Labour has this right

The Shadow environment minister, Alex Cunningham, spoke well in the Westminster Hall debate last week saying ‘As a responsible society, recognising the inherent dangers, we have already taken action and regulated to cut lead from petrol, from paint and from water pipes. But, despite the evidence and our previous moves to regulate other sources of…

Taking lead off the map

There are two e-petitions relating to toxic lead ammunition. At the moment the one asking for a continuation of our birds being poisoned and our food being adulterated with lead has more signatures so please sign Rob Sheldon’s e-petition to replace toxic lead ammunition with non-toxic alternatives. I find the relatively new Westminster parliament website…

RSPB and WWT support Rob Sheldon’s e-petition

Yesterday the RSPB and WWT started to mobilise their memberships to support Rob Sheldon’s e-petition to ban lead ammunition. This is good to see. The main RSPB Twitter account, @natures_voice tweeted once yesterday (and again this morning) and this was backed up by rather more active support from @rspbcymru and @jazzyjeff, and @wwtconservation and @wwtworldwide…

I missed this – better late than never

It was just over a year ago, 9 November 2014, that the 11th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species (in Resolution 11.15) called on Parties to “Phase-out the use of lead ammunition across all habitats (wetland and terrestrial) with non-toxic alternatives within the next three years with Parties reporting to CMS…

Thirteen years old

I wrote a Guest Blog for my young friend Findlay Wilde – have a look at it. This is me at the age of thirteen holding a trophy that I and a companion had won in the Under -14 (but Over-12) age category in a schools competition run by WWT at Slimbridge. I was handed…

BASC wriggling, G(W)CT silent. How interesting.

BASC are wriggling on lead. Their previous Chief Exec appears to be in favour of a lead-free future, on the basis of the evidence. So BASC is preparing to disparage and demean their long-serving and much-respected former Chief Exec, it seems. I cannot understand why BASC is so against a ban on lead ammunition –…

A lead-free future

If you know anything about the evidence for harm from lead ammunition, and know anything about how many other countries have switched to non-toxic ammunition, then it is difficult to imagine how the ‘Lead Ammunition Group‘ could possibly do anything other than opt for a lead-free future. Parts of a single email released under FoI…

An end of year survey

What do you think of wildlife NGOs, political parties, this website and a few other things? Just a dozen easy questions – and it is anonymous. Click here to take part. Poll will close late December, results here early January.  

I’ll be at the North West Birdwatching Festival on Saturday

I’ve never been to the North West Birdwatching Festival before and I’m looking forward to it. I’m giving a talk in the middle of the day which will start with Passenger Pigeons and end with Hen Harriers. But I am also looking forward to seeing a few birds – there will be birds won’t there?…

Good news from Quito! Twice!

Governments across the world commit to stopping lead poisoning in migratory birds As described in my earlier blogs (here and here)  the inter-governmental Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) has been holding a Conference of the Parties (COP) in Quito, Ecuador this week. One of the Resolutions aimed at stopping the poisoning of migratory birds includes…