Rumour has it that Natural England has agreed a highly contentious Moorland Plan with the Walshaw Estate – the famous grouse moor, owned by millionaire businessman Richard Bannister, which sits above Hebden Bridge. I wrote in this blog on 2 October 2017 ‘It remains to be seen whether NE will really dig their heels…
Tag: Walshaw Moor
North York Moors
There are indications that many intensive grouse-shooting estates are undertaking more heather (and in some cases Sphagnum) burning this year because they feel that the Walshaw Moor net is closing in on them. Here are some examples of what heather burning actually looks like from the North York Moors. Does this burning follow the heather…
The Moorland Imbalance (5)
In their little booklet, the GWCT address five areas that they say are commonly-heard criticisms of driven grouse shooting. This week I’ll deal with each of them. GWCT say that a commonly-heard criticism is that ‘Heather burning on grouse moors increases flooding’ and attempt to sidestep this in the same way that they attempted to…
Let’s see the back of Craig Whittaker in Calder Valley
Calder Valley was the constituency that provided the most signatures for my e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting. In fact it produced 871 (out of 123,077) signatures. The rival e-petition, supporting grouse shooting, accumulated just 31 signatures in Calder Valley (and only 25,322 overall). And yet Conservative MP for the Calder Valley, Craig Whittaker, spoke…
Moorland Management Plans in England
It’s a long time now since I worked in nature conservation and so increasingly I find that the jargon has moved on from that with which I used to be entirely comfortable. When Moorland Management Plans came up in a conversation with an old friend I had to admit to being unaware of what they…
Brexit, CAP and grouse moors 2
The disappearance of income support for grouse moors in a post-Brexit world is apparently on the cards – and is a sound policy route to follow as a small aspect of making our money work better for taxpayers, consumers and farmers alike. But the other side of the coin is that more money should be…
Gems from the written evidence 7 – the grouse moor owners, manager, gamekeepers
It may not come as a surprise that those engaged in grouse shooting do not want any change to their hobby, sport or business. Here are some examples: Dawnay Estates, North York Moors: any introduction of further regulation or laws does not seem to serve any useful purpose Weardale Estates: The law on grouse shooting…
West Pennine Moors
Natural England moves with the pace of a snail when it comes to protecting wildlife sites but with that of a cheetah when it comes to issuing licenses to bump off wildlife. Because of NE foot-dragging in the area of Gate Zero there now appears to be a race against time to get the West…
Flood risk at Hebden Bridge (Wuthering Moors 54)
Hebden Bridge in the Calder Valley has experienced terrible floods in recent years. Locals blame the severity of these floods on the intensive management of Walshaw Moor for driven grouse shooting. Now there appears to be some new scientific evidence to strengthen that view. In May 2014 I visited Hebden Bridge and spoke to the…
Wuthering Moors 53
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I recently contacted Natural England and asked them the following questions which they have been kind enough to answer as follows: Q1: Has NE’s James Cross met Richard Bannister of the Walshaw Moor Estate in 2016? A1: Yes, he has, on 4th February 2016. Q2: What was the subject of their meeting? …