Rewilding

deere66 said:
www.bbc.co.uk

Chris Packham: Fire attack on New Forest home will not sway me

The broadcaster vows to continue campaigning after a suspected arson attack outside his home.
www.bbc.co.uk

Oh dear
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"Perhaps the cost is having my gate burned down, causing thousands of pounds' worth of damage," he added.

(Sounds like he was ripped off)

However, he said he would not bow to the pressure to support activities he did not agree with, such as "illegal shooting" and trail hunting.

(No one is asking him to support activities that he doesn't agree with, just to leave alone those who do support them and to stop using the airtime of the national broadcaster for free to push his own agenda and to demonise other people)
 
Alicecow said:
"Perhaps the cost is having my gate burned down, causing thousands of pounds' worth of damage," he added.

(Sounds like he was ripped off)

However, he said he would not bow to the pressure to support activities he did not agree with, such as "illegal shooting" and trail hunting.

(No one is asking him to support activities that he doesn't agree with, just to leave alone those who do support them and to stop using the airtime of the national broadcaster for free to push his own agenda and to demonise other people)
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Funny how he didn't mention hare coursing which doesn't need inverted commas around its illegality.
 
Alicecow said:
Funny how he didn't mention hare coursing which doesn't need inverted commas around its illegality.
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Hare coursing is an interesting one. I remember watching a bbc prog repeat on hares two or three decades ago ( I would hazard a guess that it was voiced by DA, if not then by Julian Pettifer). Later in the programme they covered hare coursing, which would have been legal when the programme was filmed. It said something along the lines of, although hare coursing is devicive, it’s proponents were the most active in protecting the species as a whole.
I can’t see anything like that making it’s way onto the bbc airwaves again!
 
Slackjawedyokel said:
Hare coursing is an interesting one. I remember watching a bbc prog repeat on hares two or three decades ago ( I would hazard a guess that it was voiced by DA, if not then by Julian Pettifer). Later in the programme they covered hare coursing, which would have been legal when the programme was filmed. It said something along the lines of, although hare coursing is devicive, it’s proponents were the most active in protecting the species as a whole.
I can’t see anything like that making it’s way onto the bbc airwaves again!
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That may well have been the case when it was practised (spelling?) locally, but in these times when a car full of people with no regard for property or the law will travel many miles - hundreds even - to do it then I don't think they have much interest or input in ensuring that the hare population is protected at all.
 
Alicecow said:
That may well have been the case when it was practised (spelling?) locally, but in these times when a car full of people with no regard for property or the law will travel many miles - hundreds even - to do it then I don't think they have much interest or input in ensuring that the hare population is protected at all.
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Yep- maybe in the past the legit folks discouraged that type.
 
www.rte.ie

Rewilded Dublin garden streets ahead in climate fight

While lawnmowers were tucked away in sheds and garages during the winter months, many people will have dug them out again over the past few weeks to begin cutting the grass again.
www.rte.ie www.rte.ie



Rewilded Dublin garden is streets ahead in the fight against climate change
Updated / Saturday, 2 Apr 2022 07:00


By Eleanor Mannion

While lawnmowers were tucked away in sheds and garages during the winter months, many people will have dug them out again over the past few weeks to begin cutting the grass again.
Aaron Foley isn't one of them.
Aaron, who is a herbalist and forager, has spent several years rewilding his back garden in Beaumont in Dublin, encouraging wildlife and nature to flourish.
And he started with his lawn.
"It began with a battle against grass because there was nothing there but grass. So I had to disrupt the grass," he explained. "A lot of the time when you are making a lawn, you spend your time digging out daisies and dandelions. For me, it was more about digging in daisies and dandelions."
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Aaron Foley has spent years filling his back garden with native Irish plants
Aaron's garden today is certainly different to those you might typically find in the capital's suburbs.
It is layered from the ground up to provide a variety of habitats.
"It is much more than a jumble of plants. You have low lying plants at the bottom, like dandelions and buttercups. And then other plants like thistles and valerians burst through that. They can have these beautiful pendulous flowers that the bees just love. There are just so many great plants in there and they're all changing the environment. The birds respond to the greater number of insects. The insects respond to the number of flowers and food. It's just a magical thing."
According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the world needs to rewild and restore an area the size of China to meet commitments on nature and the climate. Conservation efforts must be met with all the ambition of the space race, it has warned, if we are to prevent widespread biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse.
In Ireland, according to a 2019 report on protected habitats and species from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, 54 of 59 habitats and species assessed were in an unfavourable state.

Aaron, who also works with Dublin City Council and community groups to rewild sections of parks in Donnycarney, believes everyone can play their part.

"We are at a dire point. We have temperatures in the Antarctic at 40C warmer than usual. It's 30C warmer than normal at the Arctic. Everybody knows we have got a problem. Everybody thinks somebody else is going to do something about it. But the truth is we have to do something about it.

"Urban dwellers can fix this. Urban settings - all these beautiful gardens - can transform that battle. As urban dwellers, we have a much better chance of altering the climate crisis than farmers do. For farmers, it's a business and they are trying to make a living.

"But by returning our urban gardens to nature, we can lock up billions of tonnes of carbon. We can create biodiversity corridors for insects, birds and animals. We can bring back nature into our gardens and into our lives.

"Yes, it's going to be a challenge for people who like their gardens to be like a golf course. But those people shouldn't stress about it. Nothing bad is going to come of this. It's all positive. You will get more butterflies. More flowers. More happiness than you can ever imagine. And definitely more than you can get from a lawn."
 
Double posted

Alicecow said:
www.rte.ie

Call for wolves to be reintroduced in Donegal

Founder of the Wild Ireland animal sanctuary in Donegal Killian McLaughlin has said wolves should be reintroduced into the wild in Donegal.
www.rte.ie www.rte.ie

Founder of the Wild Ireland animal sanctuary in Donegal Killian McLaughlin has said wolves should be reintroduced into the wild in Donegal.

Mr McLaughlin said there has been an increase in road traffic collisions as a result of deer, and that this move could help control the deer population in the area.

Speaking to RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, he said: "I'm talking about an ecosystem restoration where deer numbers are controlled naturally."

He said that to date there has been a "knee-jerk" response to the deer problem.

"Our politicians, our typical knee-jerk political response; kill, kill, kill, cull, cull, cull. I've looked at the science behind this and the science says that culls don't work."

Mr McLaughlin said some research actually suggests that a cull can lead to an increase in the number of deer in an area because it is "knocking out the dominant animals that are holding territory and keeping the subordinate animals at bay".

He added that the public has been "indoctrinated by the fairy tales to fear the big bad wolf".

"These animals are not out there to kill humans," he said.

"I guarantee that if we put wolves back into the Irish countryside, we would hardly ever see them. They avoid man at all costs."

Independent councillor for Donegal Michael McLafferty said he is against the reintroduction.

"I don't agree with this idea of wolves being introduced into the wild again and it's going to keep down the deer population," he told the programme.

"I don't believe it's going to work for a number of reasons."

He said that a wolf is going to "go for the easy pecking" and the sheep, cattle and horses that populate the hills of Donegal would be attacked.



"If you've a wolf running rampant through Donegal, they're going to go for the sheep, they're going to go for the goat," he said.

"They're going to go for the young calves, the lambs, the cows. They're not going to go for the deer because they're harder to catch."

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan had called for the reintroduction of wolves to help rewild parts of the countryside a few years ago.

Mr Ryan had said their reintroduction would create a real sense of wilderness and help develop more resilient woodlands.

However, the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht at the time, Jospeha Madigan, said her department had no plans to reintroduce the species.
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