Are things getting better – is raptor persecution decreasing? Let’s start from the basics. Killing birds of prey is illegal, and has been since 1954 (and partly before that). Most killing of birds of prey is carried out by people with jobs in the game management industries where birds of prey are seen, partly rightly,…
Tag: Natural England
Licensed killing of birds
When Wild Justice challenged the general licences issued by Natural England last year all hell broke loose. A year later we are seeing new licences being issued by public bodies in Scotland and Wales, and are awaiting the new DEFRA licensing regime for England. There’s a lot going on on this subject and, as one…
BASC – so predictable
BASC is miffed by Wild Justice’s legal action against the lawfulness of Natural Resources Wales’s general licences. In a badly written statement which doesn’t say much, but says most of it twice, BASC calls Wild Justice a bunch of names. Apparently Wild Justice is attacking the countryside whereas we (Chris Packham, Ruth Tingay and I)…
Wild Justice challenges Welsh general licences
Wild Justice revealed yesterday evening that it had written to Natural Resource Wales challenging the legality of their general licences. Wild Justice is waiting for a response from DEFRA, requested by the end of this week, on its plans for new general licences this year when the current ones run out at the end of…
Natural England – this must tell you something
I wrote last August about the outrageous cheek of Natural England crowdfunding for a variety of projects, some of which look very much like its statutory duties to me, and others look like a complete waste of time (see here, here). In the ‘complete waste of time’ category is Natural England’s plan to reintroduce Hen…
#justice4henharriers Day 1
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And so we move from Day 1 to Day 2 of this crowdfunder – great start. Thank you! People are so generous. And there is £3900+ still to be transferred from a previous successful case – I’ve just nudged Crowdjustice asking them to do this quickly please. Here is the link to the crowdfunder –…
Catfield Fen again
I’ve been writing about the battle to save Catfield Fen since spring 2012 (and I’ve added those blog posts to the curated archive – click here). Although most of the previous 10 posts were in 2012-2014, and the apparent victory by the land owners, Tim and Geli Harris, to save a wildlife gem from water…
Justice for Hen Harriers – the appeal
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The date is set for our (and the RSPB’s) appeal against the judgment in our judicial reviews challenging the legality of brood meddling. I challenged the legality of Natural England’s licensing of this otherwise illegal act on the grounds that there are legal alternatives to brood meddling that Natural England unlawfully ignored and failed to…
Talking
Over the last couple of weeks or so I’ve given four talks; to biology sixth formers at a local school, to an RSPB members’ group in Hertfordshire, to a rewilding group in Bristol and to university students in Northampton. All have been fun to do and all have been different. I say that they all…
Joke response to new gull licensing regime from Moorland Association
Following their joke response to the Committee on Climate Change’s report on land use the Moorland Association has issued another joke response today – this time to the new licensing regime of lethal control of gulls from Natural England. Even the thickest of journalists surely won’t quote the Moorland Association’s contention that their members, notably…