Yesterday’s Guardian story about the scale of licenses given out by Natural England for killing otherwise protected birds builds on the earlier revelations in the blog of Jason Endfield. The number of birds, eggs and nests involved (170,000) does look eye-wateringly large and the public reaction has been similarly large. My view, as expressed here…
Tag: Natural England
Save the Gwent Levels from the Welsh Assembly Government
If Natural Resources Wales, the Welsh Assembly Government’s regulator and advisor, is against the plans to drive a motorway through the wildlife-rich Gwent Levels, then why is the Welsh Assembly Government intent on doing just that? My mother grew up in this part of South Wales and so I have personal memories of it. And…
Warm words on burning
Natural England has issued a position statement on burning of blanket bogs – the position is basically ‘Don’t!’. We understand that the serial blanket bog burners in the uplands are less than chuffed by actually being told what they can and can’t do. We can’t see any comment from the Moorland Association on this subject…
Government response: not so much poor as awful.
Les Wallace’s epetition, having secured over 10,000 signatures, was entitled to an honest, serious and lucid response from Defra but it failed to get one. We know that these responses are signed off by government ministers and we assume that this one was signed off by the minister responsible for the areas covered by the…
Tony Juniper for NE Chair
So the rumours were right. Tony Juniper is heading to be, almost certainly, the new Chair of Natural England. Congratulations to him – he is a star of the environment movement – and fingers crossed he, with Marian Spain, can make a difference at what is a sadly failing organisation. And, it has to be…
Guest blog – New Year, New Moon Bird by Kerri ni Dochartaigh
Kerri ní Dochartaigh is a writer who grew up during the Troubles that ravaged Ireland. She lives in a very northwesterly part of the island, where the sky is grey and unbearably beautiful. She writes about nature, literature, place, beauty, grieving and healing. She writes at her kitchen table with the back door open; even…
Slightly odd ‘story’
In the Guardian there is a slightly odd story about how disadvantaged people are by not having access to National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. From Exmoor to Northumberland, the country’s poorest people are being denied access to England’s most beautiful countryside and missing out on the mental and physical health benefits that…
USAF to deny airspace to UK birds in The Fens
I’d never heard of Quartz so I am indebted to a reader for sending me this link which describes the search for an outfit to scare birds away from RAF (ho! ho!) Mildenhall and Lakenheath. It reminded me of when the RSPB bought Lakenheath Fen (then a bunch of carrot fields) and wanted to turn…
Minor update to NE Hen Harrier data (with a new error?)
Natural England has recently, but I’ve only just noticed, published an update to its Hen Harrier data to include data from this year (and some from a little earlier too). The update shows that 5 Hen Harrier chicks were satellite-tagged in England by NE in 2018: 3 have gone missing in the North Pennines (Mabel,…
The Wadsworth Trog on Walshaw Moor (Wuthering Moors 82)
Tomorrow, Saturday, there is a fell run over parts of Walshaw Moor organised by the Calder Valley Fell Runners and called the Wadsworth Trog. We’ve missed the chance of entering (damn!) this race of 19 miles and a height range of over 3600′. Few of the entrants will probably realise that Walshaw Moor is one…