Good morning! Yesterday we sent a list of 16 questions to Natural England about their role in protecting sites of conservation importance from the harmful impacts of releases of non-native gamebirds, Pheasants in this case. You may remember that back in October 2020, Wild Justice secured a legal victory when Defra promised to introduce regulations on the scale and nature of gamebird releases near sites of high conservation importance - click here.
That action by Wild Justice secured changes to the regulations about how many gamebirds can be released in or near sites of conservation importance and the actions that landowners must take when releasing non-native species such as Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges. Let's be clear, these were the biggest changes in regulation of gamebird releases ever seen in the UK.
However, we believe that the regulations are a good start but are very weak. They are obviously much better than nothing but they are a start not an end point. And the rules and regulations are only ever effective if they are enforced by regulators.
The questions we sent to Natural England yesterday relate to a pretty wood on the edge of Dartmoor, called Dendles Wood. This wood is part of the much larger Dartmoor Special Area of Conservation, it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and part of the wood is owned by Natural England and is a National Nature Reserve. So, Natural England should know all about it as a landowner and a regulator. We say that, but curiously the Natural England website says that the four land parcels that make up the SSSI were last assessed by Natural England over a decade ago. Can that be right? That's one of the questions we have asked.
Why are we asking about Dendles Wood? Our attention was brought to it by a recent, high-profile, legal case where a local land owner, Alexander Darwall, won a court case where he sought to limit wild camping on his land - click here. Mr Darwall's Blachford Estate owns parts of Dendles Wood and there is a Pheasant release pen very close to the wood.
People visiting the area say that there are lots and lots of Pheasants on the adjacent moorland and in the wood itself. Given the conservation importance of the wood for rare invertebrates, mosses and lichens we want to know what Natural England is doing to ensure that the conservation value of this designated site is protected.
You can read more about Dendles Wood and read the letter sent to Natural England yesterday, with its 16 questions, on our blog - click here. We'll let you know what they say.
If you like what we do and would like to make a general donation which will be used across our range of work, then please consider donating through PayPal, bank transfer or a cheque in the post - see details here.
That's it for now. Thank you so much for your support. We couldn't do any of this without you.
No comments:
Post a Comment