"Peatlands put in peril as demand for grouse shooting takes off"

Photo: Getty Images

The title is taken straight from the article in The Independent today.  It is an example of the sort of rhetoric that fills column inches and achieves nothing positive for our uplands.  'Debate by press release' is never going to get us very far and is a sad indication of the state of the relations between the RSPB and Natural England.

Note that the quote from the Moorland Association should read 'wildfire' not 'wildlife', which makes a bit more sense.

From my perspective, the best thing we can do is to ignore this type of exchange and get back to the job in hand of building dialogue and consensus wherever we can find it.

As an aside, it is good to see the Director Scotland for the GWCT, and Heather Trust Board member, getting his photo in The Independent.  Nice dogs!