STARTS RSPB Scotland has dismissed a press release issued today by the “Gift of Grouse” campaign that attempts to draw a veil over the continued persecution of birds of prey on areas of land managed intensively for driven grouse shooting. The reports on which these assertions are based are not in the public domain, and…
Tag: hen harrier
The minister’s speech
On the last day of October our e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting (123,077 signatures) was debated alongside another, so-called rival, e-petition to protect grouse shooting (which still languishes under 25,000 signatures despite being over half way through its allotted time). Having let a month pass I’ll now return to what was said on that…
Nice crowds
I was talking about grouse shooting at a joint Dorset Bird Club and BTO conference on Saturday and to the Bedfordshire Bird Club on Tuesday evening. Both were really nice groups of people. The advantage of a conference is that you hear others speak too and I really enjoyed hearing Nick Moran on Birdtrack (great…
British Beavers Back to stay
Eurasian Beavers living in northern Britain, Scotland actually, are to be given legal protection so that they can spread their range naturally. This is a big step forward for rewilding proponents and anti-de-wilding proponents but I forecast trouble ahead. Already the NFUS is up in arms about this and has said that proper management of…
Marty Feldman wouldn’t like it
I’ve been meaning to write about another e-petition for ages but somehow haven’t got around to it until now. David Lindo, the Urban Birder, started a petition to make the Robin our national bird following it winning a vote on the same subject (Hen Harrier came an amazing 9th remember). And it has done very…
The RSPB and driven grouse shooting
It’s certainly not my place to be setting out the RSPB’s position on driven grouse shooting but there have been signs, some public and some less obvious, that the RSPB is losing patience with driven grouse shooting and with Defra. Let’s just recognise that the RSPB has come a long and slightly difficult way since…
Sunday book review – Winter by Melissa Harrison (ed)
This book is on the same model as the preceding three volumes: an anthology of seasonal nature writing with a mixture of work from well-known and older writers and some very modern pieces too. I liked Spring, Summer and Autumn and I like Winter too. It felt as though there were more poetry in this…
Likely lads
Rowan the Hen Harrier ‘was likely to have been shot’ – likely? That’s an odd phrase and it’s been bothering me (and others, I see). I tend to start from the supposition that all Hen Harriers are likely to be shot and have to keep telling myself that there are other perfectly natural causes of…
RSPB getting tough?
There are two recent RSPB blogs which are well worth a read – aren’t they all, always? Martin Harper’s blog is pretty outspoken as these quotes will make clear (but please read it all): it was a deeply frustrating debate – especially to the 123,000 that called for a ban and of course those seeking…
Rory Stewart – this one is in your constituency
Rory Stewart has moved on from Defra but his legacy of inactivity on wildlife crime lives on and its impacts are manifest in his own constituency. A case of dead birds coming home to roost? I didn’t have any takers for my 100/1 bet that Rowan died of natural causes. It’s hardly surprising. He couldn’t…