BY BERT BURNETT The Moral High Ground Is Easy When Your Hare Count Is Zero There is one certainty that will emerge from the new falconry licensing regime for mountain hares in Scotland, and it has nothing to do with principle. No licence will be granted to fly a hawk at a hare on land owned by a conservation NGO or a rewilding estate. Not … Continue reading No Hares, No Licence
BY BERT BURNETT The Conservatives’ vow to scrap Natural England and the Environment Agency and bring their powers back under direct ministerial control has set the cat among the pigeons at Defra. Victoria Atkins, the shadow Defra secretary, announced at the NFU breakfast briefing at the party conference that a Tory government would “restructure Defra completely” and abolish both quangos as the first stage of … Continue reading Quangos Out, Accountability In
BY BERT BURNETT RSPB, We Warned You As the smoke continues to drift across the A9 and the acrid smell of scorched Caledonian pinewood lingers in the glens, we must take stock of the reality that has unfolded in the Cairngorms over the past week. Over 10 square kilometres of one of our most fragile and treasured habitats has been reduced to ash. More than … Continue reading Burning Questions
BY BERT BURNETT Why Gamekeepers Are Refusing to Endorse the New Muirburn Code Scotland’s gamekeepers have issued a stark warning: they will not endorse the Scottish Government’s new Muirburn Code, a decision they claim is born not of defiance, but of a desperate need to prevent catastrophic wildfires. They argue that the new regulations, designed to protect peatlands, will ironically create a tinderbox, stripping them … Continue reading The Burning Question
BY BERT BURNETT Let’s face it: this was never about finding a lost habitat or restoring a balanced ecosystem. It was never about bringing back the wildcats or the sea eagles for their own sake. No – somewhere along the line, genuine conservation got hijacked. What we have now is a carefully manufactured machine designed to make the public feel guilty, pass the blame onto … Continue reading The Great Rewilding Swindle
BY BERT BURNETT A spectre is haunting the Highlands—and it is not the ghost of rebellions past. It is the sleek, corporate spectre of the ‘mega-laird’, armed not with claymores but with spreadsheets, investment portfolios, and a publicly-stated aim to “save the world”. As highlighted in a recent opinion piece by Dr. Josh Doble, these entities—billionaires, asset managers, and firms like Exeter-based Oxygen Conservation—are acquiring … Continue reading The Carbon Credit Con and Scotland’s New Mega-Lairds
BY BERT BURNETT The headlines are back, and so are the outstretched hands. Another rewilding charity, Trees for Life, has launched a campaign for £3.6 million of public and donor money to finance what can only be described as a series of vanity projects disguised as conservation. Their so-called ‘Missing Species Programme’ promises to restore lynx, beavers, red squirrels, and aurochs to the Scottish Highlands, … Continue reading The Great Rewilding Fraud – A Vanity Project Funded by You
BY BERT BURNETT Let’s cut through the polite CNPA press release below and get to the real agenda here. This so-called “investigation” into gamebird releases isn’t about balance; it’s the opening salvo in a campaign built on a foundation of sand, and the first clue is right there in their own words: ‘non-native’. This term is nothing but a political cudgel. When the establishment wants … Continue reading The ‘Non-Native’ Trojan Horse
BY BERT BURNETT A new report covered by the BBC projects Scotland’s wild boar population will rise by over 60% in fifty years, from a precise 1,472 to about 2,400. This startlingly specific number—1,472—raises an obvious question: how can anyone count these elusive, nocturnal animals so exactly? The answer is that it’s not a direct headcount. The figure is a scientific estimate derived from a population model. … Continue reading 1472 Wild Boar? How?
BY BERT BURNETT Rewilding or Revenue-Chasing? The rewilding lobby has done it again. In their latest bout of ecological romanticism, the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Wildlife Trusts have secured £15,000 to “study” the feasibility of reintroducing elk—or, more accurately, what Europeans insist on calling elk but which the rest of the world knows as moose (Alces alces). This is not conservation; it is a circus act, … Continue reading The Great ‘Elk’ Swindle
BY BERT BURNETT Once again, we’re being fed the tired old narrative that climate change is solely to blame for the recent wildfires tearing through Scotland’s countryside. Lorna Slater and her ilk would have us believe that until recently, Scotland was a perpetually soggy paradise where the sun never shone and wildfires were unheard of. The reality, of course, is very different. Scotland has always … Continue reading Wildfires in Scotland: The Real Culprit Isn’t Climate Change
BY BERT BURNETT How Mismanagement and Predation Are Driving Scotland’s Iconic Bird to Extinction For decades, conservationists have peddled the same tired excuse for the capercaillie’s catastrophic decline: lack of habitat. But the numbers tell a very different story—one of wasted millions, misguided priorities, and a refusal to confront the real threat: predation. The Habitat Myth In the 1960s, Scotland’s capercaillie population thrived at around 20,000 birds. … Continue reading The Great Capercaillie Lie
BY BERT BURNETT Peatlands have become a hot topic in recent years, hailed as vital carbon sinks and biodiversity hotspots. Yet, behind the well-meaning rhetoric of conservation and rewilding lies a more complex story—one of financial incentives, natural processes, fire risk, and the often-overlooked role of traditional land management. While the protection of peatlands is undeniably important, it is equally crucial to question whether the … Continue reading The Great Peatland Con
BY BERT BURNETT While the UK boasts pockets of natural beauty, much of its terrain has been shaped by centuries of human activity. From the stone-clad mountains to the managed grouse moors, the idea of a ‘natural’ habitat is often elusive. The Illusion of Natural Habitats in the UK In the UK, truly natural habitats are rare. Even the most remote areas, such as the … Continue reading The Complexities of Habitat Management and Rewilding
BY BERT BURNETT I am reminded of a project to help one of the country’s most threatened breeding bird species, the curlew, which was awarded more than £156,000 from the Scottish Government’s Biodiversity Challenge Fund. This initiative, titled Curlews in Crisis Scotland, aimed to increase breeding areas and reduce predation for Europe’s largest wader and one of its most iconic birds. Scotland is home to … Continue reading Crisis-hit Curlews, Cash & The RSPB
BY BERT BURNETT Rewilding, a concept that promotes restoring ecosystems to their natural state, has gained popularity in the UK as a solution to environmental degradation. The current government is apparently fond of it. Advocates herald it as a means to combat climate change, enhance biodiversity, and reconnect people with nature. However, the reality of rewilding is often far more complex and fraught with challenges. … Continue reading Another Rewilding Failure
BY BERT BURNETT The Impact of New Bird Flu Regulations on Rural Practices In a move that has sparked considerable debate among farmers and wildlife enthusiasts alike, the government has announced a directive requiring the registration of live decoy crows in crow-catching cages. These crows, held captive and never to be released, stand as the focal point of a controversial strategy aimed at combating bird … Continue reading A Government Out of Touch with Rural Realities
BY BERT BURNETT The Rathlin Island rat eradication project is a large-scale conservation initiative intended to protect the island’s vulnerable seabird populations by removing invasive rat species. Despite the promising goals, the project has stirred significant environmental concerns. While much of the debate has focused on the issue of cattle potentially accessing poison-laden bait stations, a growing worry surrounds the possible unintended consequences of secondary … Continue reading Rathlin Rats
BY BERT BURNETT In recent years, discussions about wildlife in Scotland have repeatedly centred on concerns regarding species decline and environmental degradation. However, one notable success story that challenges this often-cynical narrative is the remarkable recovery of the Golden Eagle population in Scotland. Contrary to the prevailing perception in the Guardian and across the BBC of a “nature-deprived” UK, data suggests that Scotland is home … Continue reading Golden Eagles Soaring
BY BERT BURNETT The recent final report on the Cairngorms Capercaillie Project, presented by Andy Ford, Director for Nature and Climate Change, reads like a self-serving obituary penned by a notorious highwayman. After a staggering £16 million public expenditure and a 75% decline in the capercaillie population over the last two decades, the report boldly claims the project’s success. This audacious declaration feels like Dick … Continue reading The Cairngorms Capercaillie Project’s Dubious Success
