Natural England restricts gamebird shooting on Thornton Moor. Fresh doubt has been cast over the future of the controversial game bird shoot on Yorkshire Water’s land at Thornton Moor after Natural England has refused permission for a significant part of the operation. The government’s habitats watchdog has said in a decision notice issued to Yorkshire…
Tag: Natural England
Latest weekly bird/poultry flu update from Defra – for what it’s worth
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This week’s woefully inadequate update of bird/poultry flu in wild birds from Defra shows positive cases in seabirds (Gannet, Great Skua, Guillemot, Puffin, Herring Gull, Black-headed Gull and Great Black-backed Gull), some swans and geese and another White-tailed Eagle. The positive records come from Shetland to the south coast of England. Little can be drawn…
BBS 2
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Last weekend I did the second visit to one of my BBS squares. It was later in the allowable time than usual because everything has been later than usual for a while in my life. I wasn’t very optimistic about seeing lots of birds but the aim of the BBS is to record the birds…
RSPB press release – Black-tailed Godwits
Today (28 June) sees the final release of hand-raised black-tailed godwits as part of an emergency intervention which has thrown the critically endangered wetland bird a lifeline and helped increase its chances of survival. Data collected by a five year partnership between the RSPB and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) called Project Godwit, shows the…
Guest blog – Enforcement of the Burning Ban by Bob Berzins
Enforcement of the Burning Ban – a long road to justice My life has changed a lot over the last couple of years and it now seems normal to chat to a police officer sitting at my kitchen table. He was taking a witness statement from me about harassment from gamekeepers. I explained what I…
Guest blog – HS2 and Jones Hill Wood by Dominic Woodfield
Dominic Woodfield is the Managing Director of Bioscan, a long established and well-respected consultancy specialising in applied ecology. He is a life-long birder, a specialist in botany, habitat restoration and creation and in protected fauna including bats, herpetofauna and other species. He is also a highly experienced practitioner in Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats Regulations…
Press release – Flying kites: the UK’s most successful bird conservation project returns the favour – and chicks – to Spain
The UK’s most successful bird conservation project – for red kites – has come full circle and is now donating kite chicks to a similar project in Spain, the country that provided chicks for our red kite reintroduction project to England almost 35 years ago. In 1989, an ambitious project began to restore red kite…
RSPB press release – Turtle Doves
UK turtle dove survey warns of low numbers, but hope is on the horizon The first ever national turtle dove survey has estimated that just 2,100 pairs of turtle dove now breed in the UK This migratory bird is primarily at risk due to loss of habitat and unsustainable levels of hunting Although sobering results,…
Guest blog – How a suppressed BTO report became published as a ‘joint’ BTO/NE study by Dominic Woodfield
Dominic Woodfield is the Managing Director of Bioscan, a long established and well-respected consultancy specialising in applied ecology. He is a life-long birder, a specialist in botany, habitat restoration and creation and in protected fauna including bats, herpetofauna and other species. He is also a highly experienced practitioner in Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats…
Sunday book review – Peak District by Penny Anderson
This is a standard New Naturalist – a series of books that doesn’t feel very new, or at all ground-breaking these days. Penny Anderson gives a workpersonlike account of the wildlife and ecology of this area, mostly a National Park, and the habitats it includes. There is mention of raptor persecution. Hen Harrier appears in…