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Tag: grouse shooting
And after High Peak? Calder Valley and Carmarthen West
I was very pleased to see that High Peak returned to Labour on Friday. The seat looked winnable, although a bit of a stretch, and clearly it was. The former Conservative MP, Andrew Bingham, had consistently voted for increasing restrictions on campaigning, against benefit improvements, for cuts in welfare spending, against gay rights, against measures…
And the Blackbird still sings…
Wow! I wasn’t expecting that. Were you? I spent yesterday from 10:30am until 9pm, obviously with some breaks, phoning up potential Labour voters to get the vote out. I phoned hundreds of people, and spoke to scores of them. I spoke to some confused people and I spoke to some very nice people. I…
The general election and driven grouse shooting
If the Conservatives win, and particularly if they win an increased majority I predict: weakening of site protection post-Brexit (see what Conservative manifesto says) – the fact that SPAs were partly notified because of their raptor populations will become irrelevant; the chance of stopping damaging activities (like building new roads and tracks across blanket bogs,…
Let’s see the back of Craig Whittaker in Calder Valley
Calder Valley was the constituency that provided the most signatures for my e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting. In fact it produced 871 (out of 123,077) signatures. The rival e-petition, supporting grouse shooting, accumulated just 31 signatures in Calder Valley (and only 25,322 overall). And yet Conservative MP for the Calder Valley, Craig Whittaker, spoke…
Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham gets tough on the sources of wildlife crime
Cabinet Secretary, Roseanna Cunningham, has come to the end of her tether with grouse moor managers in Scotland – that much is clear. Good for her! Answering questions in the Scottish parliament this afternoon she announced the publication of the review of ‘the disappeared’ satellite-tagged Golden Eagles (see here) but also a raft of measures…
Satellite-tagged Golden Eagles killed on grouse moors – official!
Golden Eagles are illegally killed on grouse moors – it’s official. It’s not a surprise, and it’s been a while coming, but there isn’t a hiding place for grouse moor managers in Scotland. And we are sure to see Scottish politicians following through on this report – after all, they’ve had enough time to think…
SNP still the tartan Tories?
The SNP is in government in Scotland and claims to be the real opposition to the Conservative Party in Westminster. Why has the SNP dragged its feet over addressing raptor persecution in Scotland and why did it not take a more useful part in the debate over driven grouse shooting down south? Only the SNP…
Three videos
It was just over a year ago that the video (above) was filmed of poletraps being set on a Yorkshire grouse moor. This evidence led to a man receiving a police caution for this offence. One wonders what would have happened if the case had proceeded to an English court. We might still be unaware…
A recap
I’m sure the Scottish government, the SNP, the Scottish Gamekeepers Organisation and Scottish Land and Estates wish that these images would go away – but we should make sure that they are kept in the public domain. They illustrate the failure of wildlife protection in Scotland. The bird that flies through this video and then…