Farmer jailed and ordered to pay £1.2 million

 I did like the Natural England quote:

""This is why we have used our powers as regulators to see that justice was done and to act as a stark warning to others that we will take the strongest action against those who do not respect the laws that protect the environment and wildlife we all cherish." 

Meanwhile they do nothing and DEFRA are making badgers (a 'protected' species in the UK) extinct. 

Some thinking is off kilter here.

Farmer John Price has been sentenced to 12 months in prison for damage caused to the River Lugg in Kingsland. (SWNS)

A farmer has been jailed after illegally bulldozing a riverside beauty spot, causing a "devastating" effect on local wildlife.

John Price, 68, claimed he used a digger to dredge a stretch of the River Lugg near Leominster, Herefordshire, in December 2020 to protect local homes from flooding.

But Natural England officials said the river - a protected Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and one of the UK’s most important salmon rivers - had been "decimated" by the work and habitats of "iconic wildlife" such as otters, kingfishers and salmon had also been destroyed.

Price was found guilty of seven offences relating to breaching a Natural England stop notice at Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court and has been jailed for 12 months.

He has also been disqualified from being a company director for three years and has been ordered to repay the estimated £655,000 cost of the damage to the river and its embankments, along with £600,000 in court costs.

Price claimed he bulldozed the river to prevent flooding. (SWNS)

Sentencing Price, Judge Ian Strongman said: "Any person could not fail to be dismayed by the devastation caused by Mr Price - he has turned it into a canal devoid of most life. It is ecological vandalism on an industrial scale.

"It was a desire to reduce the risk of flooding. Some residents who live nearby are grateful for Mr Price for taking this action.

"The Environment Agency said the overall river level as high as recent years but Mr Price's actions have made things worse.

"It is total ignorance to nature and the environment."

It's estimated that it could cost nearly £700,000 to restore the river and its banks after Price bulldozed and reprofiled it. (SWNS)

Natural England and the Environment Agency described the damage as the worst case of riverside destruction they had ever seen and could take several decades to be fully restored.

John Price used an 18-tonne digger to dredge a section of the River Lugg and stripped a mile-long stretch of the bank of trees, claiming he was fixing the erosion of the river bed and was helping to solve flooding issues.

Homes near to the stretch of river were flooded during Storm Dennis in early 2020, but when Storm Christoph hit in January 2021, they stayed dry.

The area is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to its importance for nature. (SWNS)

Speaking after he cleared the riverbank, he said: “I'm a Herefordshire farmer and have lived at Hay Farm and was born here at home.

“I have never moved and have watched this river all my life and no one knows this river better than myself.

“I have always looked after the river. I was asked to stop the erosion because I'm the landowner so I'm responsible for the river.

“It was up to the Environmental Agency to look after these rivers but they don't do any work and haven't got any money to do the work because they spend it all on clipboards.

“I have not pushed any trees out and I haven't knocked any trees down I have only cleared what ones came down in the flood.”

Price claimed he was asked to carry out the work, but the court ruled he had acted illegally. (SWNS)

But wildlife experts described his actions as "devastating" and said he had actually weakened flood prevention measures rather than improved them.

Emma Johnson, area manager for Natural England, said: “The destruction of this section of the River Lugg was devastating for the abundance and range of species which thrived in this river.

"The River Lugg is one of the most iconic rivers in the UK and to see this wanton destruction take place was devastating.

"This is why we have used our powers as regulators to see that justice was done and to act as a stark warning to others that we will take the strongest action against those who do not respect the laws that protect the environment and wildlife we all cherish."

The work destroyed a one-mile stretch of the protected River Lugg - which runs through Kingsland in Herefordshire. (SWNS)

Martin Quine, Environment Agency place manager for Herefordshire, said restoring the health of Britain's rivers was a "complex task" that could "only be achieved in partnership with landowners".

He said: “While Mr Price’s justification for the works was to help prevent flooding to local properties, his actions did not have any flood prevention benefit.

"The destruction of river banks is not appropriate flood management. It is important that the Judge recognised that the works significantly weakened flood prevention measures rather than improved them.

“We urge landowners never to take extreme measure such as this and instead to always work closely with the Environment Agency around river management to agree the best solutions for both landowners and the environment.”

Helen Stace, CEO of the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, described Price's actions previously as a “crime against the environment”, while BBC Gardeners’ World host Monty Don also expressed his shock at the “complete obliteration” of the site.

He said: "It breaks my heart but is all too-typical of the ignorance, arrogance and sheer wanton destruction of those privileged to care for our countryside."

Natural England has been covertly expanding badger cull areas

 Via Protect The Wild 

https://protectthewild.org.uk/news/natural-england-has-been-covertly-expanding-badger-cull-areas/?fbclid=IwAR2sfx3KiwF2NJ_j1gggx71QKyG68s2yGaBhycft4JAYz6h13jyYzGkHbPQ

The government’s annual badger cull, which began in 2013, has always been shrouded in secrecy. And now Freedom of Information (FOI) responses reveal the extent of Natural England’s underhanded tactics as it murders our beloved species.

Environmental journalist Tracy Keeling accessed the FOI requests, and reported her findings in the Canary. She found that since 2017 Natural England – which is sponsored by Defra – has been secretly expanding badger cull areas, some by more than 100km². The aim of the cull in these expanded areas is the same as in the original areas: to murder at least 70% of the local badger population.

As Keeling reports, the original cull areas were subject to public consultation, yet these expansions have been done without public knowledge, and wouldn’t have been revealed to the public without the FOI responses.

What, exactly, is the badger cull?

The badger cull has taken place every year for the past decade. Natural England issues four-year licences to land owners in different cull zones across the country, along with target figures of the number of badgers it wants murdered. Badgers are then intensively shot and trapped for a six-week period each year, usually beginning in September. The government argues that culling badgers prevents the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle, but studies have found that this is ludicrous.

The boundaries of each cull zone have always been kept a secret, and activists trying to save badgers have had to guess where one zone ends and another begins. The government also keeps it a secret as to which land owners take part in the cull, too, although it’s a good bet that if a farmer’s cattle has bTB, he will be murdering badgers on his land.

The government officially stopped issuing the four year licences in 2022. But instead of phasing out the cull (as it led the public to believe), it introduced another way to extend it. When a cull zone’s four-year licence has come to an end, Natural England can then grant it a supplementary licence. These licences permit land owners to murder badgers for another two years. In 2022 alone, the government awarded two-year supplementary licences to murder badgers in ten new locations across the country, which were licensed to run until January 2024.

And now these latest FOI findings, showing that the cull zones are not only extended by length of time, but also by the number of kilometres they cover, shows just how much the government puts the farming lobby over the lives of supposedly one of our most protected species.

‘Cull zones in their own right’

Keeling discovered that Natural England approved 10 expansions to cull zones in 2022. She said:

“This amounted to badger killing on an additional 327km² of land. In 2021, it greenlit eight extension areas totalling 342km² in all.”

The FOI responses show that one cull area in Avon was expanded by 136km² in 2021, while an area in Shropshire was expanded by 173km² in 2022. Keeling argues that these new areas “are clearly large enough to qualify as cull zones in their own right.”

Badgers are murdered more intensively in these expanded areas. As Keeling reported, Natural England admitted in one FOI response:

“Larger extension areas are monitored separately to the rest to the area to ensure an effective cull is achieved in a reduced number of years. This includes requiring an increase in cage trapping and controlled shooting similar to that required in year 1 of a licensed area.”

Keeling said:

“This indicates that larger extension areas are operating in some respects as if they are separate badger culls. This includes apparently aiming to kill badgers more intensely than the cull areas they are attached to, due to the reduced number of years of operation.”

Natural England can’t officially introduce new cull zones in 2023, having stated that it stopped issuing four-year licences in 2022. So these expansions – adding more land to existing zones – will likely be used extensively from 2023 onwards. It is the government’s way of making new cull zones without actually having to admit that it is doing so.

A bleak future

The future for our badgers is looking dire. Once cull zones’ four-year licences come to an end, and then their two-year supplementary licences also come to an end, the government may continue to issue licences indefinitely to kill badgers at a targeted, local level from 2026, although it hasn’t made official statements regarding how this would be implemented. 

The majority of badgers are murdered in the most cruel way, killed by ‘free shooting’: that is, hunters stand in a field and shoot at the badger from afar. One badger can take many excrutiating minutes to die, and can be hit with multiple gunshot wounds.

Animal welfare campaigner Dominic Dyer has previously stated that:

“We could kill every badger in England and remove them in parts of the country where they have lived for over half a million years and TB would still be present in the national cattle herd.”

It is estimated that half of the UK’s badger population has now been murdered in the government’s misguided campaign to eradicate bTB. A number of areas in the UK are now facing local badger extinctions.

You can fight the cull

You can get involved in the fight against the cull by joining one of many local groups who go out to try to stop the shooting and trapping. Search for your local group and help to save our precious badgers.

Does This Blog Achieve Anything -Who Reads It?

 

This blog was set up in 2020 just for the occasional post on creating a wildlife garden as well as a more local view on encouraging wildlife and creating the right environment. The message has always been that whether you have a large or small garden or even a window box you can still do your bit and have fun.

So when I see a total of 2395 views since mid 2020 I am surprised. What surprises me even more is that the blog has a world wide audience -see the stat table below.  But what are the top three posts in the last few years? 

At number one is What Can You Do To Help Protect and Conserve OUR Environment, second popular post is  Which British Garden Wildlife Is Protected? and that is followed by So, Let's Talk About Rats. The other posts concern badgers, need for local wildlife rescues and maintaining a wildlife friendly garden.

The thing is that all of the above apply to most other countries so I hope that, even if there is never any feedback, people are learning and trying their best where ever they are. If I can convince one person to help their environment or create wildlife habitat I would be happy.

United States

942

United Kingdom

560

Germany

244

Sweden

212

Russia

87

France

78

Canada

46

Ireland

36

Singapore

23

Israel

21

Indonesia

16

Netherlands

13

Japan

11

United Arab Emirates

7

Poland

7

Belgium

6

Türkiye

6

China

5

Czechia

5

Other

70

Big Garden, Small Garden or a Field You CAN Create a Wildlife Habitat

 People often say that they own land or have a large garden and would like to turn it into a wildlife area but "It's too daunting trying to work out what to do". I can tell you that it is not difficult. 

Mind you I have been doing this since the 1970s.

What do you want to attract is the question. Just bees and butterflies? Birds -and please remember that if you attract small birds then you must (as unpleasant as it may seem) expect to attract hawks. It is the Prey-Predator balance that you find in nature. 

I have read comments by two people on wildlife groups that they called in "magpie catchers" as magpies had raided a bird nest for chicks. "Magpie catcher" is not an occupation and it's simply someone willing to trap/kill magpies. If that is your solution then concrete over your garden as you get counted amongst the "only the wildlife I want".  All I can say is shame on those people. 

The same applies to people who go chasing off hawks after they have made a kill. Firstly, hawks have young and also need to eat. The fact that you chase a hawk off a kill does two things: firstly, that bird died for nothing and the hawk will now need to kill a second bird as, secondly, it needs to eat and live.

I have had pigeons and collared doves killed right outside my window. Nothing I can do and I feel sad for the bird killed.

So, if you never want to have that happen in your garden do not feed birds and I have tried many things over the decades and nothing stopped the prey-predator scenario.

Do you just want insects and butterflies/bees?  Easy enough. Buy wild flower seeds and even better buy some buddleja bushes (aka "Butterfly bushes"). There are a number of varieties and you will find some noted in my old posts -cones of tiny flowers of various colours or even ball shaped flowers -mini oranges that all attract bees and butterflies.

If you want you could turn a whole garden over to insect friendly plants and bushes.

But do you want a garden for wildlife where everything is allowed to get on with its own life while helping the environment?

The above map is a little basic but it can be applied to a large garden, a field or a larger area if you have it. First start off with a pond and some plants. There are various types of pond and people even use old baths, sinks or other watertight containers place in the ground. You can also use old plastic bin lids or even (new) cat litter trays -again, best to bury to just under the rim. You would be surprised at how fast life gets to a pond/pondlet.

Do you have enough room for a couple or even one fast growing conifer -if in a terraced garden one you can maintain at a height of 8ft or so just so neighbours do not get annoyed! Willow wands you can buy and you simply stick them in the ground, water regularly and they do grow quite fast. Maybe the odd smaller tree or some fruit trees? 

Wild grasses are also well worth getting and some can get ornamental flowers so a plus. 

Next some wildlife friendly plants. Wildlife can self medicate -most people have seen how pet cats and dogs will eat grass and in the wild foxes and other animals will look for plants that they instinctively know will help a health problem. I'm currently looking at a list of such plants.

The pond, I ought to point out, needs to be in a central spot. The reason for this is the predator problem. Wildlife from mammals to birds like to see all around them and shrubs, etc too close to a pond could hold a predator or attacker -it's why I once had to move water bowls to an open area as cats kept creeping up on foxes!

For people living in tower blocks with a balcony a mini garden can be created -I once had a mini fish pond, various flowers and mini bushes on one that attracted far more birds, insects and butterflies than I expected.

You make use of the space you have so look at the diagram above and see how you can adapt it. We can all do our bit for the environment.

Vale Wildlife Group (1994)

 

The Vale Wildlife Group (covering specifically Ashton Vale in the BS3 area) was set up in 1994 after I discovered that Avon wildlife trust had declared it a "wildlife deprivation area".

On my first night I was face-to-face with the largest hedgehog I had ever seen and while watching it two barn owls flew so low overhead I could see all the face and feather details. Returning into the house I looked out to see a pair of foxes strolling up the road. There were so many butterflies, moths and beetles and other insects that I lost count and when I saw the woodpecker as well as all the other local birds including sparrow hawks and buzzards I said to myself "This is the kind of wildlife deprivation area I can live with"!

Remember this was all within a day of moving in. I kept local records and found frogs, toads, newts wall lizards and much much more. Avon Wildlife told me that as I was not a member my records were of no interest (it was that blunt). Oh, bats of course and otters not to mention deer and badgers.

I was called in to remove an adder (they are still in the area) from a garden and various other things. The biggest problem was that locals were decidedly anti wildlife. I just could not understand it and a few efforts to re-invigorate wildlife were damaged by local residents.

 When Yanley Quarry was going to be turned into a park area for locals I was asked to set up a wildlife area complete with pond and received a copy of the wildlife survey team report to help me work things out.

The Quarry company  had nothing but negativity from locals (to create a park and wildlife area??) and I endured three years of harassment and more just for being involved (unpaid I might add).

When I sought permission to "re-wild" the old coal-pit area in South Liberty Lane the word spread -as did local anger.  Willow wands were planted to create a small wooded area but these were pulled up by locals and some were thrown into my garden -a warning I suppose?

Thankfully those people either moved on or passed away and I would hope that the younger, newer locals would be far more happy to re-wild the area or at least encourage more wildlife and help educate youngsters -they are after all going to be the ones looking after our environment in the future.

For 2023 if I can get council cooperation, I want to carry out a survey of the old coal yard and see whether a plan to plant willows and some fast growing conifers can be formulated -but that really requires local help.

Badger Cull

 

What Can YOU Do To Help Protect and Conserve OUR Environment?

 Do you know what I hate? Politics and politicians. I was raised by my grandparents in St Werburgh's which was then a working class area and politics involved Labour. These days findingf a Labour MP who will keep their word about the environment and not squirm out of any promises is like looking for gold in the River Avon. My 'local' MP is such a rare sight in her constituency that there is the belief she is only ever seen when Halley's Comet makes and appearance every 75 years.

I also grew up for some time in Germany where even cities and towns were very green and spotting a house without a window garden or garden was hard. Of course the German Green Party is nothing like the one we have in the UK which seems more interested in making sure "the right sort" of person is in the party and unlike the real Greens, pushes the idea of more building and investments in business. The environment...well, no money in that so although (like every other politician and party) they say it is vital that we tackle the environmental catastrophe currently happening.. we are still in an environmental catastrophe.

I will cite Bristol although the example can probably be used for other towns and cities. One thing you'll note is that hanging baskets in public places are always maintained and these are just to give the appearance that Bristol as a City and County is a very green place. It's for the tourists rather than citizens.

Some examples: back in the early 2000s I was keeping watch on the mature hedgerow that ran alongside the park on Winterstoke Road. There was a blackbird nest, a robin nest and even a wren nest. I was trying to have the hedgerow designated as a local, established bird breeding area and one day I came back from a day out and found that the entire hedgerow had been cut down. Nests and all just smashed up. I had to laugh when Bristol City Council who I had been in touch with over the nesting area stated that the cutback had "nothing to do with us" -there were still council contractors there when I saw the damage.

Troopers Hill -currently the focus of a lot of community work

At the end of South Liberty Lane, where the indoor bowling centre stands is an area used by dog walkers and five-a-side football. Around 2005 I saw the high trees there, where I knew there were nesting crows, being cut back to the trunk. I walked over and asked who had authorised the cut back when there were clearly nests in place. I was told to "**** off, trouble maker" now I kept asking who was in charge and eventually the work boss identified himself and I pointed out that nests were being destroyed. He replied "Well you can look amongst the branches we've cut down if you want" and just chuckled. "They'll find somewhere else to nest" I was told. A call to Bristol City Council was made and I was told "Our contractors comply strictly with all regulations and would not remove nests without a permission to do so by our environment department" So I explained the reaction I got from the contractors and that I had photos of the nests prior to cutting: "That wouldn't prove the nests were there when cut back" I( was told and there was some comment about public safety and the call ended.

In the late 1990s I informed the City Council that I was intending to sow wild flower seeds as well as plant willow wands on areas that were just waste in the Ashton Vale area. No problem as "it helps the look and local environment".  When the flowers popped up and willows started to leaf it looked promising..then council workers came in and cut everything back and even turned over the soil which they had never done before. I spoke to the Council and was told "You can't just go planting seeds without permission" so I pointed out that I had gotten permission and who from. "Yeah, they left. Have you got permission in writing? It doesn't matter if you have because we can overturn that" End of conversation.

The Western Slopes -a great deal of local campaigning and work is still continuing to preserve it.

Not just the Council of course. Back in the late 1990s I was asked to be wildlife consultant to what would be Yanley Park -a waste tip being returned to nature with a pond, wildlife habitat and even park with benches for locals. The locals were not having that (you work that one out) and I had sustained harassment, threats, damage to my own garden and much more until the idea was dropped. By now it would have been a real quality nature reserve and I still have the plans somewhere.  During all of this I found City Council officers siding with locals which, again, made no sense. Harassment from the Council was documented (our local MP simply was far too 'busy') and on the day I had two people come to hand me an award for my wildlife/country garden which had taken a lot of money and years of work to build up  -a council official barged into our little group and declared my garden had been complained about and it "needed sorting" -the two visitors were somewhat astonished. 

When we hear officials from the Mayor and other Council officials that they are taking part in the war to improve our environment remember it's "all about the press" and what they get out of it.  They use second generation rodenticides that kill not just rats and mice (though they are becoming resistant to these) but causes death from secondary poisoning ('accidental' through consuming the poison or rodents killed by it) to domestic pets, hedgehogs, foxes, badgers as well as avian wildlife feeding on handy dead food.

Hengrove Mounds & Hawkfield Meadows again, like other areas in and around Bristol, a lot of work is going on to protect it

Bristol City Council is attempting to build on green sites while brown sites -old industrial and warehouse sites- go ignored. The green sites are, obviously, in far more scenic places and that attracts more investors' money -no need to landscape so it saves cash and therefore a bigger profit.

The campaigners to keep Bristol's open and green spaces as such do great work but always need to be vigilant because the City Council has a long history (Conservative or Labour) of making promises and then twisting out of them or even agreeing to things but carrying on with their plans.  Bristol Airport and its expansion, which no one locally wants, has just been approved a second time and that will have a big effect on wildlife and natural habitats.

So, in what is quite literally a war in which you lose a lot of battles and win a few what can you do?

Firstly, when it comes to local council elections you demand that the right candidate is chose by getting a written declaration about their stance on protecting the environment and green spaces and re-assessing the use of pesticides and rodenticides it uses. That commitment is made widely known and if and when the candidate attempts to squeeze out of it you hit them with as much negative press as you can. Their job is "an earner" for them and persons attracting negative publicity do not get as much intertest shown in them by businesses etc.

That is the single most important thing you can do: the right person who will do their best to fulfill their promises.

The second thing you can do (this is where I get accused of being an "environmental activist" again) is campaign. Kick up a stink about green spaces being targeted on local TV, radio and newspapers. Launch a letter/email campaign aimed at Bristol City Council to commit to keeping Green spaces safe and not selling off land to private developers unless locals have any such thing put to them to vote on (I swear I am NOT a communist!). Protests outside "City Hall" attract press and media and that is what you want and here is a lesson I learnt from past experience: you do not accept a promise or claimed change of direction and then think "we won!" and sit back. That is the mistake people keep making. You keep pushing until you see actual solid, real world actions fulfilling those promises.

Friends of the Western Slopes and other groups do a great deal and need far more local support; after all locals live there and it's no good saying "They're building right on the field -there goes the area!" if you did nothing to protest or make your views known.

We have the biggest urban fox population outside of London and we also have feral cats. Even big U.S. cities such as Boston, Baltimore, etc have stopped using rodenticides and encouraged feral cats and even moved them into high rat population areas. Foxes and even coyotes are moving back into urban areas ands rats are declining.  

We have very well established badger colonies (we try to keep secret) because as Bristol grew and took in villages it also built around those badger setts.  We have otters (another little well kept secret until they were publicised a few years back). 

There is not much we can do to protect these animals from cars and other vehicles that claim so many -or is there? In Europe, Canada and other countries road under and overpasses are built as standard or even put in place when there are too many animal deaths on certain roads.  "Leading the environmental challenge" one might assume that Bristol City Council would consider such wildlife corridors with hedgehogs, otters and badgers dying in numbers but for them these are great publicity points that 'they' are doing such a great job that we have these animals in our 'green' city but it is the work of others helping keep these animals safe and monitoring them -Bristol City council has wanted nothing to do with any of this work (dare I mention the use of rodenticides on certain council allotments that some tenants became concerned with and were given the Council runaround and then ignored?).

A lot of us have put a great deal into trying to attract wildlife -mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects- into our gardens and area.  "A Tree Per Child" sounds great -but not when other trees and green spaces are being eroded.  A City Council with Councillors who are serious about the environment and will actually do something about preserving it is what we need.

Sitting back and letting others do all the work when they really need YOUR support leads to more lost battles. Think of your children and grandchildren.

Soap Box being put away.