FROM PLANTLIFE - LET THE GRASS AND MEADOWS BLOOM IN JUNE

Let's Let it Bloom View this email in your browser Donate Join Shop Hi John, May might be over, but the No Mow Movement is still well underway, and it's not too late join - welcome to Let it Bloom June! While May is a great time to start the Movement, letting your lawn grow through June can be great too - and every little space adds up to huge gains for nature. All you need to do is mow less and create space for nature to thrive. In return you lock up more carbon, help your garden deal with the heat and provide pollinators and other wildlife with a vital lifeline. Say no more, I'm ready to join Let it Bloom Your Way The No Mow Movement isn't about throwing away the mower altogether - it's about trying to replicate some of those lost meadows at home. How you choose to continue (or begin) the Movement is up to you: Hands celebrating Go Wild - go all in and let your lawn grow like a mini hay meadow through to the end of July. Flower Create a Mow-saic Mix - think short paths, flowering lawn patches and longer areas with taller wildflowers and grasses, variety is the spice of life! Green heart Beautiful borders - leave some space around your border to bloom and see what wildlife takes sanctuary in the tufts of grasses. Let's Let it Bloom With the hottest May temperature on record this year, there has never been a better time to help our wildlife. The benefits of less mowing are blooming brilliant! You'll boost biodiversity, provide safe and cooler spaces for insects and animals and protect your lawn from drought. So please do tell us and add your name to the No Mow Movement if you’re letting the grass grow - you’ll help us to keep track of the space that is being created for nature across the UK. We can't wait to welcome all the new No Mow Heroes! Thank you. Charley Adams, Plantlife Nature Editor Follow Plantlife on: Instagram Instagram Facebook Facebook YouTube YouTube LinkedIn LinkedIn Website Website Copyright © Plantlife All rights reserved. Plantlife International is a charitable company limited by guarantee. Registered Charity in England and Wales (1059559) & Scotland, (SC038951) Registered Company in England and Wales (3166339) Registered Office: Brewery House,36 Milford Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1 2AP, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1722 342730 enquiries@plantlife.org.uk www.plantlife.org.uk Plantlife respects your privacy. You can read more about how and why we use your personal data at www.plantlife.org.uk/privacy-notice Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

FROM THE HUNT SABOTEURS — FROM TRAIL HUNTING TO DRAG HUNTING?

View this email in your browser Hi, Supporter From Trail Hunting to Drag Hunting: The Next Smokescreen? Trail hunting does not exist as a genuine activity; it exists only as a myth. It was invented after the hunting ban as a smokescreen for the continued hunting of wild mammals - exactly as campaigners warned it would be, and exactly as hunts themselves said they would do. The convicted Crawley and Horsham Fox hunt in 2023/24 - now a registered drag hunt as of 2025/26. Image Credit West Sussex Hunt Sabs In 2020, fifteen years after hunting was banned, the sport’s governing body held a series of Zoom calls during the Covid lockdowns which were later leaked to the Hunt Saboteurs Association and released on ITV News. The recordings exposed hunting’s leadership, coaching masters and huntsmen on how to circumvent the law and avoid prosecution. It was from these webinars that the now-infamous term “smokescreen” entered the public debate — used to describe trail hunting as a cover for continued illegal hunting. The leak marked a turning point. The beginning of the end of hunts operating with impunity while publicly insisting they were acting within the law. Twenty-one years later, the public has more than had enough, and finally a government was elected with a manifesto pledge to ban the fiction of trail hunting. But banning the myth alone does not deal with the underlying activity. How can you ban something that does not truly happen? What must be outlawed is the use of any smokescreen that enables the hunting of wild mammals to continue under another name. During the infamous leaked Hunting Office webinars, Richard Gurney who was master and huntsman of the Crawley & Horsham hunt, referred to laying trails as a 'Plan B' held in reserve for when sabs turn up. That means ensuring hunts cannot simply reinvent themselves through another supposedly “alternative” activity. And there is every reason to believe they already are. The most obvious replacement smokescreen is drag hunting. That is not speculation — it has effectively been admitted by the hunting lobby itself. As reported by the BBC News, Countryside Alliance representative Polly Portwin said that if trail hunting were banned, hunts would adapt: “We will find a way, we’ve had to find a way and we’re going to have to adapt”. So why is the government simultaneously saying it wants “alternative practices such as drag hunting and clean-boot hunting, which use non-animal scents, to continue to thrive”? “Thrive”? There are only seven registered drag hunting packs in the UK. The Drag Hunting Reality Berks & Bucks Draghounds — formerly kennelled with the Avon Vale Hunt and hunted by former Avon Vale huntsman Stuart Radbourne before the Avon Vale were exposed in multiple cases involving extreme cruelty to animals. Radbourne would slaughter foxes on Saturdays and hunt a drag on Sundays. He has since been seen riding as whipper-in for huntsman Andrew Van Oostrum despite multiple convictions relating to serious animal abuse. Cambridge University Draghounds describes itself as an “extra-mural study” for students, but openly presents itself as a training ground for future leaders of the hunting world, boasting a “long list” of former members who became masters of hounds. One example is Ronnie Wallace, associated with hunts including the Hawkstone Otterhounds, Exmoor Foxhounds, Ludlow, Cotswold and Heythrop hunts. Crawley & Horsham Draghounds switched from registration with the British Hound Sports Association (BHSA) to the Masters of Draghounds & Bloodhounds Association ahead of the proposed ban. The fate of their fox hunting hounds remains unclear. The organisation has long been associated with “smokescreen” hunting practices. Former master and huntsman Richard Gurney was exposed in the Hunting Office webinars referring to trail laying as a “Plan B” to use when hunt saboteurs appeared. The Crawley & Horsham Hunt also has convictions for illegal hunting. In 2012, three members, including huntsman Andrew Phillis, were convicted on five counts of illegal hunting. In 2013, professional huntsman Nicholas Bycroft pleaded guilty to an offence under the Hunting Act. In 2021, two separate cases against then-huntsman William Bishop collapsed after CPS failures to disclose video evidence. Isle of Wight Hounds — another former BHSA-registered pack now making the switch before legislation changes. Jersey Draghounds Mid Surrey Farmers Draghounds Staff College Draghounds Drag Hunt huntsman Stuart Radbourne hunting the Drag hounds on a Sunday. And the same Stuart Radbourne digging out foxes on a Saturday. The Scent Contradiction Sabs have long documented what scents so-called ‘trail hunts’ claim to use, here are just a few from our reports; Staghounds Quantock Staghounds — aniseed (2018) Foxhounds Hampshire Hunt — Olbas Oil (2025/26) Royal Artillery Hunt — valerian root (2025/26) Portman Hunt — clove oil (2025/26) Wilton Hunt — aniseed (2023/24), then reportedly returned to fox scent in 2025/26 because alternatives “don’t really work as well” Harriers Holcombe Harriers — “cheap perfume” Beagles Bolebroke Beagles — aniseed New Forest Beagles — Olbas Oil (2017) Wilton Hunt offer sabs a sniff of their sock. Credit Wiltshire Hunt Sabs The original justification for trail hunting using fox scent after the Hunting Act was supposedly to “keep the dogs’ noses” trained while hunts campaigned for the repeal of the Act. Yet the extraordinary inconsistency in the scents now claimed — from aniseed and clove oil to cheap perfume and Olbas Oil — alongside admissions that animal-based scents work better, exposes a fundamental problem: they do not actually know what works best because hounds were never genuinely retrained away from live quarry. The example of the Wilton Hunt is particularly revealing. After publicly claiming to have switched to non-animal scent trails in 2023/24, it now reportedly admits that fox scent has been reintroduced because alternatives “don’t really work”. It cannot be acceptable for actual hunting to continue simply to preserve seven registered drag hunts — several of which have direct or deeply questionable links to convicted fox hunting activity and individuals associated with illegal hunting. A ban on trail hunting alone is not enough. The government must ensure that any new law covers all eventualities, closes every potential smokescreen, and removes the loopholes and exemptions that have allowed hunts to continue operating in practice while claiming compliance on paper. Nothing less will do. The government has launched a public consultation on Trail Hunting – this is our chance to stop cruel hunting for good. You can read the HSA’s guidance and take part in the consultation here. The deadline is 18th June 2026 – make sure your voice is heard. Take part in the Trail Hunting Consultation now: Have your say Join the Hunt Saboteurs Association! Support our vital work by becoming a member. Join The HSA Spread the word! Please share our news Share via email Facebook icon Instagram icon Twitter icon Logo Copyright (C) 2026 Hunt Saboteurs Association. All rights reserved. You were subscribed to the newsletter from Hunt Saboteurs Association. Our mailing address is: BM HSA, London, WC1N 3XX, U.K. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe

FROM PROTECT THE WILD - SO MUCH TO READ AND TO TAKE ACTION ON

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more How did we fit all of this into one month? From national news to Parliament, another busy month for Protect the Wild! PROTECT THE WILD MAY 31 READ IN APP These donation appeals are vital to keeping Protect the Wild moving forward. We are not funded by corporations. We do not rely on large grants. Everything we do is powered by ordinary people choosing to give small amounts because they believe animals deserve a voice. Before I ask for your support today, I want to show you what that support achieved in May. Because honestly, when I sat down to write this email, I found myself asking: How did we fit all of this into one month? June Fundraiser Taking animal issues into the national spotlight For years, animal protection campaigns have often struggled to break into the mainstream. Not in May. Over the course of a single month, our campaigns appeared on ITV, BBC, STV, national newspapers and even Have I Got News For You. Just six weeks after my campaign as a giant Gannet candidate in the Scottish elections was featured on Have I Got News For You, I found myself back in the headlines - this time standing in the Makerfield by-election dressed as a giant fox. Some people ask why we do this. The answer is simple. Animals don’t get a vote. The Guga hunt had remained largely hidden from public scrutiny for generations. Hunting with hounds has survived years of political delay, loopholes and broken promises. These campaigns are designed to force those issues into the public conversation. What started as a giant Gannet costume ended with the campaign appearing on BBC News, ITV News, STV News, front pages and prime-time television. Millions of people who had never heard of the Guga hunt suddenly knew exactly what it was. That momentum continued throughout May. June Fundraiser We appeared on Scotland’s most watched news programme challenging NatureScot over a fresh licence application for the Guga hunt. A once obscure issue has become a national debate. And our petition demanding an end to the licensed slaughter of Gannet chicks has now passed 192,000 signatures and is rapidly approaching 200,000. Earlier this month, we travelled to NatureScot's headquarters in Inverness to deliver what is now the largest petition in the organisation's history, only to be told it would need to be submitted by email instead. The campaign to end the Guga hunt continues and you can add your name to the petition here. Exposing the bird shooting industry While our campaigners were generating headlines, our investigators were generating evidence. In May, ITV News aired footage from Protect the Wild’s undercover investigation into the bird shooting industry. The footage was the result of over a year of work and hundreds of hours of evidence gathered from “game” bird farms across the country. Millions of birds are bred and released every year to be shot for sport. But the public rarely gets to see what happens before those birds arrive on shooting estates. We pulled back the curtain. And we didn’t stop there. Throughout May we continued publishing findings from the investigation, exposing industrial breeding systems, raised cages and the factory farming practices that sit behind an industry that constantly attempts to present itself as conservation. This investigation is ongoing. And some of our most significant findings are still to come. Please head over to our End Bird Shooting Substack to stay in the loop. June Fundraiser Taking the fight directly to Parliament In May we also took our Rehome the Hounds campaign to Westminster. Alongside rescue organisations, behaviourists and Alfred the rescued hunt hound, we met with MPs to challenge one of the hunting lobby’s most persistent arguments: that hunting dogs cannot be rehomed if hunting ends. The truth is they can. And the response from MPs was overwhelmingly positive. At the same time, we continued driving participation in the Government’s consultation on hunting, ensuring that public pressure for meaningful reform continues to grow. Over 30,000 of you have now used our handy 15 second tool to respond to the consultation. You can do so here if you haven’t already! Turning campaigns into victories Not every campaign makes national headlines. Some save lives directly. Following pressure from supporters and local campaigners, swifts were once again able to access their nesting site in Banstead after obstacles blocking access were removed. Our new rapid-response bird netting campaign also secured the removal of harmful bird netting from two locations, preventing further suffering and deaths. To support that campaign, we released a new animation exposing the cruelty of bird netting. More than 1.5 million people have already watched it. This is what your support makes possible When I look back at May, it doesn’t feel like one month. It feels like six. An undercover investigation aired on ITV. We featured on Have I Got News For You for the second time in six weeks. We saw tens of thousands add their name to our petition calling for an end to the Guga hunt. National television appearances. Conversations with MPs. Wildlife victories on the ground. Millions of people reached. Protect the Wild continues to punch far above its weight because thousands of people choose to stand alongside us. We’ve set a goal of £2,500 for our June fundraiser to power us on this month and would be so appreciative of any support you can give :) Thank you. Rob June Fundraiser SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing