This infographic has been sent to MPs by the Moorland Association and BASC recently. It allows me to make a few points. 1. They say: ‘Managing heather helps preserve and protect UK’s biggest carbon store‘. Not so according to The Times (1 October) reporting a recent study by Leeds University : ‘The owners of…
Tag: Natural England
Books of the year
I seem to have reviewed 32 books on this site in 2014. They are all listed below. Reviewing books is a personal affair. I try not to say that books are good or bad – only that I like them or not. From that, you’ll have to make your own minds up. And I know…
Why Labour is doing badly – and how it could do better
It’s a matter of head and heart isn’t it? I am not terribly tribal in my politics. I have been too pragmatic in my life to believe that one side has all the good guys, all the wisdom and all the solutions. That can’t possibly be the case, can it? There are plenty of politicians…
Not tied up in Notts
I spoke at a BTO regional meeting in Nottinghamshire on Sunday, but so did many other people and I enjoy learning new things and being reminded of old things. Chas Holt gave an excellent talk about WeBS (that’s WeBS not Webs, WEBS, WEbs or any other combination!). Have you looked at the excellent WeBS online…
Botham fizzles out?
I’m glad that the Mail on Sunday’s latest rant at the RSPB for being a nature conservation organisation didn’t spoil Martin Harper’s weekend. It shouldn’t have done, because Botham appears to be bonkers. But there will be some, and Martin may be one of them, who work for the RSPB and feel a bit dispirited…
Natural England coming clean, at last, on Hen Harrier tracking data.
Natural England has just published some of its data (that I believe we paid for – as taxpayers) on satellite-tagged Hen Harriers. This is to be welcomed as what can possibly be gained by keeping secret data that in some cases are seven years old? It’s not exactly data of the quality of those published…
Guest Blog – There is nothing Green about these Country ‘Sports’ by Caroline Allen of the Green Party
Caroline Allen is a practising vet and the Green Party Spokesperson on Animals as well as Co-Chair of London Green Party. Caroline has worked on many animal-protection issues, most recently campaigning against the badger cull, expansion of factory farming and the overuse of antibiotics in animal farming. Shooting birds such as grouse and pheasants is…
I was going to ignore this but…
Read this, then this, then forget about it. ********************************************************************************************************************** But hang on a minute. maybe we shouldn’t just ignore this attack on the RSPB by the shooting community – for that appears to be what it is. And it is timed to appear just before the RSPB AGM. Sir Ian Botham owns a shoot and…
Awful gov
Have you tried the www.gov.uk website? Isn’t it absolutely awful? Can you find anything? Can you find the things you used to be able to find? Where, for example, can you find a list of Defra ministers’ speeches? Do they not speak these days? I would have mixed feelings about that. This is what I…
The non-joint non-plan is a non-joint non-plan says Defra
The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust launched an e-petition in mid July asking Defra to publish a plan developed by a group of stakeholders (as I believe we should call them – I loathe that term) to aid the recovery of the Hen Harrier. This e-petition has been enthusiastically promoted by GWCT, the Moorland Association,…