It is worth watching the piece on moorland burning that went out on Countryfile last night. (Click here from 14mins – 25mins in) There are claims that the system designed to protect [blanket bog] is not fit for purpose https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0002tww/countryfile-gloucestershire Well done to Guy Shrubsole and Friends of the Earth! That dossier of burning on…
Tag: hen harrier
Wicken on Friday evening
I paid a visit to Wicken Fen on Friday evening – it was such a lovely day I wanted to get out and away from a computer for a while. And with my NTS membership card it’s free to get in. Let’s cut to the punchline – we saw a male Hen Harrier twice. Twice,…
6000th blog post
I couldn’t let the moment pass without marking the fact that this is this blog’s 6000th post. And, with all respect to Paul Leyland and the marvellous image with interesting words coming up here at 6pm, I did want a landmark post to be written by me. From the very first blog post, which rather…
NEWS: bad news for grouse shooting
It seems we have another five weeks or so to wait until the long, long, long awaited analysis of NE’s Hen Harrier tagging data is published. But the title of the paper ‘Patterns of satellite tagged hen harrier disappearances suggest widespread illegal killing on British grouse moors’ is somewhat revealing. No doubt Michael Gove and…
Tony Juniper for NE Chair
So the rumours were right. Tony Juniper is heading to be, almost certainly, the new Chair of Natural England. Congratulations to him – he is a star of the environment movement – and fingers crossed he, with Marian Spain, can make a difference at what is a sadly failing organisation. And, it has to be…
Slightly odd ‘story’
In the Guardian there is a slightly odd story about how disadvantaged people are by not having access to National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. From Exmoor to Northumberland, the country’s poorest people are being denied access to England’s most beautiful countryside and missing out on the mental and physical health benefits that…
Guest blog – Winds of Change by Derek Gow
Derek Gow is a farmer – you can see from the image opposite he is a serious farmer. Here he writes about the future he has chosen for his farm. Winds of change For those who don’t farm it’s difficult to understand the mentality of those that do. While James Reebanks in his excellent book…
Natural England – you need to look in the mirror
Our latest victory to protect moorland habitat was a victory against Natural England, the government agency and regulator whose job it is to protect such habitats. Just read that sentence again. The government agency which we pay to protect the environment has been forced, eventually, to do the right thing because of a legal challenge…
Gilruth/Gregory – mostly ignored but an RSPB response.
Following this morning’s blog about the depths to which GWCT have slipped, I can’t find much coverage of the said press release (hardly surprising is it?). Have you spotted any? There is this one article which more or less republished the original press release and a feisty quote from Martin Harper… This is another sadly…
GWCT plumbs new depths
Here are some quotes from a press release from Abzed’s Ian Gregory which was released yesterday morning: From: Ian Gregory <ig@abzed.com>Sent: 27 January 2019 09:58Subject: Official Figures Reveal RSPB’s “Increasing Failure” To Protect Endangered Birds Embargo 00.01 Monday 28 January 2019 Government data shows the RSPB is four times less successful with hen harriers…