Andy Wightman MSP (Scottish Green Party) has lodged the following parliamentary motion commending the Revive Coalition for grouse moor reform:
It’ll be interesting to see which MSPs sign up to support this, or perhaps more interesting to see which ones don’t. They can’t say they don’t know about it as earlier this week a great big pile of the Coalition’s new report was hand delivered to MSPs at Holyrood. The report was recently described by prominent journalist Lesley Riddoch as “the most thorough demolition of the case for “sporting estates” I’ve ever seen in print“.
The Revive Coalition launched last week in Edinburgh and already over 5,000 people have signed the Revive pledge in support of significant grouse moor reform. If you’d like to add your voice please SIGN HERE.
Find out more about the coalition and keep up to date with new developments HERE
Raptor Persecution UK 
Andy Wightman is to be congratulated on his stance. Perhaps it would be interesting to estimate how much money will be lost to the Scottish economy through animal-loving people choosing not to go to Scotland for its wonderful countryside and, more particularly, to experience its diverse wildlife. We really must see positive change or, to take it to its logical conclusion, Scotland could become one vast area used for killing defenceless birds – not just birds of prey.
The huntin, fishin, shootin set in this country have held conservation back enormously. The trial beaver reintroduction was held up for years, even on their own land several conservation orgs have had to resort to deer fencing to regenerate woodland because of political pressure to not cull ‘too many’ deer in case it affected deer stalking on adjacent estates. Definitely no lynx back in fact and probably return to outright slaughter of predators if they could get away with it. Many woods and hills choked out with cherry laurel, rhoddie, snowberry and salmonberry that was planted out as game cover. You’re dam right, if they had their way conservation in Scotland would consist of getting a wildflower meadow in the corner of the local park – if we’re lucky. The conservation, economic and cultural loss we’ve suffered because of this lot is immense, and the older I get the more and more it sinks in how bad that’s been and that’s painful.
This may seem totally off-topic, but it gives an insight into the attitudes of many who work in the countryside:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/16/secret-videos-reveal-workers-beating-sheep-on-english-and-scottish-farms
I’m afraid it’s closer to what I see (and hear) around me than the chocolate-box version we are fed on TV.
‘The doctors and nurses of the countryside’ – what a joke.
I would also be interesting to hear from your readers, who write to their MSPs.
I wrote to Mairi Gougeon MSP yesterday and she IMMEDIATELY replied – assuring support!
Great to hear that Harry,
However I’m afraid I don’t hold out much optimism from the Scottish Government attitude following the SNP decision to join with the Torys to reject the Green proposal to apply planning regulations to hill tracks. It wasn’t even a proposal to ban hill tracks, it would just have put them under a little more scrutiny. If the Scottish Government can’t do something as simple as that, there’s little hope for any greater reforms. Progressive? Pathetic!
I don’t think there’ll be much support at the blue end of the political spectrum and sadly, I predict a lot of lukewarmness elsewhere in politics.
This is a fight that will take a generation, by which time climate change will probably have removed grouse from the uplands, replaced by red legged partridge for shooting.
These battles must be won eventually however to remove the stain of raptor persecution from the UK and Ireland.
Exposing the facts and engaging the wider public is key.
Keep up the pressure !