A POEM OF DEATH

I would have wished to end March on a positive note, but the poet sums my thoughts up very well. Game Keepers are killers, otherwise why would they carry guns and set traps.

The Gallows - Poem by Edward Thomas

There was a weasel lived in the sun
With all his family,
Till a keeper shot him with his gun
And hung him up on a tree,
Where he swings in the wind and rain,
In the sun and in the snow,
Without pleasure, without pain,
On the dead oak tree bough.

There was a crow who was no sleeper,
But a thief and a murderer
Till a very late hour; and this keeper
Made him one of the things that were,
To hang and flap in rain and wind,
In the sun and in the snow.
There are no more sins to be sinned
On the dead oak tree bough.

There was a magpie, too,
Had a long tongue and a long tail;
He could talk and do -
But what did that avail?
He, too, flaps in the wind and rain
Alongside weasel and crow,
Without pleasure, without pain,
On the dead oak tree bough.

And many other beasts
And birds, skin, bone, and feather,
Have been taken from their feasts
And hung up there together,
To swing and have endless leisure
In the sun and in the snow,
Without pain, without pleasure,
On the dead oak tree bough.

A THEATRE PRODUCTION IN A SMALL SPANISH TOWN

A THEATRE PRODUCTION IN A SMALL SPANISH TOWN
AT THE BENIJÓFAR CULTURAL CENTRE, ALICANTE

It's the morning after and I can still hear the laughter. That's what good people with a great show can do. The audience chuckled, laughed out aloud and applauded and that is what this cast, crew members, well dressed up front of house staff, sound and lighting and set builders achieved. It was all gorgeous. But what the hell am I talking about?

Some idiots within Actors Community Theatre chose ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’! Well that could be inviting disaster, couldn't it? Asking luvvies to get it wrong! What a mess we could all be in! Was that foolish or brave I have asked myself for weeks? That's what they put on, pulled it off with aplomb and they have earned all the plaudits. The applause was truly deserved.



The title, ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’, is really a ‘nom de guerre, as this play is about “murder in the first degree”. Someone gets killed in ‘The Murder at Haversham Manor’, but who? How? And When? I am not a plot-spoiler and since you missed our performances you can go to London to see it where it will cost more than 8€

PS I tried to read the programme, but that really was ‘arse about face’ and even back to front and the wrong way up. What fun if you can read upside down!

GROUSE MOORS AND HEN HARRIERS

The publication of the hen harrier satellite tag paper yesterday (here) that provided compelling evidence to highlight, yet again, the link between grouse moors and the illegal killing of hen harriers, has resulted in a flurry of responses from various individuals and organisations.
We’ll be looking at these responses in turn.


First, an acknowledgement of the high quality of the research and the journal in which it had been published.
Second, an acknowledgement that the research provided evidence of the extent of the raptor persecution issue, which is a significant change from a comment he made five months ago in his first blog about “rogue gamekeepers” (unsurprisingly, written shortly after spending time with the Moorland Association).
Third, and perhaps of greatest importance, that he intended to act upon the research findings via his newly forming RPPDG Enforcement Group, instead of simply discussing the findings and saying ‘Oh, isn’t it all terrible’. Most encouragingly, he also wrote, “I already have a couple of offenders in my sights….”.
Fourth, and the least convincing (to us), was his statement about continuing to work with ‘partners’: “I still firmly believe that an effective partnership response to this issue is the most sustainable way forward“.
We fundamentally disagree with this statement. These are crimes that are being committed – and in our view, serious organised crimes – the people involved should be treated as criminals, not partners.
Nick thinks an effective partnership would be the most sustainable way forward. But in any partnership, no matter what the topic, it will only work if all the partners share the same objectives. The simple fact of the matter is that in the RPPDG, they don’t, and this particular partnership charade has been allowed to continue for ten years without achieving anything of any significance in the world of raptor conservation. Not one thing. Other ‘partnership’ initiatives to tackle illegal raptor persecution go back much further than ten years and they’ve all failed too.
Nick got a taste of the ‘partnership’ at his first RPPDG meeting in January (see here), which was boycotted by several of the so-called ‘partners’ in an attempt to disrupt proceedings simply because they weren’t getting their own way, as they had for the previous ten years. It remains to be seen what will happen at the next ‘partnership’ meeting in April. Our hope is that they’ll get booted out so that the genuine partners, all working towards the same goal, can get on with it without further disruptions. We’ll see.
Regular blog readers will know that we have a huge amount of time for Nick Lyall and for what he’s trying to achieve. There’s no question that he ‘gets it’ and that he understands the challenges ahead, and that he’s working his socks off to start implementing change, most of which (or all of which?) is done in his own time.
Right now, in just six short months, he’s single-handedly putting to shame many of the others in positions of authority who have had, and still do have, the opportunity to bring about change but who have failed, and continue to fail, to even start trying.

BOOK REVIEW - ABIR MUKHERJEE & A NECESSARY EVIL

A NECESSARY EVIL. What a title for a book. The author, Abir Mukherjee’s second historical crime book, details the actions of Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant Surrender-not Banerjee and follows on from ‘The Rising Man’.

Sam is still battling with his First World War experiences in France and trying to cope without succumbing to the magic of O. There are beautiful women around and that temptation is close by and, also a distraction, as well. It’s another battle for Sam whereas Surrender-not does not get a chance! The feminists will love the insight into the life of the concubines and the inclusivity of the zenana.

Set in India and under British rule both these books deal with the forces that existed to keep this continent in order! British aristocracy and the class system that involved, sits rudely alongside the local social classes and how their pecking order worked, or not. Prejudice is woven into the story and is a reminder of how it was perpetuated.

We start off in Calcutta and travel to the rural setting and the fabulously wealthy Kingdom of Sambalpore. The poverty and the riches sit side by side, but the question is always there; Who controls what and whom?

It's a conundrum of conflicting evidence that Sam Wyndham and his well educated native sergeant have to solve. And to deal, as well, with British bureaucracy, royal intrigue and conflict. Obviously there is danger and people die, but how does that happen? The answers are not obvious and there are some surprising turns before we get to the truth. The end, I feel, fits in with modern thinking, although I had my suspicions, and that Sam’s search for justice may not have been as important as he first thought.

I enjoyed it. Sometimes ‘one has to have a leap of faith’ as he moves the story on swiftly, but I liked his style. I love Anglo-Indian history and the way this author portrays it. It is also a reminder of what is present today in our lives - prejudice.

(The review of The Rising Man i blogged on 17th July 2018)

Natural England and General Licences

WILD JUSTICE LAUNCHES THEIR FIRST LEGAL CHALLENGE
Today Wild Justice launches our first legal challenge to a public body: we argue that the General Licences that 'permit' the unlimited killing of a list of wild birds are unlawful. We are seeking a judicial review of Natural England's decision to issue General Licences (GL04, GL05 and GL06) on 1 January this year. We have asked NE to admit the unlawful nature of these licences and to promise not to issue such licences in future.

Birds such as Carrion Crows, Rooks, Magpies, Woodpigeons, Jackdaws, Jays and two species of parakeet can be killed without applying for a licence, without having to justify why the action is necessary, without having to explain why alternative non-lethal measures such as scaring or proofing are ineffective or impracticable, and without having to report on how many birds are killed. All a person needs to do to ‘qualify’ to kill unlimited numbers of these birds is to claim to have read and understood the relevant General Licence. This, in our view, amounts to casual killing.

Wild Justice believes, on the basis of our legal advice, this system is unlawful despite the fact that it has been in existence for decades and has 'authorised' the killing of millions of birds. We contend that it is the licensing authority’s (Natural England's) legal responsibility to satisfy itself that killing these birds is an appropriate last resort. However, in the General Licences issued on 1 January 2019 Natural England ducks its responsibility and instead places the decision-making completely in the hands of the General Licence user.

We wrote to Natural England on the day that Wild Justice launched - 13 February. Natural England should have responded in two weeks but instead took four weeks. The response we received on Wednesday afternoon was both muddled and inadequate. We are now preparing the legal papers to seek judicial review.

We are not asking for the 2019 General Licences to be withdrawn, but rather that Natural England does not issue further General Licences and instead develops a legal system for regulating and monitoring the killing of birds if lethal control is absolutely necessary as a last resort.

We see the General Licence system as a clear example of how wildlife killing is poorly regulated in the UK. The system is lax and allows gamekeepers, farmers and others to kill birds without proper oversight or regulation. Natural England, and potentially other agencies in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland should have a better system in place if lethal killing of birds is to be lawful.

We need your help to take this case. Our legal advice is that we have a clear and winnable case. But legal action costs money and we now need to raise £36,000 in 30 days so that we can take this case to court. Please help us reform the legal system affecting wildlife killing by donating to our CrowdJustice crowdfunding page.

SALADARES de GUADALENTINE

THE MADNESS OF IT ALL.

Whatever size hole there was in Little Eliza’s bucket the water had long-gone. The tracks finely dusted the car as trucks drove past billowing clouds. In fact so fine and dry it was easily lifted by the breeze. One ‘dust devil’ went up high and there were several more that barely got off the ground.

On Friday 15th March Bryan and I set off early to see what was happening in the Saladares de Guadalentin. We made the choice knowing that there were wide open vistas and that we had a good chance to see what might be passing through. It transpires that we were a tad early. I saw my first Red-rumped Swallows and a few Barn Swallows passed by, but neither in good numbers.

After passing Murcia, Bryan spotted, about 50 Common Cranes in the distance and flying north. We were where we wanted to be by 9.10am and the temperature was just 15 degrees. We had decided that we would investigate any reservoirs, as Spain is very dry, and to do the opposite of what we normally do. We took the clock-wise perimeter route and keeping the main road to our right and the sun behind us.

A Spectacled Warbler soon flew and we had terrific views of them. One perched only 5 meters from the front of the car giving me a best view ever. In the same spot two flew in and out of the bushes and the photographer got very busy.



We carried on and Magpies were evident and then we heard the calls of Great Spotted Cuckoos. They flew around us, displayed and were raucous. In one view, three flew. These were our first ones for this year.



While we were searching for them Stone Curlews were seen and two later flew from a dried field.. We were also on the look-out for any Wheatears, but they were still on their way?

We cut across the plain and with water reservoirs on both sides we noted the following:-

Red-rumped Swallow X 2
Green Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper
Little Ringed Plover X 2
Little Grebe X 2
Black Winged Stilt X 2
Mallard X 2
White Wagtails - several
Yellow Wagtail
Tree Sparrow
House Sparrow
Linnet X 2

Not bad for two small areas of water and vindicating our approach to focus on them..

We traversed tracks where we had not been before and they turned up many Crested Larks, but no others. Stone Curlews flew and from one field five Red-Billed Choughs flew away. Previously a Raven called and afterwards a lone Sandgrouse flew far way. Maybe Black Bellied? Corn Buntings were in good voice and a male Greenfinch too. We ended the day with one clear view of a perched Common Kestrel. Raptors were really missing with only one Marsh Harrier seen.

Corn Bunting

Included is view of a roughly cultivated field with mangled black plastic poking up from the clods. An appropriate word ‘clods’ for the power brokers who allow these practices. Black plastic was everywhere and where will it go when it’s use is done? The evidence is around us. Just look and see.



We don't anticipate returning for many months and with rain anticipated, within the next seven days, we will wait before we decide where to go next.

This is a busy agricultural area with acres of ‘green veg’ and artichokes. Many areas were netted to keep out rabbits and we did witnessed spraying in progress. Do we know what we actually eat? Some margins were dried off and I can only assume these areas had been sprayed. Other margins yielded plants with thistles in bloom. Large Whites, Small Whites and one Marbled White posed. A Clouded Yellow was seen and a Buff Tailed Bumble Bee too. That's not a great showing, but probably explained by the use of chemicals.

Make no mistake I was delighted with what Bryan and I had seen, but what perturbs me is what we did not see. I would love to be able to do more.

COURSES FOR KILLING

COURSES FOR KILLING ADVERTISED BY GAME AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION TRUST

Brexit may be the top story on the ‘political agenda’ and the media are devoting most of their attention to it. Important, of course, to all our lives, and there are other important things out there.

The problem being that most of ‘the stuff’ slips out of sight unless you are an enthusiast - yes, I am one - or an extremist. That's me too, as I have come slowly to the conclusion that we tolerate power by being weak and not having the time or energy to act. Being an extremist is not about violence; it is about protecting what we have that is beautiful. And reacting to those that want to kill our mammals, birds, reptiles and everything else that is at the bottom of the food chain.

I wrote a poem years ago entitled ‘Manscape’. It is about control; how ‘man’ has made our beautiful countryside into patterns that produce food efficiently.

And it is still being done.

The walkers and the ramblers can go ‘ga-ga’ over the wonderful views they are seeing, but it is what is living out there that really matters.

Moorland heather with all the living creatures therein is being burnt from Welsh Mountains, from England’s National Parks (there has to be irony in the title) and to Scottish Grouse Moors. That’s to promote new growth, of course, but the cost to us is massive. More death to everything small and allowing run off and thereby allowing nutrients being sieved out and into rivers. Where is the control? Where is the chastisement to those who do what they want and do what they will?

The last few days we have read about trees being netted to prevent bird nesting so that developers do not commit an offense by disturbing nesting birds. No offence as birds, our birds, have had to pack their bags and go elsewhere. It's absurd and empathizes just how far the human race has come by ignoring the wants of the natural world.

Now I come to courses in how to kill.

A tweet asked the question about the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust and importantly made the point and asked the question. Does it not mean GAME or WILDLIFE or CONSERVATION or what? The TRUST bit is that we can trust the killers to go on doing it. The following courses seem to prove this as in the GWCT training courses.

SNARING COURSE. I have laid snares when in my ‘teens and I soon leant that it is cruel and allows a slow and painful death. There is nothing humane about it. Yet, still it is legal?

GROUSE HEALTH AND DISEASE COURSE. It is reassuring to know that they care about ‘their birds’. We know that ‘factory’ production of birds will cause problems so let's put the cure out there for wildlife to ingest too.

CORVID CONTROL AND VICARIOUS LIABILITY COURSE. Hmmm……what a great title?
This is how we kill Crows, Ravens, and everything that we want to, so that our Grouse chicks, live to be shot by the rich and powerful in the name of sport. It's an un-equal contest so where is the sport?

And now vicarious liability. Being cynical I suspect this will have some focus on avoiding being prosecuted. In other words those that are responsible, escape the law, and a minion can take the wrap.

RODENTICIDE TRAINING DAY. This is about death too, by killing, by poison or do they have humane ways of doing it too?

It has been validated that carcasses in ‘stink- pits’ have been poisoned and left as carrion so that when eaten the hungry animals die too.

I am up-to-date now with killing. Depressed and more angry than before and trying to assess why we have not moved on to a kinder and more considerate society.

In an attempt to be fair I have looked at the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust and the next few lines indicate what they say they do.

“The Trust advises conservationists, farmers and land managers on ways to improve wildlife habitat and enhance the countryside for public benefit. It also lobbies government for agricultural and conservation policies based on science.”

I would be failing if I let them have the last word. Where is the ‘public benefit’ for example? Who gains the most from their activity?. It appears that conservation is for ‘game’ to be shot and anything that predates their precious birds should be eradicated. And if you want to be more convinced then please look at the Raptor Persecution site where death is catalogued.

Over to you. Let's all care together and do something.

WILL DEAN WITH HIS NEW ONE - RED SNOW

MORE MURDERS IN SWEDEN

WILL DEAN AND HIS FOLLOW UP CRIME NOVEL, RED SNOW.

Shall I ever be able to enjoy licorice again and even if I was tempted I would not think of buying it from the Grimberg factory in Gavrik, Sweden. That's what this story did for me and I love licorice!

Will Dean, the author of ‘Dark Pines’ has followed up with his recently published ‘Red Snow’.
I began to love Tuva Moodyson in the first book as he has created a terrific character to carry the story. She is some lucky girl. Not a cop, but a journalist who tells it through her eyes.

It is great to have a location that wraps itself around you and not every book is set in an environment below zero in a monolith of a licorice factory in Scandinavia. The scene is described in detail and there is a lot of it and it did not detract one iota from the telling.

Some participants walk back in from Dark Pines, but he has added the factory owners with their special history and made the town an important part of the story too, so much so that you can feel it and to be part of it. Terrific. It made me want more.

Anticipation runs throughout and, yes, I did wonder think what would finally occur, but I never got anywhere near this ending. What a way to finish a story!

If you are searching for something different to read then these books could fit ‘your bill’. I will never give anything away as the front cover tells you enough to give the gist of what could be inside. (Unless it's a Kindle in your hand). Okay, if you expect a ‘review’ to find fault or to comment adversely then maybe I could, but that is for you; to form your own opinion.

It's different and I have enough impertinence to say this - ‘you could read Dark Pines first and start to fall in love with Tuva’. Now there's a challenge. Just take it, why don't you?

ISBN 978-1-78607-385-3 for Wild Pines
ISBN 978-1-78607-479-9 for Red Snow.

PEGO MARSH - A MIGRATION VIEWING MORNING

PEGO MARSH - MY FIRST VISIT FOR YEARS

I should have done my homework and I didn't. Bryan and I had discussed another visit to Pego Marsh, many times, with the water channels, rivers and rice fields providing good habitats.. We gambled on water being in some fields, at least. Most were dry and others with only a hint of moisture. Never mind, for we always see something, and we wanted to see how the migration is going and It is happening.

We can say that we saw four species migrating with both Barn Swallows - our second sighting only this spring - and a first view of passing House Martins. ( I have still to see them in San Miguel where they nest in very good numbers.). Fortunately our morning improved with three good sightings of Short Toed Eagles especially when one flew directly over head. Surprisingly we spooked a sub-adult Purple Heron which flew off.



We came into the rice growing area from the inland side and then we immediately had five Booted Eagles overhead. We checked each one out hoping that one could have been a Bonelli’s, but there was not one up there. Cetti's called several times and one showed clearly. Always difficult to see, but this time a good view.



Bryan heard Penduline Tits and we managed two clear sightings as they fed in the reeds. Also, and very briefly a Moustached Warbler hopped up and disappeared again.

Serin, Goldfinches and one lone male Chaffinch flew across and Meadow Pipits fed in the margins and as we were leaving Bryan identified a Water Pipit. We saw two Reed Buntings and a lone Robin was flitting in an out of the undergrowth. We tallied up the number of Booted Eagles and that species was ten with five Marsh Harriers seen,

The fields held numerous Little Egrets, groups of Cormorants, and at least three flying groups of 30 Glossy Ibis in each. A small number of Grey Herons and we heard a short squeal from a Water Rail. On four occasions Green Sandpipers flew out of the ditches. White Wagtails were the only wagtails that we saw and we noticed nothing else. There was not one gull to be seen!

This could be a tremendous area for birds, but they need mud and water. I shall have to do my research to see when the rice growers work the fields before I go again.

WILD JUSTICE

Wild Justice newsletter 2

Welcome to our second newsletter. Here we can tell you a little about our first legal challenge and a bit more about how Wild Justice has been received by the world.

First project

We can't tell you too much right now but we will soon be able to tell you much more.  On the day of our launch a couple of weeks ago our lawyers sent a formal letter (a Pre Action Protocol letter) to a public body challenging the legality of a recent decision they had made.  This is the first step towards a judicial review of the decision where a judge hears the evidence and decides whether the public body has behaved lawfully or unlawfully.  The public body had two weeks to respond with their answers to our points. They did respond after 13 days asking for another 14 days in order to respond properly. That was on Tuesday this week and on Wednesday our lawyers at Leigh Day replied on our behalf saying that we expected a response in seven days otherwise we would push ahead with legal action. So we should know where we are with this challenge late next week and we are likely to have decided our approach at the beginning of the week commencing Monday 11 March.

There has been lots of speculation, and some helpful suggestions, about cases we should pursue and we've been amused by some of the former and intrigued by some of the latter but we know we can't do everything at once. These legal challenges take a lot of background research and discussions with lawyers and we won't be able to handle lots of them at once. We will also have to raise money to fight each one.  We think that you, our supporters, will agree with our first challenge and we are looking forward to telling you all about it. At this stage we feel it is fairer to the public body concerned to give them the space to consider our legal points without being named and without the subject being revealed, but we will tell you all about it, and ask for your help, as soon as we can.

Your responses to Wild Justice

We've been overwhelmed by the messages of support, donations, offers of help and suggestions that we have received in the last couple of weeks.  Thank you!  We'll try to reply to all of them but it will take a while - and there are only three of us at Wild Justice.

We've had offers of support from legal firms and from trainee lawyers who want to use their skills to help us.  We'll be looking at all of these carefully.

We were touched that Richard Mabey, the author and naturalist, sent us a messsage of support and encouragement which also drew attention, as a former council member of the Nature Conservancy Council, to the licensing of widespread killing of birds by its successor body Natural England.  It's wonderful to get such messages.

Gill Lewis, the writer of many wildlife books for young people, has pledged the Public Lending Right income from three of her current books (Sky Hawk, Sky Dancer and Run Wild) and from Eagle Warrior which is published this summer, to Wild Justice.  That's very generous - thank you Gill!

And there is a group of fell runners who are planning to run 200km over the moorlands of northern England, passing through areas of high wildlife crime, to highlight the illegal perecution of birds of prey and to raise money.  This is a very exciting project and we'll be giving them lots of support.

Some technical and administrative things

Our website will be evolving over time and so may have to go off-line for updates now and again.

Donations can be made by PayPal through the website, by bank transfer (see website for details) or by sending a cheque made out to Wild Justice to our registered office at 9 Lawson Street, Raunds, Northants NN9 6NG (and please write a postal or email address on the back of the cheque so that we can thank you). If you have sent us a cheque - thank you!  It may take a while for us to cash it.  We are looking in to how to make regular giving easier.

That's it for now. Thank you for your support - we'll keep you informed of what is happening.  The next newsletter is likely to arrive in the week commencing 11 March and will contain information about our first legal challenge.

Wild Justice (Directors: Mark Avery, Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay).