Let us start with a quote: 31 October 2016 Therese CoffeyI have heard the concerns of some hon. Members that birds of prey, particularly hen harriers, are deliberately being killed. The Government take the illegal persecution of raptors very seriously. On the missing hen harriers in the last fortnight, the matter has been referred to…
Tag: Natural England
Wuthering Moors 76 – more moor burning
Michael Gove has asked moorland owners to be good boys (and girls – although all the landowners in the room at the time were actually men) and to stop damaging blanket bogs through burning them. Burning is carried out so that men (and a few women) can shoot lots of Red Grouse for fun as…
Midhope Moors – burned blanket bog
Burned Sphagnum photographed yesterday on Midhope Moors, Peak District. And here is Midhope Moors with the blanket bog shaded in buff from the Defra MAGIC system https://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx And some more burned Sphagnum up there in the blanket bog. Well, this looks to me like a recent burn. I understand that Wakefield Farms are the landowners…
Policing the burning agreement
This was the example of moorland burning I saw on the northern edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park three weeks ago. Does this comply with the voluntary agreement made by many grouse moors not to burn on blanket bogs? There are a couple of things that I would need to know before I could…
Coffey says no!
A grouse shooter’s moll and Defra minister. Photo: Natural England In a closely argued, fact-packed and loquacious answer to a short question from Rachael Maskell MP (Central York, Labour) we learn much about the workings of Therese Coffey’s mind. Surely, rather than ‘no’, the grouse shooters’ moll meant ‘no comment, no comment, no comment‘? Michael…
Mall Galleries, SWLA, gossip etc
Leopard and Carmine Bee-eaters – Greg Poole Yesterday I spent large amounts of time from lunchtime to dinner time in the Mall Galleries, in The Mall, at various events including the opening of the SWLA exhibition and a BTO evening reception involving people getting awards. And a pretty good time was had by most I…
Guest blog – Natural History GCSE (2) by Mary Colwell
Mary Colwell is an award winning radio, TV and internet producer winning 14 awards over the last 5 years, including a Sony Gold in 2009. She is also a radio presenter and feature writer for The Tablet. Mary has written three previous guest blogs here (A Natural History GCSE, 23 November 2012; Shared Planet, 15…
RSPB AGM
If this were a rating on TripAdvisor or similar then this year’s RSPB AGM would score quite highly. It was a bit less slick than usual – whoever was working the images didn’t quite get them right all the time for example. But it was still an inspirational event – and the AGM itself is…
Putting two and two and one together in one small corner of the Bowland Fells
The locations of five Hen Harriers whose satellite tags have mysteriously ceased to transmit in and adjacent to an SPA set up to protect Hen Harriers: SD596621 tag id 94591 tagged by NE 23 June 2010, ceased transmitting 18 Aug 2010 SD617605 ‘Hope’ tagged by RSPB summer 2014, ceased transmitting 13 September 2014 SD624632 Thor…
Thor thunders no more
RSPB press relase. Hen Harrier chick Thor – now ‘disappeared’. Photo: Steve Downing First Bowland hen harrier chick in three years vanishes without trace Thor was one of 13 chicks to fledge from Bowland, Lancashire for the first time in three years. The rare chick is the latest in a number of hen harriers to…