I submitted this request for information to Defra on 12 September. I am looking forward to receiving their full response on or before 12 October so that I can refer to it in my oral evidence to the inquiry into grouse shooting. This email is a request for information ahead of an evidence…
Tag: Natural England
Petitions update
Online e-petitions are becoming a major way that opposition to government policy is now voiced. Certainly they are vying with wildlife NGOs, journalism and the opposition political parties as the main voice of public criticism. It is striking how many of the e-petitions on the Westminster parliament website are about wildlife and wildlife protection. Here’s…
Did you write to your Labour MP? Firm Briefing 18
Around 120 of you have told me that you have written to your Labour MPs on the subject of the debate on driven grouse shooting that will happen on a Monday afternoon after the 18 October (date tbc). So far, some of you have had responses from c22 Labour MPs but another 68 or so…
Landowners win 8-year battle to save Catfield Fen
The Catfield Fen Public Inquiry report is a comprehensive and overwhelming victory for the owners of Catfield Fen (Mr and Mrs Tim Harris) in their battle to save their fen from the impacts of water abstraction by local farmers. In it the inspector finds that: there is clear evidence that the Fen is in danger…
Leadsom’s historic opportunity
I’ve been to the launch of the latest State of Nature report. To the extent that such a depressing document can be fun, it was fun. But it was certainly interesting. The wildlife NGOs managed to entice the new Secretary of State for E, F and RA to the event to make a speech and…
Calling the Calder Valley constituency!
Dear Calder Valley constituents I’d like to thank you for your support for my e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting. Your constituency has provided the largest number of signatures supporting my e-petition – over 850 signatures with just over a week to go. I guess that the reason that support has been so strong from…
Quick thoughts from the Sheffield conference
I spent Thursday evening, Friday and Saturday morning with a disparate bunch of supporters and opponents to banning driven grouse shooting at the Sheffield conference on raptors, peatlands and the uplands. It was valuable in all sorts of ways, not least in meeting some blog readers and supporters whom I rarely see (for some of…
Sunday book review – Autumn by Melissa Harrison (ed)
I’ve reviewed Spring and Summer here, and liked them, so it won’t be a surprise that I enjoyed Autumn too. The book follows the same model as the earlier two seasons – an anthology of writings from famous writers mixed in with offerings from current writers. It’s still a good model and worked as well…
Guest blog – Big Brother FC says No! by Peter Marren
Peter Marren has contributed Guest Blogs here before (NHM threatens wildlife (garden), 27 October 2015, Where green objectives clash, 26 January 2015; Ashes to ashes, 7 November 2012; Wildlife NGOs, 7 October 2011) and his excellent books Where the Wild Thyme Blew and Rainbow Dust – three centuries of delight in British butterflies…
Guest blog – The threatened valley of the River Yare by Prof Tim O’Riordan
Tim O’Riordan is emeritus Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia. He is President of the Norfolk Branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England, and co-chair of Colney Parish. The threatened Yare Valley on the western margin of Norwich The valley of the River Yare situated on the…