Me too Tim-but given the tone and content of my letter, I am not really expecting one!

I got exactly the same email except is was signed

Edward Keenaghan
Defra - Customer Contact Unit


I got the same.

I got exactly the same email except is was signed

Edward Keenaghan
Defra - Customer Contact Unit

I guess they need a team working on this as they have a lot of emails to get through

I also got this paper reply from my MP Andrew Stunell.

Cheers, John


"Thank you for your email about buzzards. I am sure you share my delight that this proposal has been withdrawn by DEFRA since you first contacted me.

I'm not going to claim it was cause and effect but let's simply celebrate a good outcome."

Phil Panton wrote:

---

Well said Mike.

Would like to think that it was opposition to the the proposed action that created the u-turn, but wouldn't be surprised if its more to do with justifying the amount of funding to be spent thats caused it.
The first reaction i've had from friends when i raised the subject was that they are more appalled by the £325k being spent on what they regard as a trivial issue, rather than it going into the NHS or Schools, not the attempted irradication of a species itself.

Either way, the attempt has been stalled & Mr Benyon will be under the microscope from now on.

---

Aye but sometimes its worth taking stock and thinking about what tactics to use to win - you don't always have to win in the right way (Chelsea!)

I hope you have all seen this and signed it http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/23089
Introduction of offence of vicarious liability for raptor persecution in England

Also for news and things to do its worth checking with http://www.rspb.org.uk/stepup2020/ on a regular basis

Pasties, buzzards, caravans, forests...... Theme arising????

Hmm. Good news whatever.

Initially this seems like good news. My thanks to everyone who made their voices heard, a case of democracy working well.

No doubt a rebellion will ensue from those in the game keeping fraternity with deep pockets and a blood-lust, so all may not be over for now.

Henry.

http://www.nationalgamekeepers.org.uk/news/99/

-- Edited by Mike Price on Wednesday 30th of May 2012 12:08:05 PM

Have a look at this letter template, all you have to do is add your name and address, print it and post it to Caroline Spelman MP, Secretary of State.

http://www.birdwatch.co.uk/categories/articleitem.asp?item=916

Good article in the Sunday Express (p.86) that incorporates all the comments made on this forum and a few more besides.

Mike

Don't ponder the unbelievable truth here all. Put your thoughts in the post to your MP. It takes no longer than a post and I don't think anyone's going to disagree with you here. Activate! Agitate!

It's not only your democratic right but your democratic duty

-- Edited by Tim Wilcox on Friday 25th of May 2012 10:44:08 PM

Letter of protest duly written and posted to Richard Benyon MP with a copy to Tony Lloyd MP, Manchester Central. An old-fashioned letter in the post is far more effective than an anonymous petition or easily deleted e-mail I think. I know how we have to sit up and take notice when we get a letter from the public at work. It took me 30 minutes. Let's get busy

Having had time now to reflect following my initial rant over the Buzzard situation, several points strike me:

Firstly, assuming the RSPB has access to sound legal advice, it would seem to me an obvious course for it to take out an immediate court injunction to prevent Defra from implementing its so called "buzzard management trial," primarily on the grounds of its illegality.

In order to appeal successfully against such an injunction, Defra would have to demonstrate just cause, which in the circumstances it might find extremely difficult, in the light of the available statistics and due to the inherent frivolous nature of the argument itself, (i.e. the persecution of a recovering wild native species on the grounds of its negligible impact on the population of an alien game bird, whose continued existence here is primarily in order for it to be killed for sport).

Secondly, since my E-mail to the MP Richard Benton, certain of my birding pals advise me that he himself is owner of a grouse moor.
If this is the case, should he not correctly have stood aside from any role in the decision process as he cannot be impartial, on the basis that pheasants would also in the normal course of events be shot on his estate? (Certainly that is the case on the Durham Moors here surrounding Wolsingham village).

The background to my earlier rant against keepers is that it is not possible for me to park my car over the border in parts of N. Yorks (with its stickers "Durham Bird Club", "Teesmouth Bird Club" on show) unattended, as there is a real risk of coming back to find my tires slashed. This has happened to several Teesmouth birders over recent years. Birders are regarded as "spies" by certain keepers, and begs the question:- What have they got to
hide?!
I have no axe to grind against blood sports for those in whom the hunting instinct is manifest in this particular way, (though it is not my way) and where the target prey is at least in the final analysis eaten, and where a certain economic benefit by means of additional employment results.
What does enrage me (and I trust many/all of you as well) is where such activities run out of control, flouting hard won protection laws in such brazen arrogant manner to the detriment of some of our most spectacular and beautiful wildlife.
I can envisage a scenario in retaliation to the ongoing persecution of our raptors where a mass trespass of the grouse moors might be justified, with the banner of "WHERE ARE OUR HEN HARRIERS?"
One can imagine the loss of revenue and adverse impact on the landowners of a mass trespass on say August 12th one year to really hit home that the protection laws must stand and be respected.

I should go further and press for the laws to be amended to the extent that owners of large tracts of grouse moor should be required to conduct a census of the number of breeding Hen Harrier pairs on their land each year. If they fail to comply they should be fined £100,000 for each year they are in contempt. If there are no breeding pairs they should explain why, and should be set targets for say 5 year terms until the optimum number of breeding pairs is achieved; then, and only then, can they be seen to be obeying the law.
All a bit draconian? -Yes, - but the buggers will have brought it on themselves.
Regards to all,
Mike P.

There is a petition running @ http://www.thepetitionsite.com/304/227/564/defra-dont-spend-taxpayers-money-on-harassing-buzzards/

Phil, I have to say I think it's a tad unfair to say it time for the RSPB to 'start earning those subscriptions' too; I think they do that already


I know they do Ian, but i just wish they'd bare their teeth now & again, they've got a vast following & i feel that sometimes they don't make the most of it.

-- Edited by Phil Panton on Thursday 24th of May 2012 07:27:25 PM

Mike Price wrote:

---

There is a petition running @ http://www.thepetitionsite.com/304/227/564/defra-dont-spend-taxpayers-money-on-harassing-buzzards/

---

Focusing mainly on the use of public money (which I understand is more likely to win the vote of the 'non-birding' public of course), for me, makes me wonder what 'our' reaction would be like if it were privately funded? Would the public care then?

Certain articles I have read recently are focusing on the waste of public money (which of course is absolutely true) but not the simple fact of the unnecessary persecution of the Buzzards themselves. Of course focusing on the latter alone probably wouldn't raise much of an eyebrow to the general public. I doubt, even if they abandon the idea, that the gamekeepers will give in anyway but I think using purely the money aspect could be dangerous in itself.

Phil, I have to say I think it's a tad unfair to say it time for the RSPB to 'start earning those subscriptions' too; I think they do that already

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Thursday 24th of May 2012 06:05:27 PM

You may wish to tweet @DefraGovUK with your views (I've just done this). Mike Passant (below) asked who Richard Benyon is. I've just checked and he is the Minister for Natural Environment & Fisheries. I'll be contacting him (cc: my local MP) later.

Richard Benyon MP
Minister for Natural Environment and Fisheries
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London SW1P 3JR

Any other suggestions?

T

Its worrying to think that, what amounts to a small minority of the country can sway the government into coming up with a decision like this.
Time for the silent majority to make some noise, not just sign a petition or email an MP who'll probably just give lip service & then do absolutely nothing.

RSPB, you've got a million members...start earning those subscriptions !

Mike Passant wrote:

---

As for gamekeepers, (and I accept one shouldn't generalise really), based on more than a few confrontations with them up here, I rate them one step up from drug dealers pimps and loan sharks;

---

Then what does that make their employers? Gamekeepers are "only obeying orders". Now where have we heard that before?

The older I get, the more sick and ashamed I become of being part of humanity with its crass arrogance and stupidity. We're the only species capable of both scaling the heights and plumbing the depths.

Wherever did we get this barmy notion that the world is ours alone to bugger up as we see fit? Answer = from organised religious indoctrination.

As for gamekeepers, (and I accept one shouldn't generalise really), based on more than a few confrontations with them up here, I rate them one step up from drug dealers pimps and loan sharks; - their organisation knows full well the extent to which many of them flout the law; duplicity and hypocrisy are an endemic part of their code; - my view? - No, that's from an ex keeper, who now looks back on his "career" with shame and regret.

I'll be more than happy to E-mail the MP named below if anyone can tell me who he is and where he stands in all this.
What about the RSPB in all this? Surely with a million members and sensitive to publicity, we can stir up something?

This proposed cull sets a very dangerous precedent. What's next, target the Peregrines, because they are accused of trying to survive in an impoverished landscape by eating unnatural feral flying rats?!

Objection e-mail sent to Richard Benyon MP.

Henry has hit the nail on the head for me and the point I was hoping to promote we need to go one step further than posting on here but how far are we prepared to go?

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Wednesday 23rd of May 2012 02:32:00 PM

Every time I drive up onto Saddleworth Moor there are at least a dozen newly-flattened Pheasants on the road. Should DEFRA be shooting the drivers responsible?

Steve

Seem completely pointless as much as anything else, Buzzards at present must barely scrape the surface of the UK population of Pheasants, to kill them seems both stupid and just wrong.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/301118-community-service-for-former-gamekeeper-who-poisoned-four-buzzards