You may remember that the Defra response to Gavin Gamble’s e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting referred in an alarming way to control of problem species. I asked Defra what they meant and have only just (yesterday) received a response. Here it is: Dear Dr Avery, Thank you for your email of 27 November about…
Tag: Natural England
It may be May
Raptor Persecution UK today maintain their excellent record of unearthing the details of the friendly and collaborative manner in which the Moorland Association has always dealt with their partners in fighting wildlife crime. This case is an alleged email sent a long time ago, in 2010, by the then Peak District representative of the Moorland…
Guest blog – Driven Grouse Shooting on Borrowed Time by RSPB chair Kevin Cox
Kevin Cox was appointed Chair of RSPB Council in October 2017, having previously served on Council from 2011-2016. He has been a Council member and trustee of World Land Trust for the past 12 years, as well as Chair of its trading company. He helped Birdlife Bolivia set up a protected area for the critically-endangered…
Bird flu – which birds?
It looked as though we might get through this winter without avian flu arriving on our shores but no such luck. After the first case was detected at the swannery at Abbotsbury there is now another case involving 13 wild birds in Warwickshire. Let’s hope that there are no more cases affecting poultry and poultry…
Brood meddling in the Guardian
Patrick Barkham in the Guardian: Conservationists say government scheme, aimed at placating grouse moor land owners who object to the birds breeding on their land, will not boost numbers of the endangered birds. There’s a good quote from the RSPB but we are all wondering what the RSPB will actually do now. There’s a very…
Brood meddling – a mad muddle
Yesterday Natural England announced that it had issued licences for Defra’s highly controversial Hen Harrier brood management scheme (but this blog by Raptor Persecution UK is a much better description of what is going on). Natural England was once a statutory nature conservation organisation of high repute but it is no longer fit for purpose. …
Defra responds to the pro-grouse shooting e-petition
On a busy day for environmental news Defra decided to publish their response to the Jane Griggs e-petition in favour of grosue shooting. Funny that. This is what they wrote: Grouse shooting is a legitimate activity that provides economic benefits, jobs and investment in some of our most remote areas and can offer important benefits…
The PM’s environment speech – the text
It is wonderful to be here at the Wetland Centre – a true oasis in the heart of London. In our election manifesto last year we made an important pledge: to make ours the first generation to leave the natural environment in a better state than we found it. As we leave the European Union,…
Good news for farmland birds and taxpayers
An RSPB -led study demonstrates that well-designed agri-environment schemes can help farmland birds to recover towards their previous levels. This information is important at a time when the UK may be escaping the constraints of the EU Common Agricultural Policy and will be free to do a better job (or indeed a worse one) in…
British Wildlife magazine
The December issue of British Wildlife came through my letter box yesterday but others must have got theirs earlier as I had a few emails and messages on social media about my column. Here’s a taster: ‘On the ground, local NE staff may well be doing their best, and will be doing some good, but…