The much-awaited Glover review into protected landscapes was published on Saturday morning and is a serious, imaginative and important document. The review is well worth a thorough read, and several re-reads (that’s what I have already done) but can be summarised in part by these two paragraphs from its summary; Our country is changing fast….
Tag: Natural England
Press release – Campaign for National Parks
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Ambitious proposals in “biggest shakeup” – findings of the Glover review renew vision for National Parks Major changes to the running of National Parks have been proposed today in an independent review of England’s designated landscapes led by Julian Glover. Campaign for National Parks, the only national charity that campaigns to protect, enhance and promote…
Good report on a bad state of affairs
The lack of birds of prey, due to high levels of illegal persecution, in many upland so-called protected areas (AONBs and National Parks) is a disgrace that is becoming clearer and clearer to the public at large. And this report on the state of affairs for the Nidderdale AONB is another welcome step forward in…
Press release – Campaign for National Parks
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A wake up call in our National Parks for our politicians Campaign for National Parks, the only national, independent charity dedicated to protecting and enhancing the National Parks in England and Wales, has urged Government to demonstrate leadership on the future of National Parks. The call follows the first day of the UK National Parks…
Guest blog – Sorry Tony, you cannot spin this into a good news story for Natural England 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…
Opportunity to change the shape of general licences
Defra is consulting the public, fairly properly, on general licences. But don’t worry, you have plenty of time to think about it. Today, Defra issued this consultation which asks for views and evidence – the latter is quite important. This survey forms part of the process of consulting and engaging with stakeholders for the 2019…
Some more information on brood meddling
You may remember that c10 days ago I published some information received from Natural England about brood meddling (see here). There was some information missing from that response which has now been supplied in the form of this interesting email from Prof Ken Norris to the rest of the scientific steering group; Note that this…
A very interesting paper on Hen Harrier diet
AbstractThe hen harrier is a heavily persecuted bird of prey in Great Britain since its diet includes Red grouse, a game bird shot in driven and walked-up grouse shooting. Unlike walked-up shooting where shooters walk up moors and flush grouse with dogs, in driven grouse shooting the grouse are driven by beaters towards static shooters….
Wilful blindness continues, completely unabated
Here is an annotated (in bold and italics) copy of the government response to the phenomenally popular petition by Chris Packham to ban driven grouse shooting (see here). Basically, Defra maintains its wilful blindness of the issues and their responsibility to solve them. Grouse shooting is a legitimate activity [only in the sense of being…
Tim Melling – Hen Harrier
Tim writes: according to the RSPB, 2019 was a record year for Hen Harriers in England with 33 young fledged from 9 nests. But it is within my memory that 30 pairs nested in Lancashire’s Forest of Bowland alone. Nine nests for the whole of England is perilously low. Quoting from RSPB recently “Hen harriers…