A few lads out and about on the Lecht road a couple of weeks ago. I wonder what they were up to? Take a closer look… The back of that vehicle is full of a mountain of Mountain Hares. So the voluntary restraint seems to be working as well as we might have expected then?…
Tag: grouse shooting
Country strife from HoT
We all know that Philip Merricks loves the Hen Harrier as he has been photographed in London cuddling up to one, and so it comes as no surprise that he descibes the bird as ‘magnificent’ in his article in Country Life praising the feckless Defra Hen Harrier non-plan (Is this the glorious solution? 2 March,…
Just like buses
Responses from the FSA are a little like buses – you don’t see one for a while and then two come along together. This one was very rapid though, in response to an email to them this morning I got this this afternoon. It’s in response to this morning’s blog. Here it is, in full:…
FSA Chair-designate is married to grouse moor (owner)
Congratulations to Heather Hancock on her appointment, from April Fools’ Day, as Chair of the Food Standards Agency. The appointment involves a time commitment of 2 to 3 days per week and remuneration at a rate of £60,000 per annum. The Food Standards Agency is a non-ministerial government department (as is Forestry Commission), which says…
Book review – Raptor by James Macdonald Lockhart
This book was a disappointment. The basic structure is a chapter by chapter account of 15 species of UK raptor, each described in a different place, stretching from Hen Harriers on Orkney in Chapter 1 to Devon Sparrowhawks in Chapter 15. Wrapped into this structure is a tale of the life, and a previous journey,…
Torch the parks
As I drove north up the A1 through Yorkshire, plumes of smoke were rising from our National Parks: the North York Moors on the right and the Yorkshire Dales on the left. They were being torched in order to provide the right conditions for unnaturally high densities of Red Grouse. Passing through parts of Yorkshire,…
Review of Inglorious from the USA
I’ve had a few conversations with American friends about grouse shooting and several have started with the American being sympathetic to grouse ‘hunting’ and them ending up saying ‘but that’s not hunting at all’. Correct! Driven grouse shooting is the most unsporting of sports and is akin to a computer game where one blasts away…
You are in charge – stand a tip-toe
On Tuesday evening, as you know, I spoke in Glossop and one question that came up, which quite often comes up, is the question of the great power of the rich landowners to get their way. When a lady asks the question it is usually along the lines of ‘Won’t it be difficult to ban…
Topsy-turvy progress
I was speaking in Glossop on Tuesday evening so I set off for a leisurely drive on Tuesday morning. Rather than take the fastest route I took something approximating to the shortest route, but added quite a few wiggles: the nice thing was I had plenty of time, it was a sunny day and there…
Dear Mr Pursglove
Happy New Year! This is quite a long communication, so I have structured it into three sections: things I’d like you to know as my MP (and my contribution to your Listening to Corby and east Northants campaign), things I’d like to ask you (not the government – you) as my MP, and things I…