The news that Defra is going to spend £375,000 on looking at how to reduce buzzard impacts on pheasants shows how deeply this department has now fallen into the hands of the shooting brigade. I have no doubt that buzzards take a few pheasants but why a government department is spending my taxes (and yours,…
Tag: hen harrier
Harriers
Following my blog on Thursday I did phone the NE helpline to ask where I could find the information promised by their Minister, Richard Benyon, in his Parliamentary reply (see Thursday’s blog to catch up on this subject – and read the comments there too). The people I spoke to were very helpful and mentioned…
Bits, some bits
went to London on the train from Peterborough on Thursday and saw 3 cuckoos got a reply from NE re Walshaw Moor – will blog later this week spent ages on Friday evening looking at a lone wader in vegetation and gloomy light wondering whether it was a Temminck stint – and it wasn’t, it…
Maybe no harriers in England? Lead poisoning suspected. And a bit of wuthering.
The news that there may be no hen harriers nesting in England this year is sad but this day, if it has come, was going to come soon. Of course, extinction in England is a bit of an odd thing as England is ‘just’ a line on a map and on other sides of that…
Note to self
A year ago I had a permanent job but after 25 years and one month at the RSPB (the best nature conservation organisation in the world), and after 12 and a half years of being its Conservation Director, I gave up a well paid and very satisfying job to explore new challenges. Was this really…
Wuthering Moors 7
If you aren’t interested in what I am beginning to think of as the ‘Walshaw Moor affair’ then come back to this blog tomorrow – but if you are, then come back to this blog during the day to see a range of blogs on the subject. The story so far: the peculiarly British sport…
Letter from Defra
I am grateful to Defra Minister Richard Benyon for this reply to a letter which my MP, Louise Mensch, sent to him on 15 December concerning implementation of the EU Birds Directive. The letter asked about farmland birds, hen harriers and marine protected areas. The Minister’s civil servants have written him quite a detailed reply…
Guest blog – NT’s Simon Pryor responds to events in the Peak District
A response to Mark Avery’s blog An everyday tale of country folk. Thanks Mark (!) for throwing down another gauntlet, for one of us in ‘Dame Fiona’s team” to pick up. I’m a relative newcomer to the Trust, but let me pick up this one, and tell you how I’ve found things on this highly…
An everyday story of country folk
Last week, a scene in a long-running play was acted to a conclusion. The play is a bit of a ‘whodunnit’ with heroes and villains – but since we haven’t yet seen the ending there is time for villains to repent. Sometimes it’s difficult to know on which side some people are until the final…
What did the Romans never do for us?
I wondered what it was like in Roman times as I headed up Ermine Street to the south bank of the Humber. The legions probably didn’t have to judge when to overtake a large lorry as they headed north from Lincoln, and when they got to the estuary they had to make a ferry crossing…