If you've been down to see us at the Peregrine Watch at Ashway Gap or stopped off at our information point at the main Dove Stone car park then we might have asked you if you'd like to sign the RSPB's Letter to the Future campaign. A big thank you to everyone so far who has given their time to talk with us about the campaign and who have lent their support through signing the campaign letter. So far the RSPB has collected over 270562 signatures.
Come October there will be a government spending review. Expected cuts are between 25% and 40%. Defra's budget is proportionally a very small percentage of overall government spending; I think the figure is 0.5%. Budget cuts between 25% and 40% will have an impact on our countryside and wildlife. Will, for example, schemes that support landowners to manage land in a way that is sensitive to the environment and wildlife be protected ? Surely somethings are just too important to take a short-termist approach without recognition of the huge costs in the future.
If expected cuts to schemes such as the Higher Level agri-environment Scheme go ahead then it's likely that Bittern, Black grouse and Black-tailed godwit numbers will decline to dangerously low levels. For the Twite there is possible extinction within England within a decade. Ten years. And it's not just the Twite. Cirl bunting and Turtle dove could also be lost from our countryside this decade. The wildlife we see now really might not be here to be seen for future generations.
With recent news of proposals to potentially sell English National Nature Reserves ( of which there are 224 in England, two thirds of which are owned or managed by the government agency Natural England, which itself has put forward cuts of 400 staff next year and up to a potential 400 after that ) campaigns such as Letter to the Future need as many signatures as possible.
The RSPB will be stepping up the action through a campaign that targets the Prime Minister, MPs George Osborne, Caroline Spelman and Oliver Letwin as well as the Star Chamber ( including online action through which you can email the Star Chamber ) and the Treasury. If you're interested in finding out a bit more about these individual MPs then have a look at this really useful site http://www.theyworkforyou.com/.
For more information from the RSPB then have a look at www.rspb.org.uk/spendingcuts. Mark Avery's ( the Conservation Director of the RSPB ) blog can be found at http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/markavery/default.aspx.
Other useful links are to the Wildlife and Countryside Link http://www.wcl.org.uk/ which is a collective of environmental organisations, including the RSPB.
Finally the Guardian's environment pages are always informative: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment.
Let's see if this coalition government is, as they claim, '' the greenest ever '' . . .