In The Garden……Artists Bear Witness….From ‘Wild Justice’…….
by Bernie Bell - 08:31 on 18 June 2025
In The Garden…
In the meadow…..last year this plant appeared – we think it’s a hybrid of a pink hardy Geranium and a blue hardy Geranium, as we have both in the flower beds. I hoped it would come through the winter and come up again – it has - and it’s flowering!
I’m pleased.
Other pleasing flowers….Hot eyed Mafia Queen Big Poppy…
‘Big Poppy’
Hot-eyed Mafia Queen!
At the trim garden’s edge
She sways towards August.
A Bumble Bee
Clambers into her drunken, fractured goblet –
Up the royal carpet of down-hung,
Shrivel-edged, unhinged petal, her first-about-to-fall.
He’s in there as she sways. He utters thin
Sizzling bleats of difficult enjoyment.
Her carnival paper skirts, luminous near-orange,
Embrace him helplessly.
Already her dark pod is cooking its drug.
Every breath imperils her. Her crucible
Is falling apart with its own fierceness.
A fly, cool, rests on the flame-fringe.
Soon she’ll throw off her skirts
Withering into vestal afterlife,
Bleeding inwardly
Her maternal nectars into her own
Coffin – (cradle of her offspring).
Then we shall say:
She wore herself in her hair, in her day,
And we could see nothing but her huge flop of petal,
Her big, lewd, bold eye, in its sooty lashes,
And that stripped, athletic leg, hairy
In a fling of abandon – ‘
by Ted Hughes
Giant cultivated Thistle thing….
A humungous Clover head….Bee’s Delight…..
***************************************************************************
Artists Bear Witness….
The clue is in the title…..
https://bartbarkerpoet.com/2025/06/16/record-of-dissent-published/
***************************************************************************
From ‘Wild Justice’…….
“In this newsletter; please ask your MP to attend the debate at Westminster Hall on 30 June 2025 at 4.30pm.
You will remember that we asked you to sign our most recent petition to ban driven grouse shooting and over 100,000 of you did so – thank you!
Thanks to your tremendous response, this issue is once again the subject of a parliamentary debate at Westminster Hall on Monday 30 June 2025, starting at 4.30pm. This will be the third time a petition calling for a ban has passed 100,000 signatures (we’re a tenacious bunch!) but it’ll be the first debate under a Labour government and is therefore an opportunity for Labour to show its environmental credentials at a time when public interest and environmental concern is high.
When Labour was in opposition, it indicated that it would consider licensing grouse shooting because it agreed that the continuation of widespread wildlife crime and environmental destruction (such as burning heather in areas of deep peat) associated with driven grouse moor management was unacceptable. However, in its woeful responseto our petition at 10,000 signatures, Labour pretended that these issues are under control instead of acknowledging that current regulation is barely monitored and often weakly enforced. Labour concluded that it had no plans to change anything, either through licensing or a ban.
If this is genuinely Labour’s current stance and it believes that driven grouse shooting is good for wildlife, the environment and people, then it needs to explain to voters:
- Why the illegal shooting, trapping and poisoning of birds of prey such as Hen Harriers, Red Kites, Buzzards, Peregrines etc continues on grouse moors even though it’s been illegal for 71 years;
- Why it thinks the continued burning of heather moorland, particularly in protected areas like blanket bogs, is acceptable in a climate emergency;
- Why it thinks the mass medication of a supposedly ‘wild’ bird (Red Grouse) with a toxic chemical (Flubendazole) is acceptable when ecotoxicology studies have identified this as an emerging environmental contaminant of acute and chronic toxicity;
- Why it thinks that the continued use of grit trays (to distribute the drug Flubendazole) is acceptable when this is known to have contributed to the rapid spread of disease (respiratory cryptosporidiosis) on many grouse moors which not only poses welfare concerns but is also a significant threat to biodiversity, especially other avian species of high conservation concern;
- Why it thinks its acceptable to legally kill up to a quarter of a million animals each year in traps and snares, just to ensure that artificially-high numbers of Red Grouse are available for shooting;
- Why it thinks it’s morally acceptable or ethical to trap wild birds, particularly crows and other corvids, and subject them to sudden confinement, fear and possible aggression, along with the discomfort of exposure, before finally being ineptly beaten to death;
These are just a few examples of an increasingly large list of concerns about driven grouse shooting. In recent years a number of rural communities that live within areas intensively managed for driven grouse shooting (e.g. Yorkshire Dales National Park, Calderdale, North York Moors National Park, Peak District National Park) have been raising their objections to what is happening to their local environment, particularly the ongoing illegal persecution of birds of prey, the increased risk of flooding, the industrial-scale legal killing of native wildlife, and the effect on public health from harmful smoke and particles from the burning of the grouse moors.
Labour has so far dodged providing any justification for its support of this outdated Edwardian hangover other than saying that “well-managed shooting activities can bring benefits to the rural economy and can be beneficial for wildlife and habitat conservation”. The whole point is that driven grouse shooting isn’t “well managed” at all – it’s largely unregulated and out of control – and is known to have high animal welfare, environmental and social costs.
Invite your MP to attend the debate
The forthcoming Westminster debate provides the perfect opportunity for Labour to stand up, on record, and tell us why it supports the status quo. It also gives MPs who do want to see driven grouse shooting come to an end an opportunity to make their views heard.
Some of you have already been writing to your MPs ahead of the debate and have shared with us the responses you’ve received (thank you). But we’d like more of you to do this because (a) it’s important that your MP understands that this issue matters to constituents, and (b) MPs who are interested in environmental and animal welfare issues attend the debate and add to the conversation.
Please write to your MP, sharing your concerns about driven grouse shooting, and asking them to attend the debate on June 30th.
We won’t provide you with a template letter/email because we believe that many MPs simply ignore mass mail outs. Instead, we urge you to compose your own, using the six points above as a general outline and/or adding your own personal thoughts. It is worth emphasising to your MP that you are well informed about this issue and that you’ll be watching the debate with interest to see whether they attend, and if so, whether they provide a fair representation of your views.
If you’re not sure who your MP is, you can use this easy online toolto find their contact details.
We mentioned recently that our CEO, Bob Elliot, was interviewed recently by the League Against Cruel Sports talking about our ban driven grouse shooting campaign. It’s a useful reminder of the issues, have a listen here.
You will be able to watch the live debate online here: https://www.youtube.com/UKParliament
Thank you for helping us secure another Westminster debate on this issue and for helping to ensure that a large number of MPs understand its importance to constituency members. Together, we can stand up for wildlife and urge the restoration of our uplands for nature, climate and people.
Wild Justice (CEO: Bob Elliot. Directors: Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay)."
Add your comment
