The National Trust’s former shooting tenant, Mark Osborne

Mark Osborne, the exiting shooting tenant of the National Trust in the Peak District, is a very well-known name in shooting circles. He is not a nobody, he is someone for whom ‘failure is not an option’ according to Lord James Percy in Fieldsports magazine.  Mr Osborne is prone to tell people that he is…

Hands off our Hen Harriers – picnic on the moors.

Are you holding the date of 25 June, midday, for a picnic on a grouse moor in north Yorkshire?  I am. I’m looking forward to it. Apparently this picnic will be in a constituency which has more than 100 signatures on our e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting, is in a National Park and is…

When in doubt – ask Shania Twain!

The RSPB is getting into a bit of a pickle, and that’s a shame.  It has had a really bad week with its natural allies and that week comes after a slow slide in confidence throughout 2016 in the organisation’s ability to make a difference on raptor persecution at a policy and advocacy level. The…

And another e-petition!

Mark my words, there will be some more coming soon too. But here is another e-petition about Hen Harriers and grouse moors. I’ve signed it (even though there are a couple of mistakes in it). You could too.

Thunderclap at 5pm – please sign up

The thunderclap organised by Stewart Abbott, who is also organising the Peak District Hen Harrier Day event, is being broadcast at 5pm today. If you have a Twitter, Facebook or tumblr account then please sign up to it (I wonder how many readers of this blog are on tumblr?). I wonder whether that will deliver…

Worth waiting for

This is a press release from the Yorkshire Dales NP in response (a slightly slow response) to the pole trap incident of last week. A bit late thought it may be, it is well worth reading.   Birds of prey traps condemned by National Park Authority Grassington, June 7, 2016. Illegal persecution of birds of…

The alternative Countryfile interview.

On Sunday Countryfile sank lower than even I thought was possible with a hopeless piece about grouse moors. Here is the link and the piece starts at about 22 minutes into the programme. Presumably, in the interests of BBC balance, Springwatch will be showing this image of how Mountain Hares are looked after on grouse…

RSPB speaking softly and left its stick at home.

The RSPB continues to talk up the hopeless Defra Hen Harrier plan even though it shows no sign of making a difference on the ground. In a rather unspecific update Martin Harper says that there is only ‘a tiny handful’ of Hen Harrier nesting attempts in England to date.  Tiny handful? Attempts?  This long-heralded update…