Bisterne Estate: a shoot, a farm and a wetland recovery
How a decade of targeted predator control and carefully timed grazing brought breeding lapwing and redshank back to Bisterne Estate’s wet meadows.
True cost of Wild Justice’s judicial review against NRW revealed
Shooting Times this week has revealed the significant costs that Natural Resources Wales (NRW) had to pay to defend Wild Justice’s failed judicial review on the legality of the general licences.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by the magazine shows the public body spending £145,000 on external legal advice. This does not include internal costs and staff hours spent on defending the judicial review.
On seeing the FOI response Steve Griffiths, BASC Wales director, said: “BASC stated from the start that this judicial review was an unnecessary diversion for NRW in a time of a national pandemic. Those funds could have gone towards tangible conservation efforts, improving Welsh biodiversity. Instead resources have been wasted with nothing to show.”
The FOI follows the news that the costs order, that Wild Justice were forced to pay, was capped at just £10,000 – the maximum allowed under the Aarhus Convention.
Share
From gravel pit to wildlife haven: Will Garfit’s small shoot story
Artist and author Will Garfit tells how his small shoot turned 69 acres of gravel workings into a haven for 148 bird species and over 460 plants.
The most important thing you can do this month
The government’s review of game shooting closes on 1 November. One email is all it takes. If you haven’t sent yours yet, today is the day to act, says Conor O’Gorman.