I have been a little distracted this week.
I blame the Chancellor.
But while Tuesday’s announcement created a lot of heat, two other notable things caught the eye.
First, it may have passed you by but the latest talks to secure a global agreement to prevent catastrophic climate change started in Durban this week. Our man, John Lanchbery, and our woman, Mel Coath, are playing their part trying to influence a deal for people and the planet. Read what they have to say here.
But the week also began with good news, yes GOOD news, for migratory species.
At another global meeting, this one of the parties to the Convention on Migratory Species in Bergen, Norway, governments agreed, thanks in part to RSPB and BirdLife lobbying, two resolutions to support conservation and prevent poisoning.
This will benefit familiar UK migrants such as swallow and turtle dove. The latter was this week named as the UK’s most threatened farmland bird as part of the UK and England Wild Bird Indicators Report. The population of turtle doves has fallen by 90 per cent since the 1970s while and the farmland bird index itself is at a record low.
The complexity of the challenge facing us in conserving species that spend a few short months in the UK each year before migrating to sub-Saharan Africa is a little daunting.
We need to understand the reasons for declines in once widespread species such as turtle dove and respond accordingly, be that in African countries or the UK, or both. One thing for sure – we cannot do this alone. We will look to strengthen our work with both the BTO and our BirdLife partners on this issue.
Tackling poisoning brings us other challenges. Poisoning can have an impact on birds of prey through deliberate use of poison baits, wetland birds through aquatic poisons and use of lead ammunition, farmland birds through use of agrochemicals and many other species across the globe, including almost all of those considered highest priority under CMS.
The global scale of both problems require a truly global response - the CMS resolutions are the first step in providing these.
To take a UK poisoning example of how serious the problem can be, a recent award-winning RSPB study into red kites in Scotland showed that illegal poisoning on land managed for driven grouse shooting was preventing a kite population from increasing. In the absence of illegal poisoning, numbers of kites in the Black Isle would be into the hundreds of pairs, similar to numbers in the Chilterns today.
Tackling persecution of birds of prey is a long-held priority for the RSPB, and we continue to do whatever it takes, for example, to prevent hen harriers from disappearing from England. In the meantime, readers of this blog may like to add their voice to a petition to persuade Government to strengthen protection afforded birds of prey by making landowners responsible for the actions of their employees in England. So-called 'vicarious liability' was introduced in Scotland by the Wildlife & Natural Environment Act 2011 following RSPB lobbying.
This week’s decision by the Government to review the Habitats Regulations suggests that it might be a while before we can strengthen wildlife laws.
Yet this Government is, through its Coalition Agreement, committed to ‘protect wildlife and... restore biodiversity’. Smart regulation has a role to play to achieve this aim.
Why not make this case to your MP?