It’s a load of rubbish
WHO really cares and understands about Nature and who is going to make the green recovery happen? Is it the uninformed masses, a radical minority of campaigners or those who already understand and do their best to care for the countryside?
Since Covid-19 raised its ugly head, we’ve heard how wildlife has returned—emboldened by less human activity—and how we’ve become more at one with Nature, as life has slowed down. Unfortunately, some of these caring folk have been torching moorland, trashing national parks, polluting beaches and being rude to volunteers and wardens.
There are so many contradictions flying about that it’s difficult to see who or what is going to bring any sense to the discussion about how the countryside—and its economy —should be restored. Our statutory bodies say they want to recover wildlife and, at the same time, encourage more people out into the countryside, but is that realistic when some clearly cannot behave?
How can wildlife be managed when social media divides the population into killers or cuddlers with no halfway compromise? As arguments rage about poisoning the super mice chomping their way through the rarest of seabirds, should one species be culled to save another? Surely, the answer is yes, as long as it’s done efficiently and humanely to a level that delivers the desired result. The RSPB is absolutely right to go ahead with this project, as it is to control stoats on Scottish islands. Consequently, the charity should be far less apologetic and more open about the predator control it carries out on its reserves.
With the fate of the general licences still up in the air—they’re being reviewed to see whether rooks, jays, magpies and jackdaws can be controlled (it’s difficult to prove these birds inflict enough damage to be culled)— science seems to swing with interpretation or is so inconclusive it creates a sort of conservation ping-pong that achieves nothing.
Recently, pine martens were going to wipe out grey squirrels, but now they’re not, because urban squirrels will fill in the gaps. More worrying are opposing studies by the British Trust for Ornithology: one, its Breeding Bird Survey, states that fox numbers are declining; another, which looks at game-bird releases, says foxes and other predators are at an all-time high. What to believe?
While this uncertainty persists, it’s so easy for those who have trashed the beauty spots to see a tweet from a keyboard conservationist and press a button. Hey presto, another misguided theory starts to influence the powers that be, with potentially dire consequences for the countryside.