FRIENDS OF THE EARTH—CLEAN UP IN THE TYNE—NURDLES FROM SHIPPING

View in browser Dear John, One billion plastic pellets – known as nurdles – have spilled from a cargo ship into the River Tyne [1]. It’s a race against time to limit the disaster. Thousands of volunteers, including our local action groups, are desperately trying to clean the beaches and reduce the impact on wildlife. But the official response has been far too slow, while every tide washes more into the sea, making it harder to clean up. Please tell the government to coordinate an emergency response. And hold companies accountable for every penny of environmental recovery. I'LL SIGN THE PETITION Nurdles stick around for decades and wreak havoc on sea life – fish, birds and other animals fatally mistake the bright plastic for food. We need urgent action to stop any more of these deadly plastic pellets escaping from the Tyne into the wider North Sea. The local volunteer response has been quick and inspiring. But communities shouldn't have to clean up corporate pollution. The government has promised to listen to the North. Local people have stepped up. Now it’s time for the government to do the same. Tell Andy Burnham to coordinate an emergency response and hold the companies accountable. I'LL SIGN THE PETITION Thanks, Sienna, Campaigner, Friends of the Earth Notes: [1] ‘There’s no nurdle fairy’: thousands mobilise to clean up plastic spillage in north-east England, The Guardian. About us Supporter promise Privacy policy Contact us DONATE This email was sent to spanishjohnedwards@gmail.com Want to change how you receive these emails? Unsubscribe from this list We send communications to our supporters who have opted in to receive emails from us. Friends of the Earth Limited. Reg. No. 01012357. Incorporated in England and Wales. Registered office: Friends of the Earth The Printworks 139 Clapham Road London, SW9 0HP United Kingdom Copyright © Friends of the Earth Limited

FROM PROTECT THE WILD—BBC TV TALK OF THE REFUSAL FOR TH GUGA KILLING TO CONTINUE

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more BBC Evening News Covers Guga Hunt Victory! Protect the Wild reacts to the landmark licence refusal on BBC Scotland. AUG 5 READ IN APP Monday was a truly historic day for Scotland’s Gannets. The Guga hunt licence was rejected for the first time ever, sparing 2000 Gannet chicks from a needless and brutal death in the name of tradition. This was a landmark moment for wildlife protection in Scotland, and we're delighted it received the national attention it deserved, featuring on both BBC Scotland's and STV's evening news programmes. Protect the Wild was invited to appear on both programmes to react to NatureScot's decision to reject the licence. BBC Scotland also aired an extended interview with our Scottish Campaigns Manager, Devon, which you can watch below. Speaking to BBC Scotland, we reflected on how emotional it was to hear that the Guga hunt would not be going ahead, and how much it meant to everyone who has campaigned so hard to protect these birds. We also highlighted how our campaign brought unprecedented public attention to the issue and pressured NatureScot into acting in the bests interest of wildlife rather than waving through the Guga hunt for yet another year. Over the course of the campaign so far, we built a petition of more than 250,000 signatures, released a viral animation, organised multiple protests, carried out creative campaign stunts that generated nationwide media coverage, and dedicated countless hours to research and meetings with NatureScot. We believe this significant new scrutiny caused NatureScot to take a far more precautionary approach to the licence. The unprecedented public interest and controversy surrounding the Guga hunt meant the decision was escalated to senior management, and new scientific evidence was commissioned rather than relying on assumptions rooted in the past. We also made clear that tradition, culture and heritage - the main argument we hear for the hunt continuing - cannot justify the continued killing of vulnerable seabird chicks. Finally, and most importantly, we warned that despite Monday's landmark victory, the fight is far from over. NatureScot made it very clear that the Guga hunters can apply again next year, and trust us, they will. Until the law is changed, we’ll have to fight this licence every single year and the Gannet chicks will be at risk of being beaten to death yet again. That’s why we’re now turning our attention to the Scottish Parliament and pressing for the Government to amend Section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act to remove the clause allowing the Guga hunt. Help us get this over the finish line Yesterday, our incredible founder Rob walked (but mostly ran!) 16 kilometres in laps around the Scottish Parliament building dressed as a Gannet to call on Section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act to be amended to outlaw the Guga hunt. We’re aiming to raise £16,000 for vital funds to power the next and final phase of the fight to end the Guga hunt for good. DONATE TO THE FUNDRAISER We're so close to hitting our target. If you can, please chip in a few quid and help us cross the finish line. SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

RIGHT TO ROAM NEWSLETTR—TELL THE STORY OF LACK OF ACCESS TO OUR RIVERBANKS

No right to access three quarters of England's riverbanks In this newsletter: –Our riverbank investigation –Wigan and Makerfield Events –Finnamore Wood –Local Group Updates Dear Roamers, Nearly three quarters of England’s riverbanks have no right of access according to our new analysis, revealed in the Guardian last weekend. We found that 71% of riverbanks across 89 English river catchments have no access land or public right of way on either bank within 100 metres of the water. It is a staggering finding and yet, somehow, an unsurprising one. Many rivers begin their life accessible, birthed in the mountains and moors where access land is more common. As estuaries become more urban they tend to offer greater access to the riverside. However, the middle courses are often forgotten and inaccessible. It’s like knowing someone in their youth and losing touch until their old age. Take the River Severn for example, whose headwaters begin high in the Welsh hills of Plynlimon, and end in the great estuary of the Bristol Channel. Yet through its middle catchment in Shropshire, it becomes one of England’s least accessible waterways, with 90% of its banks off limits. In other places, paths named after a river barely encounter the rivers whose name they carry – for example, most of the ‘The Test Way’ does not adjoin the famous chalk stream at all. Right to Roam's local group in South Devon experienced this phenomenon recently on the River Erme. Our trespass took us along the private paths of the Flete Estate (of Our Land fame), which for 5km on both sides of the river is reserved for the exclusive access of residents and guests of the estate. It is a beautiful section of a river in much need of help, but which for the most part is unseen even by those living in villages and towns in the same catchment. Does this story sound familiar? Have you been shut out from your local river? Drop us a reply and tell us your story. Details like that help us build the case for change. Our investigation lands on the freshly cleared desk of incoming DEFRA Secretary of State, Angela Eagle. Her arrival continues a decade-long trend at the department, where a new SoS has been appointed, on average, once every year. We hope she will recognise the scale of the inequality it represents and the inadequacy of the government’s flagship access policy of creating ‘nine new river walks’, which have so far failed to create any new access. She needn’t look far for ideas. Across Europe we see examples of a different approach. Sweden, Norway and Scotland all have a right to swim and paddle in most inland waters with exceptions made for privacy, wildlife and public safety. France has 1,286 officially monitored freshwater bathing sites. Meanwhile, in Paris, three free, supervised swimming areas have been opened on the Seine, with the water tested daily and sites closed temporarily when conditions make swimming unsafe. Berlin has 39 official bathing places where the city monitors conditions and gives swimmers information about where it is safe to enter. The city’s website states: “The Lageso wishes all Berliners and all guests of the city a pleasant and safe bathing and swimming season at the official bathing areas". In some Swiss cities, the rivers are so clean that people commute to work by swimming. Even in the densely populated Netherlands there are now 800 officially designated swimming locations, that are monitored and tested regularly. From the 1st of June next year Flanders will make all swimming legal unless there’s a good reason not to . Authorities there have taken the enlightened view that legalising swimming results in a stronger swimming culture, which in turn produces stronger and more capable swimmers: saving lives, and benefitting mental and physical health. As the Netherlands national swimming programme, Swim-ABC, website succinctly puts it: “Learning to swim is vital in our country with its abundance of water. We live near water, and we like to seek it out. Therefore, it is essential that children learn to swim at a young age.” While Europe evolves, we stagnate. England and Wales are increasingly looking like the last ones left on the bank while everyone else takes to water. Wigan & Makerfield: Save the Dates With the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, making his constituency of Makerfield a litmus test for the country, Right to Roam are paying a visit. –August 27th, The Old Courts, 7pm. Join Nadia, Guy, and the Right to Roam North West local group, for an evening of discussion about increasing land access, who owns the North West and what access reform could look like. –September 12th, Wigan Diggers’ Festival Right to Roam will be running a stall at this local festival, celebrating the legacy of the great Gerard Winstanley and his belief in the land as a common treasury for all... –September 13th, SAVE THE DATE With the team in town, there’s mischief to be found… save the date and we’ll release more details in due course! Finnamore Wood We recently reported on events unfolding at Finnamore Wood in Buckinghamshire, where a luxury property developer is enclosing a once-accessible woodland. The site was formerly home to a borstal but in the decades since it closed, local children and families have walked and played among the trees. In recent months, an eight-foot fence has been erected around the perimeter. Once again, the woodland has been turned into a fortress. Last week residents held a vigil to highlight the injustice and call on the local authorities to act. You can watch a moving short film about the day here. BBC News Jon spoke to the BBC about the legacy of the Kinder Mass Trespass and why it’s still unfinished business in England and Wales. Check the article out here. Local Groups Update Dorset Congrats to the Dorset group, who went out last weekend to liberate a Right of Way on Deadmoor Common from blockage – great work folks! Leicestershire The Leicestershire group are organising a swim trespass and picnic this Sunday, August 9th. If you’re interested, please contact Nadia on nadia@righttoroam.org.uk for more information. Kent Kent local group are looking to expand their pool of active members and organisers. They’re especially in need of someone who is interested in social media but would love to hear from any keen folk regardless of skill set. They welcome people from all over Kent and are hoping to gather some representation in the East or along the coast. Members meet regularly online and in person. They’d also love support in researching land ownership in Kent and planning actions that can include book clubs, socials, walks, film screenings, etc. If you’re interested in getting involved, please email righttoroamkent@gmail.com West Yorkshire On August 29th our West Yorkshire group are teaming up with long time friends of the campaign, Trash Free Trails, to give the hills a spruce after the Yorkshire 3 Peaks. “We will come together to give these majestic hills a good clean and do our bit of Wild Service. We want to have fun and engage with the public and really try to understand the psychology of littering. We are not aiming to lecture, blame or protest, but if we can talk to the public about rubbish and increased responsible access even better!" Sign up on the Trash Free Trails website here. For more details, drop the local group a line at: righttoroamwestyorkshire@gmail.com Lewis and Jon, on behalf of the Right to Roam team Can you help keep us roaming? The right to roam campaign is kept afloat by small donations from a few hundred monthly supporters. We are grateful for every single one of you. It’s what keeps the work going, but if we want to scale what’s needed, we need to grow that base. We currently have a target of 1,000 subscribers in order to make the campaign sustainable for the next year. Can you help? £5 / Month £10 / Month £15 / Month £20 / Month As an extra bonus for supporters, those who choose to become monthly paid supporters of the campaign will automatically enter into our ongoing art print giveaway as a thank you for helping sustain the movement long term. Visit our social accounts RIGHTTOROAM.ORG.UK This email was sent from this site. If you no longer wish to receive this email, change your email preferences here.

PLANTLIFE SAY MEADOWS ARE IMPORTANT

View this email in your browser Donate Join Shop Hi John, Wildflower meadows are really important (we all know this). These national treasures capture carbon, provide food and shelter for wildlife and protect land from flooding. Since 2013 we have led the creation and restoration of over 13,000 acres of wildflower meadow. But there’s so much more to do. By donating today, you can help make this a reality. Donate Meadows only thrive when farmers, land managers and communities have the tools and funding they need. Your donation helps us campaign for the policies and investment that enable meadow-friendly management – and helps us directly support those working on the ground. Supporting Farmers like Peter and Catherine In Wales alone, your support has helped us work with more than 1,200 farmers and landowners in the last three years. We worked with Peter and Catherine who have farmed Wern Ddu Uchaf for 34 years. In their own words: “I’ve learned a tremendous amount by working with Plantlife advisors, they’ve really supported us...Plantlife have really taught us a lot about the farm and how to farm it.” Farmers like Peter and Catherine are at the heart of meadow restoration work and their deep knowledge of the land helps us promote nature-friendly farming practices that both protect and restore biodiversity. By giving a gift today, you can help influence the way meadows are looked after, putting wild plants and fungi at the heart of land management. Donate today Thank you for your ongoing support. Jo Riggall Grassland Advocacy Officer PS If you've already given a gift to protect our national treasures, thank you so much. Tractor bails hay in a meadow This appeal represents Plantlife’s work to create a world rich in plants and fungi. Your gift will help support work from species recovery and habitat restoration to campaigning for policy change, and working in partnership with people. Your gift will be used in the most effective way possible to make a difference to nature. We can only continue our conservation work through the generosity of supporters like you. 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. This email was sent to spanishjohnedwards@gmail.com why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences Plantlife · Brewery House · 36 Milford Street · Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 2AP · United Kingdom

FROM PROTECT THE WILD—IT’S A WIN—GUGA LICENCE REFUSED

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more WE DID IT! GUGA HUNT LICENCE REJECTED! 🎉 A major victory for compassion, for science and for common sense. DEVON DOCHERTY AUG 3 READ IN APP My eyes are brimming with tears as I send you this email to let you know the Guga hunt licence has officially been REJECTED by NatureScot and the hunt will not be going ahead this year. This means 2,000 baby Gannets have been saved from a brutal death of being snatched from their nests and beaten to death by the Guga hunters. Instead, they will get the chance to live. To learn to fly. To become the magnificent seabirds they were always meant to be. This is a historic day - the first time in history the Guga hunt licence has been rejected by NatureScot. A campaign that changed everything Since we got involved in this issue last year, Protect the Wild has been at the forefront of a high-profile campaign against this year’s licence application. Over the past year, together we’ve built the biggest campaign the Guga hunt has ever faced. More than 250,000 of you signed our petition to NatureScot - the largest public response the organisation has ever received on a licensing decision. We produced an animation narrated by Brian Cox that has been viewed more than 15 million times, staged protests at NatureScot’s headquarters and at events attended by its senior leadership, and kept the issue in the national spotlight through creative campaigning - including our founder Rob standing in the most contested seat of the Scottish Parliament election. Our campaign generated extensive national media coverage, including multiple primetime evening news slots, a front page cover on election day, and even a feature on Have I Got News For You, which led to a huge spike in Google searches about the Guga hunt. We commissioned polling that showed this campaign reflected the views of the wider Scottish public, not just a vocal minority. Behind the scenes, we spent countless hours meticulously researching the hunt. We obtained and published previously unseen footage appearing to show hunters frightening nesting Gannets in breach of their licence conditions, prompting widespread public outrage and calls for NatureScot to investigate. We submitted dozens of Freedom of Information requests that uncovered significant new evidence and exposed flaws in NatureScot's approach. We took our findings directly to NatureScot’s licensing team and senior leadership in a series of meetings, challenging the basis on which any licence could lawfully be granted. For decades, the Guga hunt continued with remarkably little scrutiny. That changed this year. We made sure NatureScot could no longer rely on outdated assumptions or incomplete evidence to justify the killing of Gannet chicks. Together, these efforts transformed the Guga hunt from a little-known local tradition into one of Scotland’s most closely scrutinised wildlife controversies, forcing NatureScot to commission its most comprehensive scientific assessment of the hunt to date and confront questions it had never properly answered before. I hope today's decision demonstrates the power of refusing to accept that change has to happen slowly. We were never prepared to stand by while thousands of Gannet chicks continued to be killed each year waiting for the law to change. We believed we had to fight on every front: challenging the licence in the short term while campaigning to change the law for good. And that’s exactly where this campaign goes next. But first, to everyone who stood with us - thank you. Every petition signature, every email, every share, every comment, every donation and every conversation helped shine a spotlight on the Guga hunt and hold NatureScot to account like never before. This victory belongs to every single one of you. A message from Rob Whilst today’s announcement is of course a huge victory for the Gannets, it is not a permanent one. Until the law itself is changed, the hunt could still come back. That’s why I will not just sit around and celebrate. The focus must now shift to the Scottish Parliament and the campaign to amend Section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 so the legal exemption allowing Gannets to be taken from Sula Sgeir is removed once and for all. That is why tomorrow morning I will be walking 16 kilometres around the Scottish Parliament dressed as a Gannet: as a powerful reminder to those at the heart of Scottish politics that removing a single line from the law could protect these seabirds forever. 16 kilometres. £16,000 target. One mission: amend Section 16. Support my fundraising challenge If you’d like to chuck in a few pounds (or £16 if you’re feeling generous!) to the fundraiser I would be very appreciative. We’ve demonstrated what can be achieved with months of focused campaigning, now we need your help to push on and change the law for good. SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

FROM PROTECT THE WILD—SHOULD THEY BE WORRIED ABOUT THE GUGA HUNT

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Just 24 Hours Until the Final Guga Hunt Decision - Here's Why I'm Worried Just 12 people will decide the fate of 2,000 Gannets. DEVON DOCHERTY AUG 2 READ IN APP This is it. Our final chance to stop the Guga hunt going ahead this year. And with just 24 hours until NatureScot' decision, you’d think I’d be feeling more optimistic. After all, the latest scientific assessment shows the Guga hunt would decimate Sula Sgeir’s Gannet population, and both their licensing and Marine Ornithology teams have recommended the licence be refused. But in a recent statement announcing the recommendation to reject the licence, NatureScot said something concerning: “This is a recommendation only. The final decision will be made by our Board.” In other words, despite clear scientific evidence that the Guga hunt would undermine the integrity of the Special Protection Area and drive Sula Sgeir's Gannet colony into decline, 12 Board members still have the power to ignore that evidence and licence the hunt anyway. That’s why we need every single person reading this to send them an email right now. Email NatureScot's Board We need to make it impossible for them to ignore the science. Every email is another reminder that the public is watching, that this decision matters, and that anything less a licence refusal will be met with outrage. We’ve changed the wording of our email template to reflect this. So if you’ve been waiting to act, don’t wait any longer. Once you've filled in your details and clicked submit, an email will open in your inbox, addressed to every member of NatureScot's Board. Hit send. Then ask one other person to do the same. These final hours could make all the difference. Next time you hear from me, I will be announcing whether science, compassion and common sense have prevailed, or whether 2,000 Gannet chicks have been failed by the very organisation entrusted with protecting them. One final push. Let's finish what we started. Already sent an email? Leave a comment on NatureScot’s Facebook or Instagram. SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

FROM FRIENDS OF THE EARTH

View in browser Dear John, You just got an email from us with the subject 'Have we offended you?' We didn't mean to send you that – sorry! A technical error meant that this email was automatically sent to you. Our apologies for any confusion or worry that mistake caused. Here's the email we meant to sent: Many of us will be deeply affected by the wildfires in Suffolk and across Europe, which further make the case for action on climate change. After years of Friends of the Earth pressure, the UK government has committed to set stronger objectives to adapt to climate change. To keep us safer from extreme weather. That’ll be of little solace to those fleeing fires today. Or anyone bearing the brunt of back-to-back heatwaves; disabled people, care home residents, those in badly designed homes. But it's progress. And we still have a live legal case to make the government do more. Can you sign our petition to keep the pressure up too? Or share it if you've already added your name. I'LL SIGN THE PETITION For more rays of hope, keep reading... Breakthrough on illegal deforestation Last month the UK government announced it will finally implement new regulations to stop imports of commodities like palm oil, soy, cattle and cocoa produced from illegally deforested land. This is massive news. And I can honestly say this wouldn’t have happened without all your support. It’s a great step forward, but we need much higher government ambition to truly protect forests and the people who depend on them. And to hold companies to account for environmental harms and human rights abuses in their supply chains. So we can celebrate this success, but our campaign’s not over. And we’re going to need your continued support. I'LL SIGN THE PETITION Join us in October to end corporate harms to people and nature After that breakthrough, help us keep up the momentum. Join us in London to ask your MP for a new law to put people and planet over destructive corporate profit. We’ve joined with the Good Business Matters campaign to hold a mass lobby – where hundreds of us will meet our MPs in Parliament – to call for this law. Join us in Westminster on Wednesday 21 October to put a stop to human rights and environmental abuses in UK companies' supply chains. Sign up and we’ll give you all the info and support you need to show your MP why this matters to you. I'LL TAKE PART Heathrow expansion – how much do you know? There's a lot of competing info out there about whether a new runway at Heathrow airport is a good or bad thing. Fancy testing your own knowledge? Here's the first question: 1. Governments and private funds from 6 countries own a slice of the Heathrow pie – profiting directly from its expansion. Which one of these isn’t on that list? AUSTRALIA FRANCE SAUDI ARABIA UK Tens of thousands demand clean water The heat’s got many of us dreaming of taking a nice refreshing dip. But with hundreds falling sick after sewage spills on UK beaches, we’ll have to think twice [1][2]. Nearly 50,000 of you have signed our petition calling for clean water now – thank you! If you haven’t signed our petition yet, please do. I'LL SIGN THE PETITION Local action on – and in – the water Local action group York Friends of the Earth partnered with Surfers Against Sewage to highlight the increasing levels of pollution in the River Ouse, while private water companies make huge profits. Attendees paddle-boarded, kayaked, swam or marched along the River Ouse and dropped a banner from Skeldergate Bridge. The event gained local and national media attention. Swimmers and a canoeist in a river, a swimmer holds up a sign 'end sewage pollution' If you’d like to get involved where you live – for clean water or for any local issue that matters to you – use our group finder and get stuck in! FIND MY LOCAL GROUP Sustainable fashion with free shipping this weekend Now’s the time to stock up on summer fashion – from Friday to Sunday you can get free shipping at our Threads of the Earth shop. Look good while supporting our work. This isn’t fast fashion. Our products are made from all-natural materials using renewable energy and eco-friendly printing methods. And, once your item is worn out, you can send it back to be remade for credit in return. As they say, a T shirt is for life, not just the summer hols 🌞 TAKE ME TO THE SHOP A photo of someone wearing a 'save the planet' t shirt, and the text 'free post all weekend' Coming up, you’ll hear from us soon on how you can take action to clean up our water and how to say no to a third runway at Heathrow. Until then – stay safe and happy in the sun! Thanks, Aleanna Shaughnessy Supporter Relations Manager, Friends of the Earth NOTES: [1] Secret court documents reveal potential scale of illegal sewage spilling, BBC News [2] Ex-Southern Water boss among four charged over alleged plan to manipulate water tests, BBC News About us Supporter promise Privacy policy Contact us DONATE This email was sent to spanishjohnedwards@gmail.com Want to change how you receive these emails? Unsubscribe from this list We send communications to our supporters who have opted in to receive emails from us. Friends of the Earth Limited. Reg. No. 01012357. Incorporated in England and Wales. Registered office: Friends of the Earth The Printworks 139 Clapham Road London, SW9 0HP United Kingdom Copyright © Friends of the Earth Limited

IT”S BUGBYTES AGAIN FROM BUGLIFE

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) © Katie Waddington "If we and the rest of the back-boned animals were to disappear overnight, the rest of the world would get on pretty well. But if the invertebrates were to disappear, the world's ecosystems would collapse." ~ Sir David Attenborough ~

FROM PROTECT THE WILD—GUGA HUNT IS SET TO BE REFUSED

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Guga hunt licence set to be REFUSED The science says the hunt can't go ahead. DEVON DOCHERTY JUL 29 READ IN APP If you haven’t already seen the news on our social media, NatureScot has published the papers for its upcoming board meeting on 3 August, and its own licensing and marine ornithology experts have made a clear recommendation: The 2026 Guga hunt licence should be refused. I hesitate to celebrate too soon, but this almost certainly means the Guga hunt will not be going ahead this year. Let me explain what’s happened. NatureScot has carried out the most comprehensive scientific assessment of the Guga hunt ever undertaken. The results from that were published today, along with a summary by their licensing and marine ornithology team. Drawing on updated population modelling, the latest evidence on avian influenza and the legal tests required under the Habitats Regulations, they concluded a licence should not be given this year. In their assessment, the marine science experts considered three possible options: Grant the full licence to kill 2,000 gannets as requested by the hunters; Grant a reduced licence to kill 500 gannets; Refuse the licence. Officials rejected the first two options. By law, NatureScot cannot grant a licence for something that undermines the integrity of a protected site. And the science showed that a kill limit of 2,000 Gannet chicks would negatively affect the population over the long term and undermine the integrity of the Sula Sgeir Special Protection Area where the hunt takes place. Crucially, the papers reveal that even reducing the hunt to 500 birds would still leave "reasonable scientific doubt" that it would not adversely affect the site, which is home to internationally important seabird populations. The recommendation by NatureScot’s licensing and marine ornithology team concludes: “On the basis and rationale summarised above, the recommended option is to refuse the licence application this year.” This would be the first time NatureScot has refused a licence for the Guga hunt. You made this possible This announcement came on the very same day our petition to NatureScot surpassed 250,000 signatures. Sign the petition That is no coincidence. Over the past few months, together we’ve transformed the Guga hunt from a little-known event into one of Scotland’s biggest wildlife controversies. We’ve put NatureScot under unprecedented public scrutiny, forcing it to confront questions it had never properly answered, commission more robust scientific analysis and revisit long-held assumptions about the hunt. Every signature, every email, every donation, every protest, every share, like and comment helped make that happen. Thank you. But as the saying goes, it’s not over til it’s over. NatureScot’s Board will make the final decision this Monday, so we can’t be 100% sure the hunt won’t be going ahead til then. We’ll be observing that meeting and will let you know the outcome immediately. But it would be genuinely unthinkable for them to ignore their own science. Either way, our work wouldn’t stop there. We’ll immediately begin campaigning to abolish the outdated legal exemption that allows this hunt to take place at all. More on thats soon. One way or another, the days of the Guga hunt are numbered. Stay tuned, and thank you again to all the incredible people reading these posts, taking action, and helping us to abolish Britain’s last seabird hunt. We’re so close to stopping the Guga hunt but we need your help to get it over the line. Become a Gannet Guardian today with a monthly donation and help give this campaign the strength to keep going until the Guga hunt is ended for good. The next stage of this campaign is to secure a change in the law so that the Wildlife and Countryside Act no longer allows the Guga hunt to be licensed in the first place. Become a Gannet Guardian If you set up a recurring donation today, we’ll send you a Gannet plushie as a reminder of the birds you’re helping to protect :) SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

WILD JUSTICE—A COMPLETE UPDATE

Good morning, Today we bring you a few updates including a guest blog on our recent legal action about overgrazing on Dartmoor, news of a brilliant campaign to restore the incredible and valuable natural landscape of Dartmoor and also share some news about 'Wild Justice on Sea' and this year's 'Wild Summit'. Our Dartmoor grazing case – a deep dive into the judgement In March of this year, we finally received news that we had won our legal challenge, ruling that parts of Dartmoor had been mismanaged. We had argued that the Dartmoor Commoners’ Council (DCC) had failed to carry out its statutory legal duties to safeguard protected sites on Dartmoor, allowing overgrazing to impact wildlife and damage habitats. You can find out more about the initial stages of the case here and the court’s ruling here. Tony Whitehead, an environmental campaigner and a member of the Dartmoor Nature Alliance has written a brilliant in-depth overview of the judgement and what it means going forward for grazing on Dartmoor and for the wider governance of England’s common land. To read the blog, follow this link. Our legal challenge has put the issue of grazing on Dartmoor, and the urgent need for improved assessment and regulation of habitat management, squarely on the government’s agenda. Last month, you might have seen the whirlwind of media around the spurious claims that Dartmoor ponies would be culled under new government plans. Despite the media fanfare and airtime this story received, these allegations were utterly false. You can read the Dartmoor Nature Alliance’s response to the media furore here and Natural England’s blog which gave detailed responses to all claims made in the media. As a result of the misleading press coverage, Natural England published a press release on 15 July revealing a sudden decision to introduce new protective legislation for Dartmoor Ponies. You can read the press release here and the Dartmoor Nature Alliance’s response by clicking this link. Bring back Dartmoor’s rainforests - Dartmoor Nature Alliance campaign Still on the subject of Dartmoor and its incredible habitats… Dartmoor is home to three temperate rainforests – all remnants of once larger woodlands. These fragile, ancient Oak woodlands support an extraordinary diversity of wildlife, including rare mosses, lichens, ferns and fungi. Once widespread across Britain, temperate rainforests are now one of the rarest ecosystems in the UK, making their protection and restoration a vital part of nature recovery on Dartmoor. In May, the Dartmoor Nature Alliance (DNA) launched a campaign to help expand and improve Dartmoor’s rare temperate rainforests. If you’d like to learn more about these incredible ecosystems, and how you can support the campaign to bring back Dartmoor’s rainforests, follow this link and read Guy Shrubsole’s blog by clicking here. Wild Justice on Sea Thank you to all of those who expressed an interest in joining us for a boat trip in Poole Harbour - nearly 500 of you applied for tickets! On Friday we sent invites out to a group of randomly selected applicants - please check your junk box to make sure you didn't miss it. If there are any outstanding places as of Friday 31st July, we'll be drawing some extra names out of the hat. Keep an eye out! Wild Justice at Wild Summit Wild Summit returns to the Bristol Beacon on 9 September 2026 and Wild Justice will be there. We’ll provide more information nearer the time but as well as having a stand, our CEO Bob Elliot will be speaking on the main stage, and we’ll be putting on another entertaining stage show, following last year’s roaring success! We’ll also be launching an exciting new joint project with some of our colleagues. Tickets for Wild Summit are on sale now and we hope to see you there! Thank you, Wild Justice (CEO: Bob Elliot. Directors: Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay). This is the 272nd Wild Justice newsletter. This email was sent to you because you subscribed to it through the Wild Justice website or through an e-action or a petition where you ticked a box. Thank you. We will only use your personal details to send you the Wild Justice newsletter. We will not give or sell your details to anyone else. You can unsubscribe at any time: there is an unsubscribe button at the foot of this email or you can reply to this email and ask us to remove you from the list (the former will happen immediately, the latter might take a few days). 124, City Road London Greater London EC1V 2NX UNITED KINGDOM Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options

WILD JUSTICE—PART THREE—WILD JUSTICE AT SEA & BRISTOL BEACON

Wild Justice on Sea Thank you to all of those who expressed an interest in joining us for a boat trip in Poole Harbour - nearly 500 of you applied for tickets! On Friday we sent invites out to a group of randomly selected applicants - please check your junk box to make sure you didn't miss it. If there are any outstanding places as of Friday 31st July, we'll be drawing some extra names out of the hat. Keep an eye out! Wild Justice at Wild Summit Wild Summit returns to the Bristol Beacon on 9 September 2026 and Wild Justice will be there. We’ll provide more information nearer the time but as well as having a stand, our CEO Bob Elliot will be speaking on the main stage, and we’ll be putting on another entertaining stage show, following last year’s roaring success! We’ll also be launching an exciting new joint project with some of our colleagues.

WILD JUSTICE—PART TWO—RAINFORESTS

Bring back Dartmoor’s rainforests - Dartmoor Nature Alliance campaign Still on the subject of Dartmoor and its incredible habitats… Dartmoor is home to three temperate rainforests – all remnants of once larger woodlands. These fragile, ancient Oak woodlands support an extraordinary diversity of wildlife, including rare mosses, lichens, ferns and fungi. Once widespread across Britain, temperate rainforests are now one of the rarest ecosystems in the UK, making their protection and restoration a vital part of nature recovery on Dartmoor. In May, the Dartmoor Nature Alliance (DNA) launched a campaign to help expand and improve Dartmoor’s rare temperate rainforests. If you’d like to learn more about these incredible ecosystems, and how you can support the campaign to bring back Dartmoor’s rainforests, follow this

WILD JUSTICE—PART ONE—OVERGRAZING ON DARTMOOR

Today we bring you a few updates including a guest blog on our recent legal action about overgrazing on Dartmoor, news of a brilliant campaign to restore the incredible and valuable natural landscape of Dartmoor and also share some news about 'Wild Justice on Sea' and this year's 'Wild Summit'. Our Dartmoor grazing case – a deep dive into the judgement In March of this year, we finally received news that we had won our legal challenge, ruling that parts of Dartmoor had been mismanaged. We had argued that the Dartmoor Commoners’ Council (DCC) had failed to carry out its statutory legal duties to safeguard protected sites on Dartmoor, allowing overgrazing to impact wildlife and damage habitats. You can find out more about the initial stages of the case here and the court’s ruling here. Tony Whitehead, an environmental campaigner and a member of the Dartmoor Nature Alliance has written a brilliant in-depth overview of the judgement and what it means going forward for grazing on Dartmoor and for the wider governance of England’s common land. To read the blog, follow this link. Our legal challenge has put the issue of grazing on Dartmoor, and the urgent need for improved assessment and regulation of habitat management, squarely on the government’s agenda. Last month, you might have seen the whirlwind of media around the spurious claims that Dartmoor ponies would be culled under new government plans. Despite the media fanfare and airtime this story received, these allegations were utterly false. You can read the Dartmoor Nature Alliance’s response to the media furore here and Natural England’s blog which gave detailed responses to all claims made in the media. As a result of the misleading press coverage, Natural England published a press release on 15 July revealing a sudden decision to introduce new protective legislation for Dartmoor Ponies. You can read the press release here and the Dartmoor Nature Alliance’s response by clicking this link.

REFORM LED COUNCIL WANTS TO DESTROY ANCIENT WOODLAND

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Reform-led Council votes to push ahead with destroying ancient woodland #9 - Eye on the Wild PROTECT THE WILD JUL 25 READ IN APP Welcome to the ninth edition of Eye on the Wild, our new weekly roundup designed to keep you up to date with the latest stories concerning British wildlife. If you have a story you think we should cover, email us at contact@protectthewild.org.uk Reform-led Council votes to push ahead with destroying ancient woodland Kent County Councillors have voted 37–31 to approve a plan to extend a quarry. It will destroy at least 41 hectares of Oaken Wood, near Maidstone. The existing Gallagher Aggregates quarry site has already resulted in the loss of approximately 31 hectares of ancient woodland. The amount of ancient woodland lost would be more than the losses from HS2 and the Lower Thames Crossing combined. The Kent Mineral Sites Plan, which the council has approved for independent government examination, is a planning framework that identifies potential locations for sand, gravel, and hard rock extraction. The plan controversially includes the extension into Oaken Wood for extracting Kentish ragstone. It defies all logic that Reform would sacrifice ancient woodland, which are irreplaceable habitats covering just 2.5% of the UK. Oaken Wood is home to turtle doves, nightjars and dormice. Nightjars migrate from Sub-Saharan Africa to Oaken Wood each spring to breed and feed. Dormice are critically endangered in this country; their numbers decreased by 52% between 2009 and 2018. KCC Green councillor, Stuart Jeffery, opposes the plan to destroy the wood, saying: "Ancient woodland cannot be replaced or moved. Once it is lost, it is gone forever. Reform's plans are an act of ecocide." Friends of Oaken Wood states: “Oaken Wood is designated as a ‘plantation on ancient woodland site’ (PAWS). PAWS are a category of ancient woodland protected in the government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). This woodland is legally defined as ‘irreplaceable’ and has equivalent protection to ‘built heritage’, such as nationally listed buildings and scheduled monuments. The council are citing ‘wholly exceptional circumstances’ and a ‘compensation strategy’ as grounds for the woodland to be quarried.” There will be a public consultation, giving everyone another chance to object to plans. A government inspector will also examine whether the plan is 'sound'. Campaigners have been fighting this battle for over a decade, and it certainly isn’t over yet. To stay updated, follow Friends of Oaken Wood and join the Save Oaken Wood Facebook group. 7,550-acre estate that trained gundogs for bird shoots to be rewilded Emblehope, an estate in Northumberland, is set to be taken over by the rewilding business Restore. The Kennel Club has owned the site since 2016, employing gamekeepers and running bird shoots, while also permitting beef and sheep farming. Restore has exciting ambitions to completely restore and transform the peat bog, inspired by the “great bogs of Estonia or Finland.” The company says the land will now be dedicated entirely to nature, making it England's largest single, unbroken stretch of land under one owner given over to restoration as its sole purpose. Over the next thirty years, the plan is to re-wet around 2,000 acres of degraded peatland, restore lost vegetation, and introduce low-intensity grazing to build a mosaic of open water, bog, scrub, dwarf trees and flower-rich glades shaped by natural processes. Restore's founder, Benedict Macdonald, says that while many upland estates treat nature as a by-product of commercial activity, Emblehope is: “destined to become a biosphere-level reserve where nature itself is the driver.” However, Restore intends to shoot deer. It says deer management is a practice it will be “focusing on very heavily” for the regeneration of wildflowers, saplings and nightingales. RSPCA reports five-year high in reports of wild bird cruelty The RSPCA has recorded its highest number of summer cruelty reports involving wild birds in five years. Between July and August 2025, the charity logged 359 such incidents across England and Wales. This was nearly twice the 179 reported over the same stretch in 2024. Roughly 40% of all wild-bird cruelty reports reach the charity during summer, which the RSPCA says is due to more people being outdoors in the warmer months. Among the worst-affected species were pigeons, gulls, swans, ducks and crows, many of them hurt or killed with airguns, catapults and slingshots. This year, too, violence towards birds is continuing. So far in 2026, the RSPCA has already received 474 reports of cruelty. The overall total for the whole of 2025 stood at 876. The charity’s wildlife partnerships manager, Mike Scargill, stated that the real figure is almost certainly far higher, since so much cruelty goes unwitnessed and unreported. Follow Protect the Wild to get involved with our upcoming campaign to legislate against catapults, which are being increasingly used to murder birds throughout the UK. More than 2,000 pigeons shot at railway stations and depots in 16 months Horrific figures have been obtained by Freedom of Information requests and published in the BBC. Pigeons are shot at railway stations and depots at night by professionals with air rifles, in what the ‘pest’ control industry says is an effort to stop droppings becoming slip hazards or a source of illness. Among stations run by state-owned companies, York was the worst, with 608 birds shot between January 2025 and April 2026, 152 of them on a single day. But the figures don’t cover private firms, so the true death toll is likely much higher than the confirmed figure of 2,019. The worst offender was train operator LNER, with over 800 birds shot at its stations, while Network Rail ordered the killing of 600 pigeons across Bristol Temple Meads, London Euston and Edinburgh Waverley stations. Meanwhile, South Western Railway ordered the shooting of 250 pigeons. Transport for London was responsible for killing 147 pigeons, and Northern ordered the shooting of 143. A society that guns down thousands of pigeons and calls it acceptable is deeply broken. If you like the work we do at Protect the Wild, please consider donating a couple of pounds per month. Donate here SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

FROM PROTECT THE WILD—YOU POWER THE FIGHT TO HELP WILLIFE

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more YOU power the fight for British wildlife ROB POWNALL JUL 24 READ IN APP We’re pushing hard to finally end hunting with hounds for good. I stood in the Makerfield by-election in order to directly tell (the now) Prime Minister Andy Burnham that we need meaningful action for wildlife. Nothing but strengthening and enforcing the 2004 Hunting Act is good enough if we are to finally see an end to people ripping wild animals to pieces for the sheer fun of it. We helped ensure tens of thousands of responses were submitted to the recent Govt consultation and now thousands more have sent our letter outlining concerns that ‘drag hunting’ could be used as the new smokescreen. We’re funded entirely by people like you, our wonderful supporters. We don’t have any Govt funding or big corporate backers and due to the nature of our work we’re not eligible for most grants! Emails like this are crucial to continuing our vital work fighting for British wildlife. By picking up this beautiful and hard-hitting pin badge set you are helping the fight continue. Pin Badge SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

HUNT SABBOTEURS ASSOCIATION SAY THE STAG HUNTING SEASON IS FAST APPROACHING

View this email in your browser Hi, Supporter The Autumn Stag Hunting Season Is Fast Approaching In less than a few weeks the stag hunting season will begin, with the three remaining stag hunts in the south west, heading out to terrorise and kill mature autumn stags. This will continue until the end of October when they switch their sights to hinds. The autumn stag hunting season focuses on more mature stags, usually at least four years of age. Naturally these stags will be bigger than those terrorised in the spring and hunts will be looking to claim a trophy, targeting those with larger antlers, some of which will still be in velvet after the rutting season. Last season North Dorset Hunt Sabs witnessed this stag running for its life from the Quantock Staghounds. Unfortunately, each season there are more and more reports of the depravity of these hunters and the pain and terror they inflict upon these beautiful animals. In 2023 The Independent featured an article about the Quantock Staghounds, who, on the 23rd of October, chased a stag onto National Trust land. Sabs present on the day spoke of how they witnessed the stag running past them “in a terrible state, gasping for breath with his tongue hanging out, eyes bulging in terror.” Footage from this day can be found here. This stag should have been safe once he had entered National Trust land, however some riders and a supporter on a bike trespassed onto the land and the stag was pushed out towards Holsey Combe. At 6:30pm a monitor reportedly heard a gunshot; however, the kill was never confirmed. The hunt was back in the same area a few days later and killed a stag very early in the day. It is suspected that this was the same stag who was still recovering from the ordeal merely days earlier. The stag was moved off National Trust land, where he should have been safe, by the sadistic Quantock Staghounds. On the 21st August 2025 the Devon and Somerset Staghounds, who the HSA exposed in June for extreme cruelty towards a hind, killed and carved up a stag for their American guests. However, prior to the butchering of this stag, they had forced him to endure a three-hour chase before he could no longer go on and was shot. The hunt then tried to conceal themselves beneath a tree while they carved his body up for trophies and threw bits to the waiting hounds. Sickeningly followers were witnessed leaving with pieces of the stag in carrier bags. For over twenty years the Devon & Somerset staghounds have been breaking the law and terrorising stags, enabled by loopholes and exemptions within the current Hunting Act. © North Dorset Hunt Sabs Autumn stag hunting, as with cub hunting, takes place earlier in the day before conditions become too warm. Autumn stags will be larger due to a summer of good feeding, and will be weighed down by their large antlers. This married with the exhaustion from rutting means these stags are not able to endure a prolonged chase and will push themselves to the extreme in order to try and escape the depraved hunts. A stag’s lifeless body is hauled onto the back of a quad before being carved up. This video shows a collection of footage from the 2024 autumn stag hunting season and exposes just how barbaric it is. The hunts will use tactics such as driving quads/vehicles towards a stag to try and manipulate his direction of travel while riders and supporters will line roads and the surrounding hills. Hounds will be relayed in pairs to keep them fresh to ensure that the hunt can continue to chase the chosen stag for their own amusement. All of this is employed for the callous people who have no regard for wildlife or the law. Loopholes and exemptions in the law are allowing stag hunts to get away with abhorrent levels of animal cruelty. Thanks to the tireless work of sabs, stag hunting continues to be exposed and lives are saved. If you have any information regarding the three remaining stag hound packs then please contact the HSA. The information in this article was thanks to the hard work of North Dorset Hunt Sabs and Mendip Hunt Sabs. 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

ANNA EAGLE NOW IN DEFRA MUST NOT ALLOW A LOOPHOLE IN LEGISLATION TO ALLOW HUNTS TO CONTINUE

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more The new Defra Secretary must not hand the hunts a new loophole. Angela Eagle knows what hunts are capable of. PROTECT THE WILD JUL 27 READ IN APP Andy Burnham has appointed the aptly named Angela Eagle as head of Defra. For anyone who cares about ending the cruelty of hunting, this is a moment of real opportunity. Eagle has a genuine anti-hunting record, with knowledge of exactly how hunts behave. So we are calling on her to examine new evidence, outlined below, that drag hunting - where dogs follow a non-animal based scent - could be used as a loophole if trail hunting is banned. Tell Angela Eagle to close all loopholes A minister who has stood up to the hunts before Back in 2015, as Shadow Commons Leader, Eagle opposed the Conservative government’s attempt to quietly gut the Hunting Act through a “technical” amendment. She accused ministers of trying to “wreck” the Hunting Act, saying that they were “using this backdoor device because they don’t have the majority to repeal the Act or the guts to try.” More recently, as Defra’s farming minister, she repeatedly reaffirmed Labour’s manifesto commitment to ban trail hunting. In a written parliamentary answer, she stated that: “the nature of trail hunting makes it very difficult to do safely.” She continued: “The use of large packs of hounds reduces the control huntsmen have, putting wild mammals, household pets and even members of the public at risk.” She is right. And that is precisely why she, of all people, should not be fooled by what the hunting industry is planning next. Tell Angela Eagle to close all loopholes The next smokescreen is already being drawn up For more than twenty years, trail hunting - the supposed practice of laying an animal-based scent for hounds to follow - has been used as a smokescreen to carry on hunting and killing wild animals in plain sight. Labour rightly pledged to ban it, and this year Defra ran a consultation on doing exactly that. But in its messaging, Defra signalled that it wants “alternative practices such as drag hunting and clean-boot hunting, which use non-animal scents, to continue to thrive.” The hunting industry has pounced on this statement, and freshly leaked documents show precisely how they could exploit this. A confidential note written by British Hound Sports Association chairman Viscount Astor, seen by The Times, proposed that hunts promise to “convert” to drag hunting by 2028, presenting it as a solution that would avoid any change to the law. Astor wrote that the minister, Baroness Hayman, “could claim victory without the difficulty of legislation but would have, in her back pocket, the ability to produce a bill if hunting was not seen to change its ways. But by then we would be close to the next general election.” The strategy seems clear: offer drag hunting as a hollow concession, stall legislation, and run down the clock to an election (presumably Astor assumes Reform will be elected!). Tell Angela Eagle to close all loopholes Why drag hunting cannot be policed under the current law Drag hunting, like trail hunting, involves hounds following a laid scent. The only supposed difference being that the scent is non-animal-based. But as Eagle herself has acknowledged, large packs of hounds are difficult to control, and they can pick up and pursue the live scent of an animal. On top of this, hunts have been documented laying their trails close to coverts, where they know foxes are sheltering. And when dogs pick up on the scent of a fox, the current law is close to useless. The Hunting Act requires proof of intent, so prosecutors must show that a person intended to hunt a wild mammal with dogs. This is the loophole that has crippled enforcement for two decades. Hunts simply claim any kill was accidental, so proving intent beyond reasonable doubt is extraordinarily hard. So if Labour goes ahead and swaps the label from ‘trail hunting’ to ‘drag hunting’, Protect the Wild fears that absolutely nothing will change for foxes and other mammals. Hunts will continue exactly as they do now, killing wildlife and claiming kills were accidental, secure in the knowledge that the intent requirement makes conviction almost impossible. Tell Angela Eagle to close all loopholes What the legislation must do If the new government is serious about ending hunting rather than merely rebranding it, any new legislation must do two things. Firstly, it must not legislate drag hunting as a protected alternative. By doing this, Labour could be responsible for introducing the next smokescreen. Secondly, the legislation must remove the ‘intent’ requirement. So long as a kill can be waved away as accidental, hunts will never be properly convicted, whatever the activity is called. Angela Eagle has stood up to the hunts before. She has already said, in her own words, that packs of hounds cannot be safely controlled. She now has the power, as the head of Defra, to act on that knowledge. She must show conviction and end these loopholes for good, not hand the hunts another. Please sign our open letter/petition to Dame Angela Eagle and Baroness Sue Hayman, telling them to close all loopholes. Tell Angela Eagle to close all loopholes SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL

View email in browser Hi John, Birds connect our world through journeys that span thousands of kilometres. Behind every successful migration is a network of people working to protect wetlands, grasslands, coastlines and other vital places. Read some of the inspiring stories making that possible thanks to supporters like you. Want to inspire others? Click here to forward these highlights. Iconic places on a path to recovery Photographers across Europe capture some of the continent’s most-cherished nature sites, and how local communities, conservationists, scientists, and businesses are working at the heart of efforts to bring them back to health. Preview the photo series Samoa Conservation Society joins as BirdLife’s 125th Partner! We are thrilled to welcome Samoa Conservation Society as BirdLife International’s newest Partner, enhancing conservation action across the Pacific and strengthening our global Partnership. Advancing conservation across the Pacific Protecting Bolivia’s forest watersheds with sustainable finance With the support of BirdLife International’s Forest Impact Accelerator, our Partner in Bolivia is working on channelling long-term sustainable finance for Tunari National Park. Restoration is underway, communities are playing a stronger leadership role, and a new idea is taking shape that could secure the future of the forest. Why financing matters for forest restoration Supporter photo spotlight A big thank you to the photographer Isha Sona for sharing this beautiful shot of a small passerine on their balcony railing. Isha said: "A quiet moment captured as a small passerine bird rests along a balcony railing, overlooking a lush, green landscape under a softly clouded sky. Scenes like this remind us how wildlife seamlessly coexists with our everyday spaces. Often overlooked, these little birds play an important role in ecosystems—helping with seed dispersal and insect control. Whether it’s the early morning calm or the gentle evening breeze, moments like these offer a glimpse into the peaceful rhythm of nature just beyond our windows." Can you guess the species? Reach out to us with your answer. For your chance to be featured, send us your best shots and a short paragraph about it to: howtohelp@birdlife.org. Get your photography featured All gifts doubled for a limited time to give birds a lifeline The Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Egyptian Vulture, Bar-headed Goose and Bobolink may follow different routes across the world, but they share a common vulnerability. If even one vital wetland, grassland, coastline or stopover site is lost, the effects can ripple across an entire migration. We can meet this challenge by taking conservation action on a global scale but we need your help. Double your donation today Thank you for your support, Mairianne Walker | BirdLife International Supporter Team Image credit in order of appearance: The endemic Samoan Flycatcher © Bradley Hacker, Our Partner Asociación Armonía is leading restoration in Bolivia’s Tunari National Park © Asociación Armonía,Bobolink by Ray Hennessy/Shutterstock.com, Egyptian Vulture by Ondrej Prosicky/Shutterstock.com, Bar-headed goose by Nejib Ahmed/Shutterstock.com, Spoon-billed Sandpiper by Butterfly Hunter/Shutterstock.com, Indian Skimmers by Chaithanya Krishnan/Shutterstock.com, Bluethroat by mutinamatyas_photo/Shutterstock.com From £5 you can be part of our global community helping to bring birds back from the brink. Check out our memberships. NEW DESIGNS! Discover our brand-new collection for adults and children. Every purchase helps birds worldwide. Need a Will? Estate planning doesn’t have to be complicated. We’re offering a free, easy-to-use resource to help. Get started! LinkedIn Instagram Facebook YouTube Website You are receiving this email because you opted-in to hear from BirdLife International BirdLife International is a registered charity 1042125 Address: BirdLife International, The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QZ, UK For full details on how we collect, use and store your personal information see our Privacy Policy. update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. Copyright © 2026, All rights reserved.

SENEDD VOTE FOR A BADGER CULL IN WALES—CHANGE OF DIRECTION FOR SOME POLITICIANS

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Govt petition launched to save the badgers of Wales It urgently needs your signature. PROTECT THE WILD JUL 24 READ IN APP After a debate in the Senedd last week, urgent action is needed to stop a badger cull in Wales. A Reform UK motion, urging the Welsh government to consider a badger cull, passed comfortably, with 79 votes for and 9 votes against. Strikingly, Plaid Cymru politicians voted hand in hand with Reform. It’s of little surprise that the Tories voted to consider a cull too. The Green Party and Labour were the two parties that voted with any sense. The motion is not binding at this stage, but it is a terrifying indication of what is likely to be around the corner for Wales’s badgers. Sign the Senedd petition Until now, Wales has focused on the actual driver of bovine TB: cow-to-cow transmission. It has put energy into better and more frequent testing, tighter cow-movement controls, and improved biosecurity. Today almost 95% of Welsh herds are officially TB-free, and the disease is at close to its lowest level in two decades. England, on the other hand, has murdered roughly a quarter of a million badgers, carrying out a senseless cull spanning 12 years. Under Keir Starmer, the Labour government labelled the killing spree “ineffective”. England’s decision to scapegoat and slaughter wild animals on a mass scale, in order to uphold a brutal farming industry, is barbaric to say the least. Sign the Senedd petition So why isn’t Wales proud of all it has achieved, without resorting to the slaughter of wild animals? The farming lobby has long demanded a cull, and both Reform and Plaid draw heavily on rural support. It is difficult to escape the suspicion that backing a badger cull is less about tackling TB effectively and more about keeping NFU Cymru and farming voters happy. Please sign the Senedd petition. We only need 10,000 signatures to ensure the issue will be considered for debate again. We can’t allow Wales’s badgers to suffer the same fate as those in England. We must fight this. Sign the Senedd petition SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

PROTECT THE WILD POST ON CAMBRIAN SPORTING RE DISCARDED DEBRIS OF EGGSHELL and LIVE CHICK

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more “I Could Hear Them Chirping Beneath the Eggs” Can you imagine finding a live chick in an egg dump? Now you don't have to. PROTECT THE WILD JUL 22 READ IN APP We recently published an article which described the shocking story of one of our undercover investigators finding a LIVE chick in a pile of discarded eggshells on a so-called ‘game farm’ (see ‘Thrown Away Alive’). One paragraph in particular stood out: “Using their hand, the investigator began carefully working through the debris. Within moments, they found the bird that was calling out: a live chick buried beneath the discarded shells of its siblings, too small and too weak to free itself.” Many supporters emailed us to express their admiration for the investigator, telling us that they couldn’t imagine what looking for and finding abuse and cruelty like this would feel like. Neither could we. We passed this back to the investigator, who suggested that they write a personal account. This is what you’re about to read… Supporters also wanted to know which so-called ‘game farm’ this took place on. We didn’t name the farm in the first article for the reasons we explained, but we’ve now discussed with the investigation team whether naming the farm would jeopardise current investigations. They are sure it won’t, and they explained that many locals oppose this particular operation and that this information will be important to their fight. And after all, we’ve done nothing wrong here. This is all on Cambrian Birds… Become a Game Changer “During years crawling in cow slurry, squeezing through gaps in a barn wall and seeing the continuous abuse that animals are subjected to, you build a thick skin to keep going. Sometimes, the thick skin is so heavy that I need to touch base with others and show them what I’ve filmed, just to understand how others react to the grim and abusive conditions animals are subjected to on a regular basis. Other times, the thick skin does nothing to protect you from what you have to see. Surrounded by sheep in lamb, on a still night in early summer, I walk towards Cambrian Birds’ hatchery. Cambrian Sporting (“an unforgettable day in the field”) has made headlines recently, with locals on the border between Shropshire and Wales organising against the takeover of the shooting grounds in multiple villages in the area. I don’t know what to expect, but I know that whatever comes out of it will aid those locals in their fight against Cambrian Birds with even more evidence of their disregard for anything that isn’t money. They did not disappoint. As I approach the farm, the stench hits me. The smell, a mixture of rotten eggs and decomposing corpses, makes it difficult to ignore the enormous pile of eggs and shells in the open field. Beside it sits a fresher trailer of eggshells. As I approach it, breathing heavily, I hear chirping. With my heart in my throat, I run towards the waste trailer. I can’t breathe. I notice it moves, but it doesn’t move like I would expect it to; it moves like quicksand, wavy, like a thick liquid. It isn’t a liquid, though, well, at least not all of it. The movement is maggots, tens of thousands of maggots, crawling, digging, seeking something else to eat. I almost don’t pay attention to the maggots because something else forces me to frantically search. The chirping is faint, but constant, and it seems to come from everywhere, so I don’t hesitate. I climb onto the edge of the trailer and start shifting the maggot-covered eggshells. My hands are shaking. I search desperately, shifting eggs, then stopping to listen, then shifting eggs again, in what feels like a soup of eggs, and egg waste, and maggots. For a while, it feels like an impossible task. I feel hopeless. But then I find a chick, tiny, and wet, and probably only minutes old, and they are alive. Become a Game Changer As I reach for the chick I realise how small they are, how fragile, how vulnerable. I no longer feel that knot in my throat. Now it is in my stomach, heavy, all-encompassing. How can anyone let such a tender creature be born in a pile of trash? How can anyone leave them to die, discarded like rubbish? I turn around and hand the chick to my colleague, who runs back to the vehicle to keep them warm. Meanwhile, I am back practically swimming in the trailer, trying to dig out all the other chicks I can hear chirping under the eggs. No matter how much I dig, shift eggs, and dig again. I cannot find them, even when I can hear them, and an hour after my colleague left for the car, I reluctantly decide to call it a night. I leave a camera pointing at that trailer, which the day after would film corvids and a Buzzard picking around the eggs and eating the chicks. Somehow, the Buzzard knew exactly where to look. I don’t know if I’d rather those chicks had survived the night, or had died before the Buzzard found them. When I get to the car, the chick looks dry and the feathers look better. They’ve been nursed between the heat of the aircon and the skin contact of their caregiver. They don’t look great, though, so we hurry back to put them under a brooder. The day after, when we woke up, the chick had passed. We laid them to rest under an ash tree, with cornflowers, clover and buttercups. Maybe another Buzzard found them too, or perhaps a fox cub learning to hunt. Either way, it fed the Earth. Silver linings, I suppose, even if they’re bitter. Sometimes, the thick skin serves only to keep the anguish inside. That experience was likely one of those, desperate, hopeless, but eye-opening. Cruelty knows no limits, not even when it comes to babies. I guess to them, in their twisted, sick tradition, that chick meant nothing. None of the birds they breed mean anything but the money they produce. But to me, that chick meant more than anyone could imagine. I will not rest until bird shooting is nothing but a shameful corner of our collective memory. Fly free, little one.” Video and images recorded by our undercover investigator at Cambrian Birds in 2025. We are working to END BIRD SHOOTING. This suffering has to stop. Please share this article. Share our socials. Follow us for updates. Become a Game Changer End Bird Shooting Over the coming months our campaign will look at the shooting industry at every level. We will highlight the suppliers — the farms, hatcheries, importers and breeders producing tens of millions of birds under conditions that would provoke public outcry if applied to any other animal. We will expose the providers — the estates and syndicates that take those factory-farmed birds and sell the experience of killing them as leisure. And we will look at the clients — the paying guns who are fully aware of the wildlife crime, the trapping of native predators, and the mass suffering involved, and who have decided that none of it is reason enough to stay away. This industry survives because suppliers supply, providers provide, and clients pay. We intend to examine them all. Join the movement. Become a Game Changer. Months of investigation like the work detailed above. Hundreds of hours of footage obtained and more being gathered. Farms across the UK exposed. We are at the beginning of something that we think will change everything. But we can’t do it on our own. We are asking you to become a Game Changer. To help us fund investigations, to stand with us as we take this fight forward, week by week, piece by piece, until the public, the media and the politicians can no longer look away. The first 500 people to sign up will receive a limited edition pin badge. This is the beginning. Be part of it. Become a Game Changer SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing