Shoot!

I watched the murky drizzle from the window all day last Wednesday in the hope it might move on for me to get out a while....it didn't. 

Checking out the stats, I discovered the petition to Ban Driven Grouse Shooting is well on it's way to failure with just 12 more weeks to run, having collected a little over a miserable 23,000 signatures out of the minimum requirement of 100,000 needed for the government to consider a debate, and that's seriously worrying. So I did some searching to find out about last years shoots on the English grouse moors.

I've no idea about this years 'sports news', but I did discover in 2014 the tweed brigade found much excitement in realising the numbers of Red Grouse - particularly in Bowland - were judged to be higher than at any time since the 1990's, and the shooting season began with over 800 birds shot in a single beat on a single day on one estate on the 'Glorious Twelfth', this same estate has the distinction of shooting a massive 5,000 Red Grouse in just it's first few shoot days in 2014....yes that's 5,000 Red Grouse shot on one estate. 

Mark Avery who's quest to save the Hen Harrier had him start the petition to Ban Driven Grouse Shooting, actually doesn't mind grouse shooting and has no opposition to the sport....well he did work for the RSPB. So as I see it, Mr Avery wants to dictate to the shooting fraternity, not to stop shooting Red Grouse, but where, when, and how to do it....there's a joke somewhere there isn't there.

So the summary is....

Mr Avery doesn't mind people getting kicks out of shooting other wild birds, but wants them to stop shooting birds of prey like the Hen Harrier because he thinks they are such brilliant and majestic creatures and - unlike the Red Grouse -  there's not many of them left to stir emotions....Well, there's another joke there too isn't there. 

These 'sportsmen' including their American friends who spend thousands of pounds to come to 'shoot in the best place on earth' as one of them put it recently, won't have any of this dictatorship, and as a result raptor persecution will continue to be the side salad in this whole warped industry.

I signed The Petition ages ago....did you/will you?

For the 'coming in to land' header of the family party of two adult and two immature Whooper Swans....Excellent, and many thanks Gary.

Red Sky On The Black Isle. 

If you have another 12 minutes to spare, you might like to watch and listen to this excellent video on the same subject of raptor persecution.