Month: May 2019

RSPB press release (15 May 2019)

RSPB announces new Chief Executive

The RSPB has today announced that its new Chief Executive will be Beccy Speight, currently Chief Executive at the Woodland Trust.

She succeeds Dr Mike Clarke who announced he was stepping down late last year.

[Beccy Speight, photo from Woodland Trust]

Beccy joins us from the Woodland Trust, where she has been Chief Executive since 2014.  At the Woodland Trust Beccy successfully led a period of significant re-focus and expansion, growing income by over 35 per cent. Beccy oversaw the development and implementation of a ten-year strategy which has raised the profile of the Woodland Trust, built many new partnerships and developed a great leadership team, supported by more effective structures and a new culture.  Prior to this Beccy worked for the National Trust for 14 years, most recently as Director for the Midlands region.

As the RSPB’s Chief Executive, Beccy will provide the clear vision to drive the development and implementation of a strategy that will successfully deliver the RSPB’s charitable objectives and maximise its mission to save nature. Beccy will also be responsible for the operation and management of more than 200 RSPB nature reserves across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which are visited by around 2.5 million people each year.

Commenting on her appointment, Beccy said: “I am really excited about joining the RSPB. The fight to save nature has never been more important and the RSPB is uniquely positioned to make a difference.  This is an interesting and challenging time for the charity and I’m looking forward to getting started in my role and helping to lead our great contribution.”

RSPB Chairman, Kevin Cox, added: “We are delighted to welcome someone of Beccy’s calibre to the RSPB. We’re at a key point in history for nature conservation in the UK when the natural world is coming under increasing threat. At this crucial time of change, the RSPB must evolve to respond to these threats, ensuring that we’re in the best possible shape to make a difference for nature.

The organisation has undergone a period of significant change over the past year and Beccy’s outstanding track record, personal qualities and commitment to the cause of nature conservation will ensure the charity continues to move forward with confidence.

I’d like to thank our outgoing CEO, Mike Clarke, who has been instrumental in driving significant growth in membership, while modernising our mission to ensure we remain relevant in a changing world and fostering a new era of collaboration on behalf of nature conservation. We all wish him the best in his future endeavours.”

The RSPB is the largest conservation organisation in Europe, with more than 1.2 million members, over 2,000 employees and around 12,000 volunteers.  It has over 200 nature reserves across the UK, wild havens where everyone can get closer to nature and home to 80 per cent of our rarest or more threatened bird species. The RSPB also works internationally and is a leading player in BirdLife International, a partnership of conservation organisations working to save nature across the world.

ENDS

It’s not clear from this press release when Beccy will take up her new role but obviously we congratulate her on her successful application. Tackling the illegal killing of raptors on driven grouse moors will be one of many issues crossing her desk and we look forward to finding out what her approach will be.

Logan Steele, the Scottish Raptor Study Group‘s Communications Secretary, has written a guest blog for the RSPB on why a licensing scheme is urgently required for the grouse shooting industry.

Logan was one of several to represent the Scottish Raptor Study Group (SRSG) at a number of Parliamentary Committees a couple of years ago, presenting the case for the introduction of a licensing scheme for game-shooting estates (e.g. see here).

Since then, and following the findings of the Golden Eagle Satellite Tag Review which provided overwhelming evidence of continued golden eagle persecution, Environment Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham announced a review of grouse moor management. The review group’s chair, Professor Alan Werritty, is due to report this summer and we’re all keen to read his recommendations and whether the introduction of a licensing scheme is supported.

Logan has written two blogs – the first one (here) sets the scene to the SRSG’s work on this topic and the second one will be published next week, describing what SRSG workers hope to see in the Werritty Review.

For the benefit of those not on Twitter, you’ll be pleased to hear that the ‘penis hate mail‘ sent to Chris Packham has been successfully auctioned on Ebay and has raised a staggering £2,550.00 which will go towards Wild Justice’s next legal challenge.

Bravo, Chris, a masterclass in how to deal with those who seek to bully and threaten.

The blog has passed another milestone this weekend, reaching 5 million views.

It’s gratifying that our audience keeps growing; we’re attracting approx one million views per year at the moment.

Why do we spend so much time writing it? That’s simple – to raise awareness about the continuing illegal killing of birds of prey and to influence policy that will help bring it to an end.

We post this photograph every time we reach another million views because it’s what motivates us to keep going. This is a golden eagle that was found dead in the Cairngorms National Park in 2006 (photo by RSPB). It had been illegally poisoned. It epitomises everything in its pitiful, poignant, senselessness.

Thank you to everyone who supports and contributes to this blog.

Onwards towards six million views!

Scotland’s birds of prey were celebrated at the Scottish Parliament last night during a reception for the Scottish Raptor Study Group (SRSG), hosted by Andy Wightman MSP (Golden Eagle Species Champion).

[Andy Wightman MSP with Logan Steele, Communications Secretary SRSG. Photo by Ruth Tingay]

In addition to a number of cross-party MSPs, approx 50 guests attended the SRSG’s first ever parliamentary reception, representing a wide number of interests. These included the National Parks, Forestry & Land Scotland, Argaty Red Kites, SNH, Scottish Government, RSPB, South Scotland Golden Eagle Project, Mull Eagle Watch, National Trust for Scotland, Scottish Environment LINK, Wild Scotland, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Scottish Ornithologists’ Club and a number of SRSG members.

There were speeches from Andy and Logan and an especially heart-felt talk from Environment Minister Mairi Gougeon who enthused about the opportunities she’d had to see hen harriers (she’s the HH Species Champion) in the company of Scottish Raptor Study Group fieldworkers.

[Environment Minister Mairi Gougeon. Photo by Ruth Tingay]

Mairi spoke of her appreciation of the work of the SRSG and its hugely important contribution to the wider scientific literature, as well as the ground-breaking research involving satellite tagging and the subsequent report on the fate of satellite-tagged golden eagles, which revealed the extent of on-going illegal persecution in some grouse moor areas of Scotland. She was well aware of the on-going persecution issue, and referenced yesterday’s news of hen harrier Skylar’s disappearance next to a grouse moor near Leadhills. Tackling persecution was certainly on her agenda and she said she was looking forward to reading the recommendations of the forthcoming Werritty Review (due out this summer).

The reception was wrapped up with a stunning presentation from highly acclaimed wildlife photographer Laurie Campbell, who shared some of his images and told tales about the extraordinary lengths he’d had to go to to get them.

Many thanks to Andy Wightman for hosting this event and well done Logan and his team for putting in the work to organise such an enjoyable celebration.

Many of the attending MSPs, including the Environment Minister, already had a good understanding and appreciation of these species, having taken the time to attend SRSG conferences, Hen Harrier Day events and field visits.

Could we say the same of Westminster parliamentarians? Could anyone imagine Therese Coffey standing up to deliver a speech about her appreciation of birds of prey and her determination to tackle the ongoing persecution of these birds?

Good news! Ravens venturing on to the grouse moors of Strathbraan in Highland Perthshire this year will NOT be the victims of an SNH-sanctioned kill-fest ‘just to see what happens’, as they were in 2018.

The so-called Strathbraan Community Collaboration for Waders (SCCW), also known as gamekeepers, submitted a revised licence application to SNH on 18 March 2019. We haven’t yet seen this licence application so we don’t know how many ravens they wanted to kill this year.

However, in an FoI response we received last night, SNH confirmed that the licence application did not meet the recommendations of SNH’s Scientific Advisory Committee and so SNH has rejected the application.

Full details about this year’s licence application, as well as the details of the Scientific Advisory Committee’s recommendations are due to be released to us by SNH on 10th May. It’ll be an interesting read and we’ll share relevant information on this blog.

Very obviously, we’re delighted that ravens will not be killed gratuitously (albeit under licence) on the grouse moors of Strathbraan this year and we’re also delighted to see SNH take its licensing responsibilities seriously, in stark contrast to last year.

However, just like last year, SNH has not been keen to communicate openly and transparently. It’s taken a bit of work to drag the news from SNH about its decision to reject this year’s licence application. Earlier this week we blogged about a series of FoI emails where we argued that SNH was withholding information unreasonably (see here).

There has been further correspondence since then, as follows:

From SNH, 30th April 2019:

To SNH, 1 May 2019:

From SNH, 2 May 2019:

Many thanks to our legal team Sindi Mules (Balfour & Manson) and Aidan O’Neill QC (Matrix Chambers) for their continued support of this case.

Thanks also to all those who supported the #Justice4Ravens crowdfunder last year – there is still money in the pot and it’s being used to pay for on-going legal advice.

A couple of days ago Chris Packham’s ‘penis hate mail’ was put up for auction on Ebay (see here).

After just a day the bids had already reached £2,550 but then yesterday Ebay accidentally removed the item.

Today, after apologising, Ebay has re-listed the item and so bidding is once again open. BID HERE

Please bid generously – all proceeds to Wild Justice. Auctions ends 8 May 18.03hrs.

UPDATE 13 May 2019: Chris Packham’s ‘penis hate mail’ raises £2,550.00 for Wild Justice! (here)

This is the death threat letter that was sent to Chris Packham on Monday:

There’s no ambiguity here. The menacing and disturbing content reveals a clear intent.

If you recognise the handwriting or know the identity of the person/people who sent it, please contact Hampshire Police immediately.

There’s an article about Chris’s reaction to these violent threats in today’s Mirror (here).