No, grouse shooting isn’t a rich man’s thing. No, we aren’t subsidising it as taxpayers. It’s an every day story of grouse-shooting folk. First buy your grouse moor – Muggleswick, 13,000 acres, for £7m. Not enough? Buy another, East Allenheads, another 13,000 acres, for £10m. That’s more like it. Buy a Magritte…
Tag: grouse shooting
NE use at all?
Just as Defra did not submit written evidence to the inquiry into driven grouse shooting – nor did Natural England. The fact that NE have been spending our taxpayers’ money on a detailed study of ranging behaviour and mortality of Hen Harriers since 2002 has not led them to think that they might have anything…
What Defra would have had to admit
After cogitating (aka as delaying) for a month, Defra finally told me it wouldn’t answer questions about its response to our successful e-petition on banning driven grouse shooting (123,076 signatures). The House of Commons Petitions Committee will hold an evidence session, jointly with the EFRA Committee, on this subject next Tuesday (see here and here)…
Evidence session
A week today, between 215pm and 245pm, I’ll be giving evidence to a joint inquiry into grouse shooting by the Petitions Committee and the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. It’s not a long time, but we’ll see how it goes. You can see how it goes by attending in person or by watching on…
GrouseMoorExit here we come?
A You Gov opinion poll (2033 respondents questioned on 19 & 20 Sept) commissioned by Animal Aid shows that 48% of people would ban driven grouse shooting – only 28% oppose a ban. So when you take out the undecideds that’s 63% in favour of a ban and 37% against it. Since 52% is enough…
Defra firmly in the shooting camp.
There is a pro-grouse-shooting e-petition which is stumbling forward – it has almost reached 19,000 signatures after 7 weeks (in comparison, our e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting got there in under half the time – who said driven grouse shooting is popular?). Defra has just published its response to this e-petition which is as…
West Pennine Moors
Natural England moves with the pace of a snail when it comes to protecting wildlife sites but with that of a cheetah when it comes to issuing licenses to bump off wildlife. Because of NE foot-dragging in the area of Gate Zero there now appears to be a race against time to get the West…
Questions for Defra
I submitted this request for information to Defra on 12 September. I am looking forward to receiving their full response on or before 12 October so that I can refer to it in my oral evidence to the inquiry into grouse shooting. This email is a request for information ahead of an evidence…
Flood risk at Hebden Bridge (Wuthering Moors 54)
Hebden Bridge in the Calder Valley has experienced terrible floods in recent years. Locals blame the severity of these floods on the intensive management of Walshaw Moor for driven grouse shooting. Now there appears to be some new scientific evidence to strengthen that view. In May 2014 I visited Hebden Bridge and spoke to the…
Last day to voice your views
Today is the last day you can submit evidence to the inquiry into grouse shooting being held by the House of Commons Petitions Committee as a result of our e-petition and ahead of a debate on the subject. When you do, you’ll get a message like the one above. I’ve seen many excellent, short and…