And the emphasis is on ‘temporarily’ – for just one year. Just one year for Turtle Doves to slightly recover enough to ensure that Europe’s notoriously ignorant and utterly selfish poachers have more Turtle Doves to kill in 2022…because you can be 100% certain that they will be back out after showing ‘restraint’ for one […]

Another godawful headline (this time from the Derby Telegraph) for the ‘authorities’ that supposedly run the Peak District National Park – a supposedly protected landscape blasted by grouse shooting and a bottomless pit for wildlife crime and raptor persecution.   No, there is nothing in the newspaper report that specifically points to grouse shooting for […]

We’re delighted to host another guest post from author and campaigner Bob Berzins. Bob lives on the edge of the Peak District. Climbing on gritstone crags and running over the moorlands has brought him a deep understanding and appreciation of the Pennine uplands. He’s worked with activists and wildlife charities, spoken to police of all […]

While Wales is more famous for the endless hordes of sheep that lay waste to its hills and valleys (there are around three times as many sheep in Wales than people), Wales also has substantial numbers of cattle – and not insubstantial numbers of badgers. Here in England that would mean the NFU nodding across […]

A decade ago grouse shooting was having itself a ball. NGOs and campaigners rarely bothered with it. Birdwatchers occasionally raised a sceptical eyebrow, but as most of us scored a Red Grouse in the winter on trips to clean up on Scotland’s endemics it didn’t seem much to do with us. And the public hardly […]

Excellent news from the desk of one of the UK’s busiest ecologists – Tom Langton. Tom was recently given permission (after much pushback from Defra), to challenge the so-called ‘badger cull’ in the High Court and set up a crowdfunder. After a slow start the fund raising is going really well, and the challenge has […]

As we wrote last week, we were recently offered a donation to help tackle the war on wildlife (see – How would you use a small grant to help tackle the war on wildlife?). As we explained in that post, we felt that the best way to use this generous donation might be to set […]

As we wrote last week, we were recently offered a donation to help tackle the war on wildlife (see – How would you use a small grant to help tackle the war on wildlife?). As we explained in that post, we felt that the best way to use this generous donation might be to set […]

Remember when the UK had a Ministry for the Environment with a separate Minister? No? That’s hardly surprising because we’ve not had a Secretary of State responsible for just the Environment since John Gummer (now Lord Deben) in 1997 – a Conservative politician who BBC Wildlife magazine described as the “Environment Secretary against which all […]

There has been a lot of discussion recently about the government’s plans for the Environment now that we have left the EU and No10 is redrawing itself as wildlife-friendly. Last month, George Eustice, the current Environment Secretary promised a “Net Zero equivalent for nature” through a “legally binding target for species abundance for 2030, aiming […]

That was the question we were asked recently: if the War on Wildlife Project were given a donation, how would you use it to help tackle the war on wildlife? What a question! So what would we do? Make a one-off lump sum donation, perhaps – many organisations are desperate for finance after lockdown after […]

The Court of Appeal at the Royal Courts of Justice has awarded renowned ecologist and wildlife campaigner Tom Langton (with whom we’ve recorded very insightful podcasts over the last four years) permission to challenge an important aspect of the 2020 “Next Steps” Bovine TB eradication policy. Tom is a professional conservation ecologist with experience in […]

Trees for Life, the charity that campaigns to rewild the Scottish Highlands, has accused NatureScot (the government agency who (allegedly) “work to improve our natural environment in Scotland and inspire everyone to care more about it”) of failing to protect beavers. NatureScot has been issuing hundreds of licences to farmers and landowners to kill beavers […]

After a brief pause the quiet that settled over the countryside in spring is about to be shattered as the free-shooting of a protected species begins again in a disgraceful effort to help out an already heavily subsidised dairy industry. The pause in killing was presumably to allow badgers to have a breeding season, which […]

Guest Post by Jane Smith. Jane is deputy leader of the Animal Welfare Party and the UK’s first elected animal rights councillor. She runs Smallwood Toad Patrols and co-ordinates Staffordshire Wounded Badger Patrol. Her post-species-ist children’s picture book ‘Some Animals’, with illustrator Melanie Selstrom, will be published in late 2021.     All Our Wild […]

The case reported below is ongoing so it would be wrong to speculate on it specifically, but social media regularly claims that ‘corrupt’ police are attending illegal fox hunts, monitoring shoots, and behaving as interpreters of the law rather than enforcers of it. There is undoubtedly some bias against what some officers see as ‘left-wing […]

The UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. That’s a fact. A recent report from the RSPB, using data compiled by the Natural History Museum, has been published ahead of this June’s G7 Summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, states that the UK not only comes bottom of the list for […]

The shooting industry has been dragging its heels for years (and years) about replacing lead shot with something less environmentally toxic. Non-toxic alternatives like steel and bismuth exist but getting the industry (especially here in the UK) to acknowledge them is incredibly difficult (the alternatives are still fatal to whatever they shoot, but of course […]

We’re often told that we need positive messaging to turn the UK’s biodiversity crisis around. Talk about the good things rather than endlessly focussing on the bad. There are a few positives of course, like the 1026% increase in the Red Kite population between 1995-2014. Pine Martens are recovering and are being seen in counties […]

North Yorkshire. A region blighted with grouse shooting estates. A region on its way to becoming synonymous with wildlife crime. Even the local newspapers recognise the appalling record for raptor persecution of this part of the UK: In July last year the Yorkshire Post printed a list of SIXTEEN raptor persecution incidents from just January […]

Kudos to Keep The Ban for pushing this campaign so hard. Hunts have been illegally killing foxes for years, but they are also responsible for animals swept up by hounds as collateral (particularly in residential areas where hunts and hounds regularly cause absolute chaos). We’ve reported on a number of incidents on this site (see […]

So, Cumbria Police are appealing for information following the disappearance of two male Hen Harriers, in what is typically described as ‘suspicious circumstances’, from the RSPB’s reserve at Geltsdale. Two more highly protected birds that the RSPB, the RSPB’s members, and birders everywhere cherish and thrill to. It’s become common to describe wildlife crime as […]

The – er, somewhat robust language used in the following appeal may not be to everyone’s taste. but frankly illegal foxhunting is enough to make even a nun look to the skies and utter the odd curse word, so we’re just going to copy and paste the appeal and let you good folk out there […]

Guest post by campaigner and activist Clive Swinsco on the ongoing badger cull. Clive wrote a previous post for us ‘Birders for Ethical Conservation‘.     ‘Badgers – Defend Brock’s Clan’. Clive Swinsco, May 2021 Badgers are innocent! Unfortunately, however, their jury have been bribed and their judges are corrupt; therefore the mass execution of […]