wildlife – Page 8 – Georgia Locock

Contacting your local MP and the Hunting Act amendment

Posted on July 11, 2015July 11, 2015 by Georgia Locock

As I stated in my latest blog and you may have heard in the media, the free vote for MPs on the repeal of the Hunting Act is next Wednesday. This has all come very suddenly and is no doubt going to cause a lot of chaos in the next few days. Even though 80% of the public want the ban to stay in place there is that few that want to repeal it. However it’s not the public that will be voting, it’s the MPs therefore as constituents we need to make our voice heard to our MPs and make sure they vote no!

So, contacting your local MP is very important. They may be a tough nut pro-hunter and you may think it won’t work but it’s worth it and you’ve got nothing to loose. Along with this it takes no time at all to simply send an email, letter or maybe even a tweet just to see if they will be voting for or against the repeal. A few weeks back I put together a template letter which is free to use and edit if you wish, find it by clicking here.

Meeting with my local MP

A few weeks back, running up to the general election, I got in touch with all my local candidates about the issues around young people not engaging with the natural world with the blog I did for A Focus on Nature. The Conservative candidate, Michael Fabricant, got back to me and said if he was to be re-elected he would be willing to meet me. He was re-elected and I met with him this morning for an informal meeting in my local city centre. Coincidently the vote to repeal the Hunting Act is in just a few days so I couldn’t miss the opportunity to ask him about his views. I already knew that he wouldn’t vote to repeal it as he’d stated it on Twitter but I asked him a few questions about his points of view on this matter. What he said was quite positive and great to hear.

The planned topic was actually about the education of nature in primary schools which he was in favour of and I plan to take this further. This issue is very important to me as less children are becoming connected with nature, in fact it’s believed just 1 in 5 are. You can read more about what I’ve said in the past here – https://georgiaswildlifewatch.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/my-visionfornature/

URGENT: Act now!

Posted on July 8, 2015July 8, 2015 by Georgia Locock

Whilst looking through my Twitter feed just now I saw a few news articles and tweets from organisations such as The League Against Cruel Sports and Save Me saying the vote for MPs to repeal the Hunting Act could be as early as next week.

Update – free vote on amending the ban on #foxhunting in England and Wales is expected to take place in the Commons on Thursday 16 July

— Sky News Breaking (@SkyNewsBreak) July 8, 2015

BBC News – MPs to vote on changes to fox hunting laws http://t.co/GSXqAwRiIt write to your MP https://t.co/3x7zCgKP7c #KeepTheBan

— League Against Cruel Sports (@LeagueACS) July 8, 2015

The Hunting Act is under Threat ACT NOW! Email your MP – even if you have done it before 7 days to #keeptheban http://t.co/pHykhw6HQ5

— Brian May's Save Me (@AnneatSaveMe) July 8, 2015

MPs to vote on amendment to hunting act next Thursday which could allow return hunting foxes with hounds http://t.co/uZyEeuX9t8

— dominic dyer (@domdyer70) July 8, 2015

It looks to me it’s going to be a seven day campaign between those who want to repeal and those who don’t as here’s a few tweets I read from the pro-hunting lobby too.

Lobby your MP to vote to amend the Hunting Act now – a 7 day challenge ahead… http://t.co/fPcvqesKLu

— Tim Bonner (@CA_TimB) July 8, 2015

Breaking news: lobby your MP to vote to amend the Hunting Act now – http://t.co/sLJ9pEcxoO

— Countryside Alliance (@CAupdates) July 8, 2015

Obviously this is no surprise so please do what you can. Do you want huntsmen to have the right to chase an innocent animal to exhaustion then with a pack of hounds tear apart whilst it’s still alive in the most barbaric way possible?

There’s the argument that it’s ‘wildlife management’ and ‘pest control’ but what about that story that came out a few weeks back about 16 cubs that were kidnapped and kept in a barn for the use of hunting. You can learn more about this here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7PjfphDsc0&feature=youtu.be

Please write to your local MP even if you have done in the past. It could make all the difference and can only take a couple of minutes. I wrote this template letter a few weeks back if that’s any help – https://georgiaswildlifewatch.wordpress.com/2015/05/24/urging-your-mp-to-stop-the-slaughter-of-wildlife/

#keeptheban

Book Review: Undiscovered Owls

Posted on July 6, 2015July 6, 2015 by Georgia Locock

When I was younger I remember having a fascination for owls, as for most species. I remember visiting one of my local patches and seeing a tawny owl there almost every time. I was amazed by the bird, I always thought how different it was to other birds with that mysterious but magical look about it. Along with its character and ability to make its presence so different. I also remember sitting in the back seat whilst driving down country lanes near where I live with my head hanging out looking up into the trees. Quite often we’d see little owls down this same stretch.

Obviously I still admire them as much as I did when I was younger. I often see a tawny owl or the occasional little owl on my local patch or when I’m out and about and much further afield.

A few months back I was asked to give a talk at an event that a friend of mine, Emily Joachim, was running down in Bath. It was a day of ‘Be a Zoologist’ workshops and I gave a talk. Emily is a really passionate conservationist and zoologist who specialises in British Owls. It was great to speak to Emily about the work she does and how enthusiastic she is, you can read more about this on her new website/blog on Little Owls by clicking here.

As you’ll see from my title the book is called Undiscovered Owls (for a very good reason) and is by Magnus Robb and The Sound Approach. The book focuses on species within Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. It includes 4 CDs with an impressive 327 sound recordings, and is filled with beautiful illustrations from the Swedish artist Hakin Delin.

When this book was first sent out to me I was very excited. I’d read about it online and I know how fantastic The Sound Approaches books are. My first impressions were that it was very smart and slick looking, detailed and professional. After having a brief look through I was eager to start reading it, listen to the sounds and look at everything else that accompanies the text. Also I was particularly fascinated by the owl displayed on the front cover, Omani Owl, and the story behind that bird which I later went onto read.

The book is set into nine different chapters with each one including different species belonging to a genuses. Then, about each species there are sound recordings of the species with superb descriptions of the sound, interesting sonagrams, a variety of stories from their adventures and experiences, bucket loads of information and facts, and beautiful photos, art work and diagrams. A true insight into each species and with all this detail you can’t help but be gripped!

The CDs which accompany the book also make a great twist. They are very good and I found myself excited to read through to the next sonogram, listen to the tape and have a real experience of how the voice works. The quality of the sounds are perfect too and having the CDs like this was different. However the whole book was very different but very good and definitely unique.

A lot of things stood out for me in the book. Firstly, as I mentioned before the Omani Owl. The excitement of this part of the book all added to that idea of ‘Undiscovered Owls’. The new species was completely new to science and discovered in a remote mountain range in Oman. Whilst they were out searching for Pallid Scops Owl they heard an unfamiliar owl. Within a few minutes they recorded three different calls of the owl, at this point there was the exciting possibility but it wasn’t until a month later until it was spotted.

I found the story of this discovery very intriguing along with other species in the book including the Turkish Fish owl which they recorded but is a very rare species.

Even if you’re not interested in owls I’m pretty sure you would still enjoy this book. Also, if like me you’re a big fan of British wildlife, as I mentioned before it includes owls of Europe, so there’s species like barn owls, tawny owls, little owls, long eared owls and a few more.

If you haven’t guessed, I thought this book was fantastic and really enjoyed reading it. You can get your own copy here – http://soundapproach.co.uk/product/undiscovered-owls/

Standing up for wildlife – Ross on Wye

Posted on July 5, 2015July 5, 2015 by Georgia Locock

One of the key messages whilst on the march in Ross on Wye yesterday was we won’t give up. Even though the Tories have got back in and the next five years for wildlife look very bleak, we won’t give up.

Later this year the badger cull will be rolled out again and they’re now looking at Dorset too, there are plans to repeal the Hunting Act, there’s game keepers calling for reduced protection of birds of prey so they can protect their pheasant and partridge shoots and then there’s the Government fighting the EU ban on neonicotinoids which have a terrible impact on bees. With all this and more going on it is really important we don’t give up and we show that.

A few weeks back I heard about a stand up for wildlife march in Ross on Wye which was the first since the election. I’ve been to quite a few of these now. Not only do I enjoy going because I meet some great people and it’s always a good day but I think it’s really important to show your support and try and get that message heard loud and clear.

The march started at 12.30 and everyone gathered at the band stand in Ross on Wye. Altogether there was well over a hundred and as we went through Ross town centre the crowd seemed to grow. The march went up the high street and round by the market where it was very busy and lots of people shopping. This was good as there was more people to see and hear what we had to say. I find it fantastic how the whole street will just freeze as people stop to see what’s going on and the people working in shops come out too.

On our way round we stopping just outside Sainsbury’s for a few minutes, if you haven’t heard about Sainsbury’s click here, then we made our way to the top of the high street where Dominic Dyer (CEO Badger Trust) gave a few words. We then made our way back to the start before we created too much commotion in the town.

Once back we gathered round for some talks. First to speak was the dairy farmer Steve Jones who spoke about how he’s dealt with bTb and how good biosecurity will stop bTb. His talk was very interesting and one that I really enjoyed. You can watch it by clicking on the link below. Next to speak was Tosca, Lynn Sawyer and Ray Pottock who all spoke about issues like badger culling and the Hunting Act along with all the amazing work which has been done in that area by Gloucestershire Badger Group, who organised the march, the Wounded Badger Patrol and Three Counties Hunt Sabs. Again these were all brilliant speeches and it was great to hear about the positives work that have gone on during this horrific time. Along with this though it also reminded you of the terrible things that are going on and inspire you even more to do your bit.

Last to speak was Dominic Dyer who gave, once again, a superb speech and finished the afternoons march off.

Dominic’s speeches – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RcO6sT-vNo & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61UQCMKPAbA

Steve Jones – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJqXCAvBgFw

Ray Pottock – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXPY6y1NeO0

Lynn Sawyer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW6pJEzq5t0

All filmed by Dianne Bartlett.