shone a light on the scale of illegal raptor persecution in the UK uplands brought the damaging impacts of grouse moor management to the attention of the media and the British public had a lot of fun persuaded M&S three years in a row to reverse its decision to sell grouse meat in stores got…
Tag: hen harrier
A day at Spurn
Last week I spent most of a day birdwatching at Spurn, and by chance the first person I met was Georgia Locock whose guest blog appeared here on that very day. So I had a chat with Georgia at about 8am and spent the rest of the time birding. It was a nice relaxing day….
The ‘debate’ – some first thoughts
On Monday afternoon and evening a Westminster Hall debate was held where UK MPs discussed the idea that driven grouse shooting should be banned because 123,077 people had signed an e-petition. The e-petition system was set up by Parliament so that the people could bring matters about which they felt strongly to the attention of…
Thank you all
This post was written at the weekend – before whatever happened yesterday at the debate on the future of grouse shooting happened. I never really believed that we would get this debate until we were in the 90,000 signatures in early August 2016. But we have. And the way that people look at driven grouse…
Dear minister 1 – the status quo just won’t do
Dear Therese Coffey Today I assume that you will close the Westminster Hall debate on driven grouse shooting. I’m just guessing here, but I’d be surprised if you will be signalling that Defra is asking for parliamentary time for a ban on driven grouse shooting. OK, that time will come eventually. But what you really…
Gems from the written evidence 23 – an ex-gamekeeper
This is very interesting, and I suspect this man, an ex-gamekeeper was rather brave to speak out like this. Here are some excerpts from his written evidence: I am writing regarding the recent petition to ban Driven Grouse Shooting and its proposed debate in Parliament. My name is Paul Tooley and until recently I had…
Gems from the written evidence 21 – more from upland areas
Naturalists and conservationists who know the uplands are unconvinced by the claims made by the shooting industry that driven Red Grouse moors are rich in wildlife. Here are some more excerpts: Caz Walker: I live in rural Cumbria at 900 feet, not far from the Lakeland Fells, where you’d imagine there would be a lot…
Gems from the written evidence 20 – more from the Peak District
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Locals from the Peak District are rightly outraged by what is happening in their National Park. I’ve already highlighted some written evidence from Bob Berzins, the Peak District Raptor Monitoring Group, Nick Brown and the Sheffield Bird Study Group. Here are some more views: Arne Swithenbank: I walk frequently in the Staffordshire Moorlands where the…
Gems from the written evidence 19 – Nature Scotland
Disclaimer (March 2020) – This was not written by anyone connected to the tourism company ‘Nature Scotland’ and was done by an external person who decided to title it ‘Nature Scotland’. A view from someone in an industry that suffers because of driven grouse shooting; I work in the Wildlife Tourism industry and I can…
Gems from the written evidence 18 – Jim Welford
I found this account, from someone who knows Walshaw Moor and the North York Moors, very strong. here are some excerpts: I’ve been a birdwatcher as long as I can remember, covering many locations, mainly in Yorkshire. Taking a job in Halifax in 2003 gave me easy after work access to the surrounding moorland, there’s…