Hi folks,
I received an email from Natural England this evening following my piece about the lethal control licences they have been issuing to kill Brent Geese. They tell me that they don't recognise the figures in my article, explaining that specific interpretation of the data reveals a different total. They have provided me with confirmed figures for the number of Brent Geese permitted to be killed under lethal control licences and I am reproducing this information here in the interests of clarity and accuracy. As you will know, our interpretation of their data led us to believe that they had, from 2014 to 2019, issued licences to kill around 6000 Brent Geese. They tell me that between 2015 and 2018 they issued lethal control licences to kill 3222 Brent Geese. Even so, using their guidelines for interpreting the data, we still come up with a figure of just under 4000 (2014/19), (granted, that's less than the 6000 we originally suggested). The figures Natural England have now provided for the number of Brent Geese licensed to be shot are as follows:- 2018: 748 2017: 740 2016: 809 2015: 925 Total: 3222 (They have not included the figures for 2014 and 2018, which I did.) They were also keen to point out that final reported figures for geese actually shot are considerably lower than the potential number permitted to be killed under licence. "In fact between 2015 and 2017 we licensed less than one thousand geese per year to be shot and just over one thousand were actually shot in total across the three years. Data for actual numbers shot for 2018 is still being collated." We will have to take their word for the final numbers actually shot, as we cannot access this information, presumably without submitting a FOI request to obtain further data. Indeed, one of the main aims of the petition is to make such data freely available for public perusal. Then these questions might not have to be asked.... To quote from the communication I received from them this evening, Natural England tell me that "Licences to shoot Brent Geese are issued to aid scaring to protect agricultural crops which are vulnerable to grazing damage." They go on to say that "Natural England issue licences to control Brent Geese via lethal control to farmers who are able to provide evidence that the geese are causing serious damage to their crops, despite their undertaking non-lethal activities to scare them away." Natural England are also keen to point out "We do lots of other work for Brent Geese too….. We welcome spectacular flocks of wintering Brent Geese to our National Nature Reserves such as Holkham and Lindisfarne every year. We also advise the owners of special wildlife sites such as the Exe Estuary and Essex Coast on how to enhance their land and better meet the needs of Brent Geese. We help landowners access schemes such as Countryside Stewardship to help support their management for the geese and we work with developers and local authorities to ensure that the needs of wintering Brent Geese are properly accommodated alongside economic growth in places such as the Solent." There we are. I assured Natural England that I would reflect their response here on my blog and via Change.org. highlighting the information which they have now provided. Apologies for the discrepancy in numbers, I hope you will all forgive me! Meanwhile, I will continue to press for change, the current system with its confusing data (!) still needs to be overhauled. And I continue to call for more transparency and accountability within the licensing system - which will avoid any potential misunderstandings and anomalies in the future. Best, Jase
61 Comments
Roger Twelvetrees
15/7/2019 09:59:54 pm
Keep on keeping on!
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Jacqueline Faulkner
15/7/2019 10:09:30 pm
Well done Jason. Thank you
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Deborah Mitchell
15/7/2019 10:10:04 pm
Hey I am personally afraid of birds but I TOTALLY respect what you are doing ie exposing the shocking position of 'the system' (in this case 'Natural England').
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MG Keen
15/7/2019 10:21:44 pm
Firstly how and who is counting. secondly why are they shooting them. why are they wanting to kill wild life nature did a good job before we decided to interfere and upset the balance. Like the decision to allow fox hunting and the slaughter of badgers etc one way or another the Authorities are totally brain dead and controlled by the money grabbers in society. Every time they decide to cull a species it upsets natures balance, like when they introduced the slaughter of rabbits natures hunters had to look else where like farm bred chickens and foxes coming into town for food etc,
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Dr Renata Bartoli
15/7/2019 10:26:25 pm
Well said: I totally agree.
Ms S Bowman
15/7/2019 11:02:17 pm
Well said!
Barry Jones
16/7/2019 10:15:44 am
Nature may have done a good job, but that was before man came along. There has been very little natural balance in the British Isles in the past 2000 years! That leaves us with a great responsibility.
Marny
15/7/2019 10:23:38 pm
I agree ..
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Martin Watkins
15/7/2019 10:47:43 pm
Well done Jason. Thanks very much.
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Cornelia Hanning
16/7/2019 10:10:04 am
Thank you for all your efforts to clarify and improve things as they are. The very best, Cornelia
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Gary Cutting
16/7/2019 12:29:40 pm
Having lived and regularly walked my dog along the Essex cost where Brent geese are to be found, I have witnessed the shooting of these birds first hand. It is evident that so called "wildfowlers" pay for shooting rights on locations alongside the affected cost. Whilst these people will argue that they are helping to conserve the mudflats over which the Brent geese must fly to access grazing land, there sole objective is seeking enjoyment from shooting for sport. Certain farmers (not all of them) I believe are clearly complicit in firstly seeking the licences to kill these innocent birds, knowing they can financially benefit from the lucrative rights they then sell to these so called sporting "wildfowlers".
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Phyll Hardie
16/7/2019 12:38:48 pm
Just as I thought!
Rita Pirouet
16/7/2019 11:34:01 pm
Gary, thanks for that enlightening info. If these 'hunters' want the thrill of the kill, and want to prove their skill (I really missed my vocation as a poet), then why don't they just hunt and kill each other? Now that would be real sport for them.
Pamela Allen
17/7/2019 10:53:22 am
Gary this is just what I thought, certain farmers making profit from taking money from "sport hunters" who shoot to kill for enjoyment and social entertainment!
Jp
16/7/2019 07:29:54 pm
Well done you for taking the time to bring this information into the light.
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Sally Rich
16/7/2019 10:00:50 pm
Thanks for letting us know what's been going on ! ordering the slaughter of one goose is totally wrong who are they to dictate what creature lives or dies I'm totally appalled This must be stopped but How ?
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Chris Bustard
18/7/2019 11:08:37 am
As the gentleman said.... Keep on keeping on....!!!!
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Mark Bosanko
15/7/2019 10:03:20 pm
Well done Jason 👍
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trev
15/7/2019 10:03:41 pm
Semantics. In my view they shouldn't be killing ANY Brent Geese, or any other wild birds for that matter. "Thou shalt not kill" and Britain is supposed to be a Christian country (so David Cameron was quick to remind us). Total hypocrisy. When will people ever learn?
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Carole Sutton
15/7/2019 10:11:00 pm
I totally agree.
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sara grahamslaw
16/7/2019 10:37:24 am
I don't think we'll ever learn. We'll keep on killing, maiming, torturing, mistreating and exploiting animals in the name of sport or entertainment or for no valid reason as we do with badgers and now these beautiful geese. It's heartbreaking. We are a truly vile species.
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Miranda Ellis-Jacobs
15/7/2019 10:07:16 pm
Well done.
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Milja Spruit
15/7/2019 10:09:33 pm
In all these articles substitute 'humans' for 'brent geese' and you see how absurd it all is...if there is a surplus of food for geese, or gulls, or humans or any other animal, there will be more of them. For the brent geese it is (human!) agriculture, a clear lack of balance in the world, nothing more nothing less.
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Jesse Wemyss
15/7/2019 10:11:27 pm
It's alright if you're doing it to feed family, or even sport but there's no reason behind simple extermination by other forces...
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Dr Renata Bartoli
15/7/2019 10:23:39 pm
"To feed family"? With the cost of guns? If they can buy a gun and ammunition they can certainly buy food for their family. And "for sport"? Do you call "sport" murdering innocents who mind their own business? Only psychopaths can enjoy that. And in that case they should be locked up securely.
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trev
15/7/2019 10:50:24 pm
"Sport", Jesse? There is nothing remotely sporting about shooting innocent creatures for ones own sick gratification. People who indulge in such abhorrent activities are psychopaths.
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Bernard Burnett Elliott
15/7/2019 10:15:50 pm
Thank you for the work you do protecting animals to the best of your abilities.We all must play our part in protecting our wildlife.
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Dr Renata Bartoli
15/7/2019 10:19:56 pm
Nearly 4,000? It's appalling. Are they god? How can they decide who lives and who dies. Treating animals like objects, a collection in a museum. Thy will never have a penny from us for sure. What a disgrace.
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Linda
15/7/2019 10:21:28 pm
Thank you so much for your update, please keep going, these beautiful intelligent birds were here long before us, let’s work hard to make sure they are here long after us
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Marion Reeves
15/7/2019 10:22:47 pm
The geese can’t thank you -but we can. Thank you very much.
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John Dyda
15/7/2019 10:28:49 pm
Is Natural England doing anything to control human numbers? They are, after all, the root cause of all problems on Earth.
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Brian Hutchings
15/7/2019 10:55:32 pm
Well said John, I agree entirely with you. What is needed is a cull of Human numbers, they are the pests.
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Terry Platt
16/7/2019 02:28:37 am
Hmmm... I agree in principle with the sentiments that humans are the problem - yes, there are far too many of us gobbling up the planet's food and resources and land, and if we don't get a grip on that one damn soon, we're all going to hell in a handbasket, along with all the animals.
Krishna Sodha
15/7/2019 11:23:00 pm
John
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Ellen
15/7/2019 11:39:48 pm
Humans should have no jurisdiction on wildlife murders. Humans are in no way better than other fauna so should not act as if they are. Even were a god to exist, surely it would not encourage such unkindness. We are all heading for doom unless humans urgently stop killing and ruining everything in their way. Nature can heal itself but only if it is permitted to do so immediately. Thanks, Jason.
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15/7/2019 11:46:41 pm
Thank you so much for bringing all this to our attention, Jason. Natural England doesn't seem to reflect it's
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Debbie Kimble
15/7/2019 11:51:41 pm
At least it shows they're reading what is being written, hopefully they'll do more now to sort the mess out.......the more we kick off the more likely they are to change for the better????
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Henry Iles
16/7/2019 12:08:38 am
Great work! English Nature know you and your followers are watching...
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Matthew Williams
16/7/2019 12:47:58 am
Do you want to know why Natural Englasnd are a duplicitous and lying bunch of scum... because they are all about giving rights to toffs and special people but not to ordinary people.
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Susan
16/7/2019 01:35:26 am
This world is going down fast. We have NO right to kill off animals or vegetation as we are doing. Just because they do not make us MONEY (which is all important in our society now) everything has its place. WE are not better than anything else.
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16/7/2019 02:15:02 am
3222 is still a lot of geese to kill...3222 too many, in fact.
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Dilki
16/7/2019 05:12:14 am
This is just sick. The world is getting ruined more and more every single day by the second because of people like this. Animals are not ours they dont belong to us we have no right over them. We need more people like u though. Great work. Keep it up.
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Vincent
16/7/2019 05:53:16 am
Keep up the great work Jason, it seems to me that farmers and landowners are still living in the dark ages, thinking that they are the ones with the right to kill and control.
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Kerry Douce
16/7/2019 07:06:30 am
I live at Holkham and have just been standing at my back door at 6:15 this watching a flock of these geese noisely making their way to the lagoons.
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Dan McCaughern
16/7/2019 08:18:53 am
Great job mate. I think that Natural England’s comments about numbers are classic smoke and mirrors. “I didn’t order six million to be gassed, just three million in the first fiscal year of the Final Solution. Other figures could be a distortion taking into consideration other procedures of the Second Solution blah blah...
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Paul Fletcher
16/7/2019 08:58:17 am
The total should be NIL then there would be no reason for a count. I cannot comprehend why Brent Geese have to be culled at all they are such a lovely bird to see and I never tire of watching them on the Essex Estuaries.
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Peter Mason
16/7/2019 09:09:03 am
I don't agree with this. Future generations will look on us as a sick society, worrying about this when mass extinction is going on. All species need controls, what is wrong with some culling? What is the alternative in the wild to lingering slow death of elderly /sick animals ?Its not nice out there but nature had its dispatch systems, wild dog and wolf packs . Agreed culling needs to be properly managed though. Take elephants, surrounded by burgeoning human populations. There will be too many, maybe older ones as well so culling is essential or else there will be starvation, but at least African and Asian people kept their big animals - who are we to comment when we have wiped out our big animals- and UK farmers scream at you as if you are insane , you have deserted the cause and should be taken up against a wall and shot if you argue they should come back ( I do and I'm a farmer ! haha) . We are all too polarised in my view. I don't mind if hunters pay big money to come in and cull. I was involved in the fight to save the Iberian Lynx in Spain / Portugal which faced extinction in the 90's and the US big game hunters became our only allies at one point- they showed us how to make it economic to have big reserves where hunters could come and be part of the system dispatching older/sick animals- and the locals make far more money than farming. In my view we need to move to the reintroduction of the wolf, bear and lynx into the UK, or parts of it, coupled with planned management/ hunting, and remove absolute restrictions on . We also need to reintroduce responsible wild foraging and hunting , like Inuit people do, as an option in our national curriculum, and teach our children this, instead of eating food from plastic packaging and worry about one small elephant or one group of birds , and remain silent to the mass extinctions going on around us for example in the insect world, as I found with the Spanish lynx, facing extinction or being hunted, the former is the ultimate cruelty.
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Adrian Handley
16/7/2019 05:33:48 pm
Here here the comments on Brent geese and wildfowlers in previous letters have been made by the mother everything society who appear to be very short on fact . The Brent goose is not on the quarry list and would be shot under licence on agricultural land not the marsh. The gentleman observing a flock of Brent geese today must have exceptional eyesight as the birds are breeding north of the artic circle. What is wrong with taking a crop from a natural surplus although this is unlikely to happen with Brent geese as the life cycle is dependent on the abundance of lemmings. In the 70s farmers used to shoot Brent on the Hayling Selsey coastal plain but weren't allowed to pick them up in my view a wasted resource
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16/7/2019 09:48:55 am
STOP KILLING ALL BIRDS HUNTERS AND SHOOTERS SHOULD BE CHARGED FOR WILDLIFE MURDER.
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Anne
16/7/2019 10:58:23 am
Terry Plat - you are rather off subject. However the poor people in Africa and Asia cannot afford birth control. It is not cheap and is often not available in those countries. Continued purchase of condoms or the pill is not cheap and they don't have an NHS in those countries. I believe Pope John Paul was in favour of the pill as he was aware of children dying at an alarming rate but he only Pope for about 31 days. (Somebody put me right on the name and number of days, please.)
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robert whybrow
16/7/2019 11:46:56 am
i have seen comments about who and what are natural england , which i have put reply stating they are not a charity -are non-departmental , sponsored by DEFRA ( which in my language = Gov body or someone who does the dirty work for DEFRA. but something i found reading article by Mark Avery /wildjustice.org.uk/general/countryfile/ . with the section - By the way, the CEO of GWCT is Teresa Dent who is also a Board member of Natural England…( GWCT IS the GAME & WILDLIFE Conservation Trust - which in my mind is about shooting more than conservation - but my point is - natraul england should be open about the fact they have someone who represents the shooting industry.
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Steven Christopher Jeffreys
16/7/2019 11:50:43 am
I agree with a lot of the comments above. One of the problems is the catholic church are responsible for all wars down the years, starting with the crusades because people of Islamic faith were not interested in christianity. The crusades raped and pillaged and were ethnically cleansed, the inquisition is another case were innocent people were slaughtered in the name of god. During the last war they collaborated with the nazis and were used to store stolen goods. I would like to bet that most of the stolen pictures and loot is stored in their vast vaults. If they disclaim their involvement why wont they let the experts into the vaults to check out what they've got in them. It's the same with animals across the world, why o why are Japan allowed to decimate the whale populations we all love, the super fishing vessels that empty seas of our fish stocks.
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Rita Pirouet
17/7/2019 12:05:00 am
You know what Steven, I think you've hit the nail on the head there. We have been here one million years I think, probably a lot less. And what a bloody mess of things we've made of it.
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NIGEL GRAY
16/7/2019 12:52:54 pm
I would like to know what happens to the bodies of these geese once they are shot dead?
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Tim.H Walker
24/9/2019 12:10:15 am
There is also the fact that a percentage of Brent Geese are ringed on the breeding grounds in Siberia for migration and survival studies. Its a fair assumption that some of these marked birds will be shot. If so, are they reported and to whom? Its ironical that the RSPB are spending mega amounts on Turtle Dove conservation in the UK, and yet 1500 of this species can be slaughtered in a day in Morocco, as reported by Focusing on Wildlife this autumn. Wild creatures do not respect national boundaries!
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16/7/2019 07:34:23 pm
Hi.
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Lisa
17/7/2019 10:17:49 am
Thanks Jason for the dedication of saving these wonderful birds.
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Debbie Macmillam
17/7/2019 11:49:48 am
There are so many great replies above but all I want to say is please don't blame yourself for giving incorrect numbers as I don't believe anything the NE says at all. Thank you for taking time to flush out many of their inaccuracies. Best wishes!!
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Dave Anderson
6/8/2019 10:39:55 am
Good work Jason! But be warned ... if you carry on you will show that the whole political (control) system is corrupt, and this includes most charities and so-called non-profit organisations. They set themselves up in control of a "resource", and then sell the legal deaths etc. (licencing) of all earths creatures to fund themselves in the name of "conservation". It's exactly the same way the governments have carried on in Africa for years, while also accepting government and international grants (which we ALL pay for of course).
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gift henry pangala
9/8/2019 11:17:55 am
Good wok mr Jacson But would like to know more bout the challenges that you face when you are doing this my dear friend continue doing
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