Month: December 2021

REVIVE, the coalition for grouse moor reform, of which RPUK is a member, published a statement on 10th December as the grouse-shooting season ended for another year.

Here’s a copy:

10th December 2021

Today, the grouse-shooting season ends, following on from a poor breeding season which may have limited sport shooting this year.

However, this did not stop the circle of destruction that surrounds this controversial industry.

The mass trapping, snaring and killing of hundreds of thousands of foxes, stoats, weasels, crows and ‘non-target species’ like hedgehogs – so that a few more grouse could be shot for sport – continued on regardless.

The mass burning of heather (muirburn) which poses a serious environmental risk at a time of climate crisis – so that a few more grouse could be shot for sport – continued on, even when COP26 came to Scotland.

Tens of thousands of medicated grit stations which are positioned on moors to keep grouse numbers unnaturally high – so more can be shot – did not cease.

Meanwhile, an area around half the size of Wales is economically underutilised at the expense of our people when Scotland really should be doing so much better. But is there cause for hope?

The SNP/Green Government deal acknowledged the need to reform Scotland’s grouse moors and it supports a transition to alternative land uses where appropriate – which when you consider the damage they cause for such little economic benefit (just 0.02% of our economy) it is a no-brainer.

Licencing of grouse moors is going to happen but what a licence looks like and sets out to achieve is up for grabs and it should go well beyond an attempt to limit wildlife crime. The entire circle of destruction must end.

We now know that muirburn, a process there should be a general presumption against, will require a licence in future. If the Scottish Government is serious about grouse moor reform then a licence should never be given for muirburn when the purpose is increasing grouse numbers for sport shooting, nor should it be given under any other guise. If the Government recognise the clear environmental and biodiversity case for this reform, we are hopeful it can be achieved.

REVIVE just had its biggest ever conference and event with well over 400 people in attendance while polling shows that at least 2 thirds of Scots are against grouse shooting. Even in these trying times it’s clear public is with us and want change.

It’s with that spirit of hope and opportunity that we mark the end of the grouse shooting season. We hope that the worse excesses of this frivolous blood sport will come to an end, sooner rather than later.

ENDS

For more information about the REVIVE coalition and to find out how you can support it / get involved, please visit the REVIVE website here

Press release from the Langholm Initiative (15th December 2021)

Anonymous £0.5 million donation & crowd funder success takes historic community buyout to quarter-way mark

Christmas has come early for a community’s bid to double the size of a vast new nature reserve in Dumfries and Galloway, thanks to an anonymous private donation of half a million pounds and public crowdfunder donations surging past £50,000.

The community of Langholm has now reached the quarter-way mark in its race against time to purchase 5,300 acres of Langholm Moor from Buccleuch by raising £2.2 million before next May.

Success in the campaign, led by the Langholm Initiative charity, would expand the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve to 10,500 acres – boosting plans for tackling the nature and climate emergencies, and supporting community regeneration through nature-based tourism.

[A short-eared owl photographed at Langholm by John Wright]

This week, the campaign received a pledged donation of £500,000 from a private donor. At the same time, the public crowdfunder at bit.ly/LangholmMoorAppeal passed £50,000 following hundreds of donations since the appeal’s 27 October launch.

“Reaching the quarter-way mark towards our £2.2m target after just six weeks is a wonderful milestone for the community, and it really feels like Christmas has come early,” said Jenny Barlow, Tarras Valley Nature Reserve’s Estate Manager.

“We’re so grateful to everyone who has donated and supported us, and for the amazingly generous £500,000 donation. It’s put the wind in our sails as we approach the end of the year.

“But we have a long way to go, and we urgently need support from major funders. Buccleuch’s offer of keeping the land off the open market is time limited – so we need to raise the total funds by next May, or the chance of purchasing this dramatic, culturally important land will be lost forever.”

If the land goes on the open market, its price will probably surge beyond the community’s reach. There are fears it may then be bought by corporate investment firms, which are land banking in Scotland.

As well as urging people to donate to the crowdfunder, the community is seeking major funders to support what is the second stage of the South of Scotland’s biggest community buyout. Applications are being made to grant-funding bodies.

The buyout’s first phase ended in success, following an ambitious fundraising campaign supported by thousands of people worldwide In October 2020, the Langholm Initiative and Buccleuch reached an agreement of £3.8 million for 5,200 acres of land and six residential properties. 

This led to the creation of the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve. Globally important peatlands and ancient woods are being restored, native woodlands established, and a haven ensured for wildlife including short-eared owls and much-persecuted hen harriers – all while generating social and economic opportunities for local people.

Leading charities that have supported the buyout include Borders Forest Trust, John Muir Trust, Rewilding Britain, RSPB Scotland, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Trees for Life, and the Woodland Trust.

To support the appeal, visit langholminitiative.org.uk.

ENDS

Incidentally, campaigner Charlie Moores has just published part one of a two-part podcast about the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve. You can listen here.

In late October this year, conservation campaign group Wild Justice launched a legal challenge against the Northern Ireland Executive’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) for issuing what Wild Justice believed to be scientifically and legally flawed general licences (see here and here).

This came after months of protracted correspondence with DAERA, who decided to ignore all the legal and scientific arguments against the licences by simply re-issuing them in September.

Wild Justice launched a crowdfunder to support a legal challenge and the target was reached quickly (thank you to the many blog readers who supported this!) and formal legal action began.

Yesterday, literally on the eve of court papers being lodged, DAERA finally conceded that their General Licences are unlawful and will now have to begin the process of reforming them.

Wild Justice said:

“The DAERA General Licences we challenged were not fit for purpose and were unlawful to boot. DAERA seemed to think that Woodpigeons and Feral Pigeons threatened conservation interests in Northern Ireland – a totally bizarre idea. And yet it took a tiny organisation, supported by thousands of people, to raise the money and to hire brilliant lawyers to bring these flawed licences down. We look forward to seeing lawful replacement licences in the very near future. DAERA must do better and Wild Justice remains ready, willing and able to take further legal challenges on behalf of wildlife in the UK.”

Tom Short, one of Wild Justice’s lawyers from Leigh Day said:

“Our client welcomes DAERA’s belated concession that its 2021 general licences are not fit for purpose. DAERA had blatantly, as in previous years, failed to follow the process it is required to, and had issued the licences absent any evidence to support them. That is not how a licensing system permitting the killing of otherwise protected wild birds should operate, and it is astonishing that DAERA has failed to engage with the problem since it was first raised by Wild Justice in May 2019. Our client welcomes DAERA’s commitment to now reform its licensing and move to full consultation on the issue.”

For further detail on this latest successful legal challenge please read the Wild Justice blog here.

Wild Justice is a not-for-profit company and its three Directors (Chris Packham, Mark Avery, Ruth Tingay) work voluntarily to take legal cases and advocate for a better deal for wildlife. If you’d like to make a donation to support their work please click here. If you’d like to receive news directly from Wild Justice please sign up for their free e-newsletter here.

In October the RSPB published a report warning that current muirburn practices (e.g. setting the moors alight as part of grouse moor ‘management’) are incompatible with Scotland’s net zero ambitions because of the importance of peatlands as carbon stores (see here). The report also provided evidence that the current voluntary Muirburn Code is not working.

[Look at the state of this! Muirburn on a grouse moor. The photographer wishes to remain anonymous]

In November 2020, the (then) Rural Affairs and Natural Environment Minister, Mairi Gougeon MSP gave an official statement to the Scottish Parliament in response to the independent Grouse Moor Management Group (Werritty) Report. She said:

‘In future muirburn will only be permitted under licence from NatureScot, regardless of the time of year it is undertaken. And there will be a statutory ban on burning on peatland, except under licence for strictly limited purposes such as habitat restoration.’

To coincide with the RSPB’s damning report on muirburn published in October, they also launched a new App where members of the public could report sightings of current fires or where they’d seen evidence of recent burning. The RSPB is interested in fires that have been lit for agricultural and sporting purposes (i.e. grouse moor management).

This information is critical for the RSPB’s advocacy team to ensure that muirburn is licensed and muirburn on deep peatland soils is banned. Information from Scotland and England is very welcome.

The App can be utilised directly on the hill and there is now also a facility for information to be submitted to the RSPB from a computer at home. Please visit the RSPB’s webpage here for further information.

They’re still at it!

A year on from selling products labelled as ‘healthy’, Sainsbury’s is once again selling pheasant and partridge meat that contains poisonous lead shot, way above the legal levels allowed for meats such as beef, pork and chicken.

Conservation campaign group Wild Justice has bought and tested more samples this season and the shocking results have just been published this morning. You can read about the full results on the Wild Justice blog (here) but take a look at this graph to see just how contaminated the Sainsbury’s pheasant breasts and game mix packs are, in comparison to the chicken samples tested as a control group:

Animal welfare and biodiversity ethics aside, would you fancy eating this? Or feeding it to your children? How would you feel about this level of contaminated meat being ‘donated’ to foodbanks for those living in crisis this winter?

And once again Sainsbury’s is being supplied by game dealer ‘Holme Farmed Venison‘ in Yorkshire, a company that has previously refused to respond to reasonable queries from customers such as ‘From which estates are you sourcing your gamebirds?’ and ‘How can I be sure you’re sourcing them from estates that are not involved in the illegal persecution of birds of prey?’.

And once again, these products have been ‘endorsed’ by the British Game Alliance, the game shooting industry’s ‘official marketing board’ which has now apparently changed its name to British Game Assurance as a marketing ploy but still lacks transparency and thus credibility (e.g. see here).

To find out whether other supermarkets and big brand stores are selling contaminated game meat this season, keep an eye on the Wild Justice blog as other samples are currently undergoing analysis.