SONG BY THE ARTISANS AGAINST DRIVEN GROUSE SHOOTING

IN TWELVE DAYS GROUSE MOORS WILL RESOUND WITH THE SOUND OF SHOTGUNS, AND THE EARTH LITTERED WITH DEAD AND DYING GROUSE KILLED IN THE NAME OF SPORT

Summer heat has caused a lull in me and now it has driven me to protest. Jessie Buckley in the film Wild Rose sings, in Country Girl, a line that includes, ‘diseased land’. It jarred on me and those two words can be interpreted any bad way one likes. That's it but we should never let optimism be outwitted by pessimism.

So here it is. I've been reading all that I can about wildlife, the killing and the way the factions are posturing to promote what they believe in. Well, let's go from the top. We humans are the alpha predator left because the bear, wolves, lynx have been hunted and poisoned to their extinction. And so it is left to us to control anything that is in excess. Us the killers with the gun, trap and baited offerings. We can do it anyway we like for the constraints have always been minimal.

Until now, that is. The restrictions have started to appear and I know it will be difficult and expensive to turn centuries of power, tradition and even culture around. The wanton killing allowed by the landowners, shooting agents and those with the money to shoot for sport is being challenged.

My opinion that we are the top predator has to travel alongside the fact that I cannot oppose hunting. We have controlled our land and it has included hunting to excess. Today, only a few, hunt for food. A recent article (Nicholas Hellen’s in The Times of 21st July) included the shooting of Quists, pheasants and partridge, ducks and deer or in other words ‘game’ for food. It is an interesting read and maybe it will make some people think? This can bring into the public concept a new idea of what to eat. It's out there really!

On this theme another article by Edward Lucas, the aka Thunderer suggests ‘Bambiburgers Anyone’? Well he has a point for there are six species of deer eating their way through anything that appeals to them. Anyone species in excess will be for the detriment of others, Mr Lucas bangs on about Lyme disease (Lyme borreliosis) which is associated with tics being hosted by deer. He is correct, but to call deer vermin will let some fall into the trap that if they are vermin we can kill them regardless! No, that is not he approach. I would prefer them to be a food source.

Grouse moors and pheasant shoots and the way that they are managed I am opposed to. To call this a sport is wrong. Sending lead shot up into the air to bring down flying birds is not a sport at all. It is killing because they can. Okay, it requires accuracy to record a hit, but so what! I view this as mindless. It causes damage to what was our natural environment. If there is an excessive population of ‘game birds’ then natural wildlife will be constrained at least. That is even without the control of habitats, extermination of ‘vermin’’ so called and our natural predators. Raptor persecution seems to exist alongside grouse moors and shooting estates. Add to that the importation of chicks from Europe to be reared further for the monied few to pop them off out of the sky. Intensive rearing can be associated with disease and its control with drugs. Enough of that.

Writers seem to be obsessed with control. Sea Gulls (they are not Sea at all but just Gulls) should be offered contraceptives! Okay, let's put more chemicals into our wildlife or shall we sensibly restricted their food source and nesting habitats. All of this because our wanderings about with fish and chips are easy pickings for the gulls. Let's get real and dismiss the absurd use of contraception.

There is movement out there to make me feel happier. Scotland is considering upping the penalties for wildlife crimes. There are people out there fighting like hell to protect what we have. Legal Justice with Chris Packham, Dr. Mark Avery and Ruth Tingay are voices that are being heard. They are challenging the release of game birds. It will go to court. There are others too.

Now with 12th August only days away, an Indie Band, The Artisans, have written ‘A Distant Call’. It's a charity single where the proceeds will go to Legal Justice and is aimed at Scotland's Grouse Shooting Industry. That’s a note for me to finish on. Yes, I will download it and I want the T-shirt too.