A friend recently sent me a link with the pithy note saying that he was surprised that I was such mates with Vladimir Putin and that he hoped I would use my best endeavours to get him to pull the tanks out of Ukraine. Of course, I’ll do all I can on that front but…
Tag: Ruth Tingay
The man underneath the hat
Wild Justice has recently started subscribing to The Shooting Times – just to have a look at what they are saying. So, every Thursday an issue arrives at my home. When I saw this week’s cover I thought to myself ‘Yet another shooter getting out of his depth’ but I thought there was something familiar…
A letter to my MP
Dear Mr Pursglove, I’d like to bring to your attention the recent remarks of one of your fellow Conservative MPs, Chris Loder. When a White-tailed Eagle was found dead, suspected poisoned, in his Dorset constituency, Mr Loder went onto social media to say that he didn’t want eagles in his constituency, that they didn’t belong…
Letter to my MP
Dear Mr Pursglove I hope you are well, This email is to keep you informed about some matters which mean a lot to me – as your website suggests I should. On Monday there are two environmental subjects being discussed in Parliament that are of concern for me: driven grouse shooting and the Environment Bill,…
Hen Harrier brood meddling on trial (3)
Assessing the success or failure of brood meddling for Hen Harriers cannot adequately be measured by looking at survival of chicks in captivity even if this were to be compared with correctly comparable nests in the wild. How about post-release survival too? There are plenty of potential reasons why captive-reared chicks might fail to survive…
Scotland starts the proper regulation of driven grouse shooting
Well, thank heavens for that! And let’s thank the SNP government for having the balls to move decisively (after a bit of a long wait) to announce that they will bring in regulation on driven grouse shooting, muirburn and the use of medicated grit. I was struck by the widespread support for this move from…
Gamebirds victory (16) – the 500m myth
DEFRA Secretary of State, George Eustice, says; The negative effects of gamebird releases on protected sites tend to be localised with minimal or no effects beyond 500m from the point of release. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/defra-concludes-its-review-into-releasing-gamebirds-on-and-around-protected-sites I wonder why Mr Eustice thinks that. Might it be because that’s what was in a DEFRA Witness statement made by an…
Gamebirds victory (15) – the 500m buffer zone.
There is a narrative developed by DEFRA and Natural England that the Madden and Sage review, and the bits that they didn’t look at, all combine to mean that any impacts of gamebird releases are limited to, and are known to be limited to, 500m from release sites. This is not true. It’s not true…
Gamebirds victory (8) – an unproven but potentially important impact
Here’s a dead Pheasant. Something will come along and eat it (although since it is surrounded (for a distance of far more than 500m in all directions) by grouse moor the density of scavenging birds and mammals might be quite low. A good bet for the destination of quite a lot of roadkill gamebirds is…
The Wild Justice legal victory – what they say
The Wild Justice legal challenge has secured regulation of gamebird releases in a way never contemplated by the shooting industry. The Guardian: Pheasant and partridge classified as species that imperil UK wildlife. Wild Justice successfully argued that European protections obliged the authorities to regulate about 60 million non-native pheasants and partridges let loose into the…