Hen harriers are nesting in the hills, and the persecution and the brood meddling go on. Here are three items of news, although the first of them is an ongoing item of non-news that may soon be of itself newsworthy. 1. Brood meddling legal challenge The story so far; 2018 – Natural England issue licences…
Tag: Natural England
Sunday book review – Beak, Tooth and Claw by Mary Colwell
I have found this book a difficult one to review because I like and admire the author but I dislike and don’t admire the book. What follows is a review of the book, not of the author. It’s a book about predators in the UK – so raptors, Red Foxes, Badgers, seals get lots of…
Guest blog – HS2, Natural England 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…
RSPB press release – 2020 on RSPB nature reserves
2020: an amazing year for wildlife on RSPB reserves New report shows that despite Covid restrictions affecting vital conservation work many threatened species had a bumper year on RSPB reserves in 2020. Highlights included breeding spoonbills, egrets and rare plants, butterflies and spiders. More than 18,500 species have now been found living on RSPB reserves. Despite Covid-19 restrictions affecting access and conservation work in the…
Jones Hill Wood (and brood meddling)
Yesterday, Justice Lang stopped the felling of Jones Hill Wood in the ‘licensed area’ (as defined in License WML-OR58, issued by Natural England on 30 March 2021) and granted the Claimant, Mark Keir, permission for an expedited rolled up judicial review of Natural England’s licensing of the felling. This hearing will take place in the…
This blog (3) – the cartoons
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Over the last decade this blog has featured the work of many artists who could be regarded as cartoonists. Ralph Underhill: Ralph has contributed hundreds of cartoons for a regular Saturday morning slot – his last offering, and some words from him, will appear on this blog tomorrow morning. But here are a few to…
Fantastic Mr Fox’s wood and Natural England
Following Dominic Woodfield’s guest blog here last week, a High Court challenge has been issued over HS2’s felling of parts of Jones Hill Wood under licence from our very own statutory, ahem, nature conservation agency. This reminds me of nothing so much as : It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government…
This blog (2)
Things that happened during the last decade: 2011: First blog here First guest blog here by the still unknown-to-most-people, Mr White – the first of nearly 400 guest blogs published to date (this blog will still accept guest blogs) I travel across the USA and then come back I start writing a monthly column for…
DEFRA #omnishambles publishes review of general licences
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Wild Justice challenged general licences in England in winter 2019 Natural England withdrew those licences in spring 2019. DEFRA reintroduced very similar licences in summer 2019. DEFRA held a consultation on general licences in autumn 2019. DEFRA published the consultation responses and its views on them in spring 2021. And they represent pretty poor analysis…
Guest blog – HS2 Limited and Natural England – Partners in Crime? 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…