A good start to 2015

The snow had almost cleared from the ground, just small patches left where the sun couldn’t quite reach. This is probably my most enjoyable walk of the year, I have had a walk around The Avenue Washlands on New Years Day for the last 8 years and although I don’t see anything rare I will add more year ticks than any other day in 2015. Each tick feels like a new bird, 34 were added in my 2 hour walk including some of my favourites like Yellowhammer, Bullfinch & Treecreeper. Last year I saw 150 species, ‘not many’ I hear you cry, well for me that’s good, I saw 149 in 2013. I spend most of my time on the Avenue Washlands with maybe 10 trips elsewhere in a year. A patch birder I suppose you could call me more than a more traditional birder. I am really looking forward to 2015 and shall aim for 151 this year.

Reply from Glenis Willmott MEP (Labour) - Karmenu Vella

17 October 2014

Dear Stewart,

Thank you for your email regarding the nomination of Karmenu Vella as Commissioner-designate for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.

Let me assure you that I share your concerns on this matter. Labour MEPs have for some time been pushing the European Commission to take action on illegal bird hunting in several Mediterranean countries and to ensure the Maltese Government is fully enforcing the provisions of the Birds Directive. Earlier this year I submitted a written question to the Commission regarding illegal bird hunting; I have also co-signed a number of letters with BirdLife Malta, calling on the Commission to take urgent action on Malta's decision to open spring and autumn hunting seasons. I was pleased that the Maltese government recently decided to abandon plans to allow finch-trapping to go ahead, a practice which was originally out-lawed in Malta as part of the country's EU Accession Agreement. However, I believe the European Commission needs to do much more if we are to save endangered species from being hunted to extinction.

Labour MEPs were therefore extremely surprised when the Maltese Commissioner was nominated for this position, with responsibility for biodiversity and overseeing a possible revision of the Birds and Habitats Directives. I can assure you that this issue was raised during the scrutiny hearing in the European Parliament's Environment committee. If you would like to watch the hearing, a video is available here:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/committees/video?event=20140929-1430-COMMITTEE-HEARING2014KV

The EU, although falling short of where it should be, is a world-leader when it comes to environmental and wildlife protection. It would be very short-sighted if the proposed Commission were to row back on some of the protections in place.

However, if confirmed as Commissioner, Mr Vella will not be representing the interests of Malta, but the interests of the European Union as a whole. I was pleased to hear Mr Vellaemphasise this in his hearing and reiterate that he condemns illegal hunting and will work to enforce the provisions of the Birds Directive across Europe. However, as part of his portfolio, Mr Vella has been tasked with carrying out an in-depth evaluation of the Birds and Habitats Directives. I can assure you that Labour MEPs will follow any revision of these Directives very closely and we will work hard to ensure that there is no watering down of vital environmental and wildlife protection.

I hope you have found this information useful but if you have further questions on this, or any other matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best wishes

Glenis Willmott MEP

Reply from Andrew Lewer - Appointment of Karmenu Vella

Here is the reply from Andrew Lewer (Conservative Spokesman for Culture, Education and Regional Development) about the concerns of the appointment of Karmenu Vella as  commissioner-designate for the Environment, Maritime Affairs & Fisheries.

Still no reply from Labour? 

Dear constituent,

Many thanks for your email to Andrew Lewer MBE MEP regarding your opposition to the appointment of Karmenu Vella as commissioner-designate for the Environment, Maritime Affairs & Fisheries.

During his opening comments Mr Vella denied any involvement in bird hunting or trapping as well as condemning any illegal hunting. He also explained that he was not here as a Commissioner for Malta and that he expected each and every Member State to implement all the directives. He stated that abuse of the Birds Directive, Habitats Directive or any other directive would not be tolerated in any form and reaffirmed that he was not there to defend Malta.

He agreed that the Birds and Habitats Directives were the cornerstone to safeguard European ecosystems and biodiversity but explained that the Birds Directive was adopted 35 years ago and has not been reviewed since. Mr Vella later proposed an ‘in-depth evaluation of the Birds and Habitats Directives’ aimed at maintaining and, where necessary, improving the protection for our ecosystems and vulnerable species.

He reiterated his opposition to bird hunting when highlighting his past experience as Minister for Tourism in Malta. He explained how tourism constitutes roughly one third of the Maltese economy and that, as a consequence, it depended 100% on the environment. He continued that, as the UK is the number one tourist market in Malta and that the majority of complaints surrounding Maltese finch trapping and bird hunting come from British citizens, when people talked to him about the lack of controls they were “preaching to the converted”. He added that he would not defend anyone with regard to violating any directives.

Andrew himself does not sit on either of the committees involved in Mr Vella’s hearing and so was unable to put a question to Mr Vella himself or approve or reject Mr Vella’s candidacy as commissioner-designate. However, one of Andrew’s ECR colleagues, Mark Demesmaeker, asked for clarification regarding Mr Vella’s stance on the Birds and Habitats Directives and how poor Malta’s record is when it comes to implementing the Directives. He received the following response:

“With regard to the Birds Directive, I will repeat again that, if we agree to review them, obviously there is no idea to deregulate or to demote them. We are not revising, but we are only reviewing. But again, we will have time to discuss this in more detail.”

Other ECR members raised their concerns surrounding Mr Vella’s policies on water management, air pollution and reducing ammonia emissions.

The ENVI coordinators overall conclusion was that the lack of reference to sustainable development in the mission letter of Vice-President Katainen and to the full implementation of the objectives of the 7^th Environment Action Programme raised in the letter to President-elect Juncker continued to raise concerns. Although it provided some useful clarifications, the reply by the President-elect was not considered fully satisfactory.

As for Mr Vella’s adequacy for the position, the coordinators felt that he had the necessary professional and political experience to master the challenges the position of a Member of the European Commission bring with it.

In spite of some lack of details in his replies, Mr Vella demonstrated that he had a sufficient grasp of the main issues inherent in the portfolio. He also committed to defending Community interest when dealing with Member States. He showed the intention and need to familiarise himself more with subjects falling within his remit as well as a positive attitude towards the environmental agenda and readiness to cooperate with Parliament.

The general outcome of the hearing was that the Commissioner-designate gave a positive impression of his aptitude to be a member of the College of Commissioners and to carry out the specific tasks assigned to him. In this context, however, coordinators expressed a strong recommendation that a higher profile should be given to environmental sustainability in the work of the future Commission by including this in the title and the portfolio of VP Katainen and that full implementation of the 7^th EAP shall be an explicit task in the mission of Commissioner-designate Vella. It is crucial that a clear commitment be made on these matters prior to the plenary vote.

Those members of the ECR group on the Fisheries and Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committees collectively decided to neither endorse nor oppose Mr Vella’s appointment as commissioner.

I hope this information clarifies the current situation and helps ease any fears you may have surrounding Mr Vella’s appointment.

Regards,

Jack

Jack Berringer

Intern to Andrew Lewer MBE MEP

Conservative Spokesman for Culture, Education and Regional Development

European Parliament Brussels

WIB 05M067

Reply from Margot Parker (UKIP) MEP as regards to Karmenu Vella

Dear Stewart,


Thank you so much for your letter.

The point UKIP always emphasizes, is the level of undemocratic processes here in the European Parliament.
We as members of this parliament cannot vote against 1 particular commissioner since the voting is en bloc.
This means the whole committee would have to be voted against.
Given the fact that this is very unlikely to happen, I am afraid there is nothing we can do with regards to Mr. Karmenu Vella.

I regret I cannot give you any better news.

With kindest regards,


Margot Parker MEP
UKIP East Midlands Region

Digital evidence poses a threat to our sport

When i started reading this article I thought the movement against wildlife crime had found a supporter, Ian Grindy wrote about seeing a Youtube clip of a gamekeeper beating two Buzzards to death and how the Images were worse than a computer virus. Then I read on and got the impression that the concern was more for the moorland managers being more careful, in the age of camera phones and social media, not to get caught. I also think that it carries a tone of worry, a worry on their part that they have to change their ways or as he puts it 'we will reach a tipping point'.

What do you think?

In an age of video sharing and social media, raptor persecution — and digital evidence of it — pose a threat to our sport

Writes Ian Grindy

Two buzzards found after being beaten to death in 2013 Credit: RSPB

I have been asked by the Shooting Times to remove their article because of copyright.

Follow link to read here.http://www.shootinguk.co.uk/shooting/conservation/sport-reputation-uphold-38301

An evening ringing Swallows

As autumn started to take a grip I was beginning to think that we were not going to get to do a swallow roost this year. The weather had not been favorable at all, too windy, raining or both, however on the 20^th I got the call from Ray Knock that things were looking good for that evening. I finished work at 5 so had to go home and grab a bite to eat before leaving for The Avenue.

The mist nets along the edge of reedbeds

We arrived at 18:15 and set up the nets along the far side of the reedbed where the swallows flew in to roost. It’s then a waiting game, this gives us a chance to relax and enjoy the other birds on site. A few Reed Warblers are still around but the best spot of the night was a Kingfisher perched over on the far bank. One or two swallows started to arrive around 19:00 along with 3 Swifts and around 20-30 House Martin but by 20:00 there were c500 swallows now flying around catching the last meal of the day.

A Swift overhead

What a superb event this is as the birds twitter and fly around your head, sometimes as close as a couple of feet. It was a perfect sunset too which made it all the better.

Swallows waiting to go to roost

At 20:30 we made our way round to the nets hoping for a good haul, Ray likes to call it sheet music. We weren't disappointed as the nets were full to bursting. As the light was fading we quickly got the birds processed to cause as little amount of stress as possible, we aged the birds and took wing measurements for the juveniles with additional information for the adults such as sex, weight, fat & muscle scores.

105 birds were done in total with 101 juveniles and 4 adults. One of the juveniles was a recovery that had been ringed 15km away on the 1^st of July in Sheffield. We finished around 10pm and it was getting a little chilly, it has been past midnight before leaving in previous years when more birds have been caught.

A ring is put on a young bird

The large proportion of young birds is normal but remains a mystery to us, are other adults still feeding young in nests or do a few adults stay to show the juveniles the best roosting places on route? It could of course just be that not many adults are making the return journey and have perished. We have in the past done up to 3 evenings in a week and never re-trap birds from earlier, out of c500 birds we can do as many as 300 within that week. This means that the roost is made up of different birds every night, we are a short stop off on migration. The figures remain the same even to the end of the roost.  

One of the best parts of ringing swallows is the release, these birds are quite happy to sit on your finger for a while until confident enough to pop back into the reeds.

A young bird sits calmly on the hand

I have in the past gone on to site the day after doing a ringing session to see birds leave the reedbeds, as the sun came up I never saw any birds at all, they must leave while it is still dark.Your thoughts go towards the long journey that they have in front of them, up to 200 miles per day until reaching South Africa. What a bird.

The 1st Hen Harrier Day 10th August 2014

The 1st Hen Harrier Day 10th August 2014

As I was driving towards Derwent Dam I was hoping the weathermen had made a mistake and there was to be no rain. I pulled up around 07:50, in one of the free car parks as I’m tight like that, and was pleased that is wasn’t raining. I put on my waterproofs any way as I think deep down that I knew the heavens would open in the not too distant future. My second thought was, would the weather put people off and the number of attendees be disappointing?

View from the Car park

I met up with some friends from the Derbyshire Wildlife trust (DWT) and we made our way to the meeting point where the more frivolous drivers had parked. More familiar faces started to appear as more protesters arrived and before we knew it cars were having to turn back and find alternative places to park.

At 09:40 the call to arms came and we all made our way down to the dam, it was truly a wonderful sight as a mass of protesters brollies formed a bulging river of colour. This made a nice change to the usual sea of green & brown that is always popular with birders (including myself).

A river of colour

 By the time we all settled in front of the dam everyone was soaked, but no one was complaining. We were all here for one reason and the weather could not dampen our spirits. Mark Avery, who had helped organize this event along with Birders Against Wildlife Crime, called everyone forward to start proceedings.

The people gather

 Mark talked about the reasons he had wanted to create an event to highlight the persecution of our Hen Harriers. He reminded us of how a group of people in 1932 held a mass protest on Kinder to end restrictions of access for the common people to the uplands of The Peak District. All in the crowd were inspired by what Mark had to say. 

Mark Avery talks to the masses

He then handed over to Chris Packham who delivered a passionate speech that was spoken with clear frustration in his voice.

Chris Packham

A huge cheer was heard when Owen Paterson was referred to as the ex-Secretary for the environment, and a round of applause was given to the current shadow minister Barry Gardiner. He was welcomed into the fold of the ‘Green blob’, he later tweeted ‘he was proud to be part on the Green Blob’.

A young man named Findley Wilde was then invited along with his brother Harley to take centre stage and talk about his 6ft model Hen Harrier and what had inspired him to build it. An example to us all he is certainly the future of conservation. (You can read his Blog here).

Chris acknowledges Findley Wilde

Chris then used the example of the Marsh Harrier to highlight that with the right will a species can make a recovery.

Chris Packham inspires the crowd

He then had a pop at the shooting fraternity, ‘we’ve tried to trust you to work with us, but you have failed us. Sort out the bad apples in your barrel, otherwise we’re gunning for you, and we will win!’. This was greeted with the loudest cheer of the day from every one present, well almost. The wildlife NGO’s were mentioned too, having failed to do enough to bring this issue to the forefront while numbers of Hen Harriers are still falling. An olive branch was offered to all people involved, noting that if we all work together and compromise we can all prosper.

The speech ended with a quote from Ghandi, ‘first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win’.

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust with Chris, Mark & Findley

After the speeches had ended Findley’ Hen Harrier became the main attraction as all of the organisations present used it as a great focal point for photographs, The Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, Hawk & Owl Trust, BAWC and others will hopefully get some great publicity from the event to push the issue forward.

I hope that the momentum gained from this event can now be maintained and more ideas, to keep the plight of our birds of prey in the forefront of people’s minds, will follow . My worries earlier about number were unfounded as around 570 protesters turned up, and everyone’s spirit was high at all times, like minded birders and nature lovers had all come together to load our gun and point it directly at the law breakers that are murdering our birds.

More details of Mark Avery’ petition for the banning of Driven grouse shooting, which has over 19,000 signitures can be found here. I was originally not against Grouse shooting but as I have learned more about this industry, and that's what it is,  it's plain to see that most that are involved have no respect for the environment or the natural world. Hen Harriers like other predators are not welcome anywhere near their moors, there is too much money involved and they won't tolerate any creature that eats into their profits.

Marks Blog covers all aspects of conservation and is definitely worth a read, it’s also probably the best place to keep up to date with the Hen Harrier protest. (find Marks Blog Here)

My Selfie with Chris

Very pleased to get a Selfie with findley

The #sodden570 have inspired me to do more and I am very proud to be counted as one of them.

#wewillwin