CLOT DE GALVANY ALICANTE SPAIN

 Friday 11th February was 7 degrees at 7am but with a prospect of sun with just a little win. It was a morning when we decided to change what we usually do and we went to Clot de Galvany. It is an important area with large areas of water. We have had some great views there. 

We spent some time at the large hide overlooking a lot of water. We counted over 50 White Headed Ducks - Malvasia Cabeciblanca - of both sexes. Some males showed a light blue bill. Right in front of us a male and female - Black Necked Grebes - Zampullin Cuellinegro ‘squared up’ and Bryan took the shot. Spring has moved on already.

On the left side of the hide a Purple Swamphen - Calamon Común walked on the stones. This little corner can be very good and today, for a moment, it was productive. Cetti’s - Ruiseñor Bastardo called on various occasions and in that one bush we had a clear view of one together with Long Tailed Tits - Mito, one Great Tit - Carbonero Común and on a low branch - our first of the year - a Grey Wagtail - Lavandera Cascadena. Such a smart bird. 

On the water were both Pochards - Porrón Europea and Pato Colorado and in the distance two Great Crested Grebes - Somormujo  Lavanco. Marsh Harriers - Aguilucho Luganero flew over the reeds. We searched for any newcomers and the only other ducks of note were two Teal -  Cerceta Común. A little disappointing. Also a large number of Black headed Gulls - Gaviota Reidora flying and on the water. 

We decided to take a look around the Carribassi Road. Loads of ‘campers’ and a bright orange butterfly. We thought a fritillary but with no photo and nothing showing in Collins. We will have to look again and we will examine this area again too.

FROM LEAGUE AGAINST CRUEL SPORTS - LETS END TRAIL HUNTING

Enough is enough – let’s end hunting now

Dear John,

It’s time to say ‘enough is enough’.

Animals are being killed, people are being intimidated, land is being trespassed upon and the law is being broken. Despite the ban fox hunts, hare hunts and stag hunts in England and Wales have been hiding behind the smokescreen of ‘trail’ hunting to ride roughshod over the law for over 15 years.

How much more will it take for the government to strengthen the Hunting Act and end this barbarity for good?

We’ve launched a new nationwide campaign - ‘enough is enough’. From today we need you to contact your MPs to call on Defra to strengthen the ban.

Petition my MP

But that’s just the start. This campaign will feature panel events up and down the country to bring key voices together to discuss the issues surrounding hunting, and what can be done to stop it. Following these debates, we will work with you to launch local campaigns to tackle hunting where you are. It’s time to amplify the voices of those who want to say ‘enough is enough’ to those who would seek to do wildlife harm.

This is the beginning of the end for hunting with dogs.

You are amazing and have already made a huge difference – some of the UK’s largest landowners such as the National Trust and Natural Resources Wales have already banned hunting thanks to your efforts, and the League will continue to work to reduce the impact of hunting on wildlife.

We have already held a successful pilot event in Plymouth, the next being in Cheltenham in February. Other events are in the planning stage, so expect to see further announcements on this soon.

Petition my MP

Right now trail hunting is actively licensed on government land, including areas owned by the Ministry of Defence.

Please contact your MP and tell them enough is enough. Ask that they call on DEFRA for an immediate end to trail hunting on government land and to commit to strengthening the Hunting Act to end the cruelty of hunting for good.

I agree - Enough is enough

LACK OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS!

DEPARTMENT for ENVIRONMENT, FOOD & RURAL AFFAIRS.

I checked it’s full title just to see what it did actually stand for. What it is really there for should be for legitimate discussion. I know it has been discussed in The Lords and where the truth has been denied by denying he did not know.

I now quote from Raptor Persecution UK 3rd  February;

“Earlier today, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at DEFRA, and pheasant shoot owner, The Rt. Hon. Lord Benyon, was speaking in the House of Lords about gamebird shooting and was asked about pheasant dumping. Benyon claimed to have no knowledge of it taking place”

So there you have it. He doesn’t know what is going on! 

The facts are there are numerous sites where birds have been dumped. All he has to do is follow RP UK site.

One aim, it says, is for improving and protecting the environment. That does sound to be a very just, worthwhile and a serious matter. However, when we see ‘the authorised ’ burning of moorland where our peat bogs are being destroyed contradicts this. But, of course, the reason for the burning and the non-intervention when moorland fires are lit is for fresh heather shoots for Red Grouse. I will say more on Grouse Shooting later.

‘Grow Green’ they also say and that is contradicted by the allowed burning of peat bogs. A significant and important natural place and where CO2 can be stored.

The following aim if it wasn’t so serious a matter is ‘to sustain rural economies’. I maintain it is laughable that shooting and hunting are able to do that. There is much in supporting the local economies that can be done other than shipping in those who can afford to blast birds from the skies. Do they stay and enjoy the fine dining? No, they bugger off having paid for that privilege on the profit of those who are on minimum wage.  

I have condemned the principle of ‘driven shoots’, the trapping, shooting and poisoning or anything, mammal and bird, that effects the habitat of grouse and the birds themselves. I am incensed by the fact that most of these areas should be in the public domain not lorded over by a few that inherited them.

In the end it is allowed to be continued by what I term, as the class divide. But times are changing and with the effort being made by many groups and individuals progress is happening.

I have written on this before and I am currently compiling a poetry collection on ‘wildlife crime’ and the environment. Today, I have written a three stanza poem on seeing those dumped birds and the words that came to me. It is fresh on the screen and I will continue to hone it. 

PHOTOS FROM THURSDAYS TRIP

These first photos were taken at the Monastery ruin.

 

Blue Rock Thrush.  A great sighting of this sometimes distant bird.

What a stunner!  Eyes that draw you in.  

Having passed the Palm Farm we carried on and found a track with large puddles.  Here we saw three groups of Bees.

 

Wild Justice 95 - challenging DEFRA, again, on general licences

The infographic as depicted by LegalJustice can be seen on their site and not shown here. It captures the absurdity of DEFRA's position on whether birds such as Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges are or are not livestock. It seems they are whenever it suits the shooting industry but not when it doesn't.

 

On 1 January, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs issued a new general licence, GL42, which authorises the killing of certain species of birds (mostly of the crow family), in England, to protect livestock from serious damage. Changes to the wording in that licence in relation to gamebirds, that Wild Justice understands were introduced after pressure from shooting interest groups, attracted public concern (see this article in The Guardian and this from George Monbiot). Last week, after receiving legal advice, Wild Justice sent a formal legal letter to DEFRA as the first stage of a challenge of the lawfulness of GL42. Unless we receive a legally watertight and convincing response to that letter we will proceed to seek permission for judicial review of DEFRA's decision.

 

 

Wild Justice said:  Any licence authorising killing of wildlife should be clear about when it can be used. DEFRA's GL42 fails that test. In any case, why is DEFRA fiddling with definitions of livestock while wildlife declines?

 

Our legal challenge has been reported in The Guardian - click here.

 

For more detail of the murky issues around gamebird releases and general licences see our latest blog - click here.

 

We will publish more information about the details of our legal challenge soon.
 

If you like what we are doing, please consider making a donation through PayPal, bank transfer or a cheque in the post - see details here. Sunday, 13 February, is the third anniversary of Wild Justice's public launch and first legal challenge, also on general licences. In that time we have caused considerable reform and revision of these licences but there is still more to do. Our work is funded solely by donations. 

 

Thank you!

 

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

 

GRAN ALACANT TO SANTA AGUADA

The sun has come out, rain has abated, temperatures are good and wildlife is on the move. 

On Friday morning 4th February we took our usual route from Gran Alacant, stopping at the Salinas on way to El Pinet. There is not much I can report. Two Sandwich Terns - Charran Patinegro perched and those two are sometimes around. Spoonbills - Espátula Común were not in view but our attention became focused on ‘a Zoom gathering of’ Cormorants - Cormorán Grande who were very active so much so it was difficult to count them. There was a lot of them. A few Wigeon - were around still.

I don't need to mention El Pinet and we moved inland quickly. At ‘The Monastry’ ruin we got lucky. A non-adult Blue Rockthrush - Roquero Solitario sat on a wire and was photographed. It did not appear fazed by us. We thought a juvenile bird or possibly a young female. Little Owls - Mochuelo Europea flew, one sat in a hole under a tile, and was photographed too. Two Common Kestrels - Cernicalo flew around as usual. There’s plenty of nesting sites in that ruin.

We had heard of a flooded field with birds on. There was water in some but nothing to see. At Santa Aguada we had a very good spell. We always hear Blackcaps - Curruca Capirotada on the first corner and today at least one was singing and two males flew. From the same Tamarisk a Zitting Cisticola -  Buitrón.

Around the water and on the mud at least three Bluethroats - Pechiazul and the same number of Snipe -  Agachadiza Común.  Raptor wise it was quiet Buzzard - Busardo- Ratonero, Marsh Harriers - Agilucho Luganero and a couple of Booted - Aguilillia Calzada.

It was good to get out and to see it’s on the move. 

On one side of the Vistabella Road the numerous fields have been covered in and that can only be  for very intensive agriculture. Large coverings weighed down by a multitudes of white bags. Does this mean more man made substances going into the soil and waterways? It will do two things, food will be produced in large quantities and there will be no room for anything that is natural. It was photographed by us, and by a media team we saw. It has been posted on Face Book and Apoyo al Parque Natural de el Hondo is a very good site to follow.

We have a similar site between San Miguel and Los Montesinos that had remained uncultivated for years and where we have watched Eagles and Harriers. No more now though.  

THEY SAY ‘HUNTS ARE AN HEALTH RISK’

 

Hunts are a health risk - ban them now!

Dear John,

Have you seen the news? Not only do hunts continue to flout the law and cruelly chase animals – they also put your health in danger.

The hunting community’s fallen stock business turns out to just be another smokescreen, as shocking footage has shown.

Many hunts operate a fallen stock business, being paid by farmers to collect fallen livestock to take it away and dispose of properly. This is another front by hunts to appear respectable and a legitimate part of the countryside. They are not.

Some of the UK’s largest landowners still haven’t banned hunting from their land, please contact them today.

Take Action

Footage collected by Ecotricity shows fallen stock collected by hunts - as well as the piled carcasses of unwanted hunting hounds – is being stored unsafely and illegally, a risk to human health. The Hunting Office denies any wrong doing, but the practise continues.

The Hunting Office cannot be trusted. Hunts cannot be trusted.

And yet some of the UK’s major landowners still have not banned hunts from using their land. How much more will it take?

Take Action

The Hunting Office’s now former director has already been found guilty of intentionally encouraging or assisting others to commit an offence under the Hunting Act. And this is yet another example of how hunting is a danger to the countryside.

Enough is enough. Hunts are nothing more than a community of law breakers and animal abusers.

Demand that these land owners take action now and ban all hunts from their land.

Take Action

Yours sincerely,