there on the Inglorious 12th
UK Hen Harrier survey results – what they say (3) – Defra
Defra is the government department responsible for wildlife and their new Secretary of State, Michael Gove, wants to know the answer to this question ‘If we want the UK’s approach to environmental protection and enhancement to be seen as the best in the world, what does that mean and what does it look like at…
Hen Harrier survey results – what they say
The UK is missing around 2000 pairs of Hen Harriers according to a survey carried out in 2016 whose results were released today. We know that the main cause of this harrier-deficit is deliberate, intensive and illegal killing of Hen Harriers by those who wish to shoot Red Grouse for fun. The lack of Hen…
The not so talented Viscount Ridley, at it again
Viscount Ridley was writing in The Times yesterday, Viscount Ridley has form (here, here). It is a splenetic piece of writing which accuses just about everyone except grouse moor managers of being in it for the money. Environmentalists talk up climate change so that their mates can make money from green energy apparently, thinks the…