Our life is shaded grey

Phewww! It's rather blowy out there.  Most birds are keeping their heads down.

I am looking forward to the rugby this afternoon where Italy must be in with half a chance at home to Ireland.  But the racing looks a little straight forward.  I can't see past Binocular (Sandown, 155) and feel people will be raising their glasses to Oscar Whisky at new Welsh racecourse, Ffos Las (240) - but neither horse, even if winning, will pay off much of the mortgage so my money stays in my pocket.

And I see, after reading the racing pages, that today's Telegraph has an article criticising all environmental NGOs by senior environment correspondent Geoffrey Lean.  The article picks up a blog by Jonathon Porrit which gives us all a good tongue-lashing - or at least it is supposed to but I can't find it online at the moment so I am relying on Lean's article.

At least Lean spoke to us about his article - which Porritt didn't as far as I know (and I think I would know).  Maybe we are all getting soft and we ought to be fighting the government's forestry plans more actively.  Except, hang on a moment!  The plans were only published last week and we have hardly been silent on the subject.  And the plans that emerged were not as originally predicted by others anyway - it's sometimes sensible when responding to something to know what it is.  This blog, occasionally distracted by the SS, has talked of little other than forestry for the last 10 days - and that is likely to continue. 

Lean writes 'The green groups almost all respond that they have been "working behind the scenes". This is "not true", responds Porritt.'.  How Jonathon Porritt can know that we are not working behind the scenes I cannot imagine.  Is he lurking in every corridor of every government department? - not these days.  And he would have had to be tapping our phones to know of our discussions with Defra Ministers, so we can discount the possibility that Jonathon knows everything that is happening - so he must be just making that bit up mustn't he?

In fact, the RSPB has been sought out by Ministers and civil servants for discussions and we believe that our views will be taken into account not because we shout the loudest but because we know what we are talking about.  It is the RSPB that points out that the FC is doing a reasonable job for wildlife but is hardly blameless with a perfect track-record.  It is the RSPB that talks about the land managed by FC, and not just the forests, because we know that FC land management covers much more than wooded areas - and that some of the greatest wildlife gains would come from removing trees in selected places.  And it is the RSPB that points out that similar issues will arise with NNRs in the very near future when Defra consults on their fate. 

Wait for Monday for a published RSPB opinion piece on the subject - see this blog for the link then; and if the national newspaper to whom we wrote on this subject just the other day does not publish our letter then you'll find it here next week too.

Lean also writes 'As Porritt, for 12 years the government's official green adviser as chairman of the Sustainable Development Commission, adds: "The inside track only works if you can show you have public support and are ready to mobilise it.'.  Please notice that our web page says that we will make our views on the consultation known in two weeks time and encourage our members to respond then.  So thanks for the advice Jonathon, but we are already doing this - and if you had spoken to us then we could have put you straight on this subject.  But I look forward to reading your blog unless you've had second thoughts on the subject? (I assume it will appear here).

The RSPB rarely sees the world in black or white - because it rarely is.  Truth lies in the grey areas.  Just as the world is not full of odds-on favourites winning by 20 lengths, the natural environment does not consist of simple issues where the details are irrelevant.