Gordon Yates is a wildlife photographer and many of his superb images of Hen Harriers have graced these pages over the years. He sent me this image of a Jack Snipe in the snow and said that it was the first he’d ever managed to photograph. It’s rare to see the bird this well. Jack…
Tag: hen harrier
8 million pageviews
Yesterday this blog passed another milestone – 8 million pageviews since 21 April 2011. That first post was unexceptional, but one has to start somewhere, and its title, Don’t let them get away with it, might well have become a watchword for this blog. It took me couple of months before I got Google Analytics…
Happy New Year!
I hope you weren’t partying and snogging everyone in sight to celebrate the New Year last night. Somehow I don’t picture the readership of this blog as having many superspreaders in it but, you never know. I had an early night! I’m looking forward to many things this year and now we are well past…
Thoughts on 2020 (1) – Driven Grouse Shooting
You have to feel sorry for the grouse shooters, don’t you? Well maybe not. 2020 was another awful year for those involved in grouse shooting, and one which brought the end of driven grouse shooting closer. For those of us determined to see an end to this damaging hobby, it represented a great leap forward….
Otter with Octopus by Gordon Yates
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Gordon Yates is a wildlife photographer and many of his superb images of Hen Harriers have graced these pages over the years. Here are two images of a female Otter, photographed on Islay in November, bringing an octopus to her cubs.
Brood meddling appeal – four weeks away
Four weeks today (and tomorrow) the Court of Appeal will be hearing my, and the RSPB’s, appeals against Natural England issuing licences to allow brood meddling of Hen Harriers ie Tuesday 26 and Wednesday 27 January. This process started as far as I was concerned in January 2018 and we went to court in December…
Brexit deal: ten words that spell environmental damage
As you flick through the 1246 pages of ‘our’ Brexit deal you will hardly have got your eye in when you reach p179, and ‘Title XI, Article 1.1 LEVEL PLAYING FIELD FOR OPEN AND FAIR COMPETITION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT‘; So, already, we see that environmental protection is subsumed within the apparently bigger matters of trade….
That’s more like it…
On Tuesday, 8 December Bellway Homes admitted damaging or destroying a breeding site or resting place for bats at a construction site in Greenwich. The company was ordered to pay a fine of £600,000 with further costs of over £30,000. Bellway Homes also agreed to make a voluntary donation of £20,000 to the Bat Conservation…
Back at Wicken Fen
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This time yesterday I was back at Wicken Fen with a small group of friends and colleagues – talking legal challenges and looking for Hen Harriers. We saw a couple of distant ringtails and as the light was really failing, an adult male brightened the gloom. It was spotted by a lawyer! It was now…
You’ll be lucky!
The power of birds of prey is illustrated well in this little article about what you might see in Yorkshire – 6 of the 14 species are raptors. Of course, the article does not say that North Yorkshire is known as the UK capital of illegal raptor persecution! The Red Kite above (ahem) is joined…