So now it is four Goshawks poisoned in Devon. The sad tales of wanton and criminal killing just don't stop do they?
This is one area for the wildlife NGO's to really get after in my opinion. Organisations like the RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts get millions and millions of pounds each and every year but never appear to address this issue with any lasting results through their lobbying and politicking. Yes we hear the stories and their 'outrage' but that's about it in terms of getting things done. They seem to be too far up their own parts having a pop at the government of the day trying to stop the economic development of our land. With their over dramatic posturing on such proposals as reforming the planning legislation and building new High Speed rail lines, setting out their views that it will be the end of the world and wildlife as we know it, it is about time they put their efforts into the real activities like this that needs to be stopped.
Watching a re-run of Birds Britannia on BBC4 on Monday night reminded me that these organisations are keen to extract our money with honeypot schemes like White Tailed Eagles, Ospreys and Red Kites, where they can easily be seen, but we need much better work from them against the vested commercial interests of the large shooting estates, and against farming policies where the large prairie like, sterile monoculture fields represent our 'green' countryside, that is yellow one week, green the next, brown the following one, devoid of wildlife.
We know that it is the Common Agricultural policy that has caused the biggest destruction of the UK wildlife through farming practices. It is not building, it is not transport projects. Some of the best wildlife sites in the UK are from brownfield sites that have had the hand of man on them in times past. Here in Warwickshire nearly all the best wildlife sites and reserves are 'hand of man' sites that have been reclaimed.
In fact, the only truly wild part of the UK is in small parts of Scotland and on the Arctic plateau of the Cairngorms - the rest of our green and pleasant land has been totally shaped by man.
Sadly our biased media in this country don't focus on these aspects as I suspect there are too many commercial and vested interests at work.
Our wildlife organisations do good things with their reserves, and I am not decrying that, although it should be remembered that unless there are wildlife corridors connecting them, we are just building fence less wildlife zoos.
So I will stop now before I get too tedious.
Would love to hear your views and comments on these subjects.
Martin
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