On a slight digression from The Killing of Raptors (although very much tied in with that subject)…

Burning Issues

In a discussion about the perverseness of moorland burning adjacent to a wind farm, designed to reduce our carbon emissions, someone asked;

"Why do they burn in this way ? I thought that in England at least, burning [stubble anyway] is banned. How is this allowed?"

My answer to that question is thus;

"They burn in that way because they burn in that way.
Who is to stop them burning in any way?
Grouse shooting is exempt from rules and regulations; governments and royalty turn blind eyes.
Keepers can do what they pretty much like; they cause environmental damage, kill many species of animals and birds – some of which are protected by law – and all in the name of mainly rich men shooting their loads out of their butts, destroying the very thing that all the burning and killing is carried out for – the Red Grouse.
And often all of this being subsidised by public money.
In a grouse eggshell that’s about it really.
But, and it’s a big but, not a rich man’s big butt in a butt, the times they are a changin’ - as Bob said.
The grouse brigade has finally been outed, and in time, a not-too-far-off time, our natural heritage will be managed for the good of it, and not abused by those rich men who like to blast birds out of the air – for their pleasure and no one else’s."

Link to the article concerning the perverseness of moor burning; https://raptorpersecutionscotland.wo...mply-perverse/