Why fox hunting is more popular than ever

Warwickshire fox hunters say the law banning the sport is "a shambles" as they gather on the first day of the new season.

The riders breathed the aroma of hot wine, the hounds were hungry for a scent, but what you could really smell in the air at yesterday’s opening meeting of the Warwickshire Hunt was the exalted whiff of English contrariness.

By rights, this kind of scene should now be consigned to antique dinner plates and episodes of Downton Abbey. The nation’s huntsmen and women should have hung up their red jackets, retired their steeds and submitted meekly to the dictates of the urban tyranny. Strangely, it hasn’t happened like that. Seven years after the Labour government passed a contentious law intended to abolish hunting with hounds, the country’s hunts – which no longer chase a live animal, but merely a trail of artificial scent instead – are in the best shape anyone can remember.

Part of the reason is that the law has proved almost comically difficult to enforce. Beneath its stated object of outlawing the hunting of wild mammals with dogs, near-total confusion reigns. In theory, you can hunt mice, but not rats, rabbits but not hares, domestic cats but not wild ones. Birds of prey, but not foxhounds, can be set upon foxes. Yet a bigger factor appears to be that exquisitely delinquent streak in the British character that reacts against the hectoring and bossiness of officialdom. As a result, thousands of people who previously had little obvious interest in hunting have taken it up.

“Our membership has doubled to around 1,000 since the law was passed,” says Sam Butler, the Warwickshire’s ebullient Master. “The support we are getting from the communities is incredible. Our range of activities is expanding all the time. Even with the economy the way it is, when everyone’s watching where their money goes, we are hunting at least as much as ever.”

Certainly, yesterday’s season’s opener, at the hamlet of Oxhill, south of Stratford-upon-Avon, offered an image of reassuring well-being. On a damp, chilly morning, a hearty contingent of villagers turned out to cheer the hunt off. The local pub laid on breakfast and drinks. There were no protesters, no police, nothing that in any way detracted from a scene that has been a part of the English countryside for centuries.

Read on ...

HS2 plan 'will destroy Warwickshire wildlife'

THOUSANDS of nature lovers across Coventry and Warwickshire are being rallied to fight the latest plans for a high-speed rail line.

Warwickshire Wildlife Trust is calling on its 23,500 members to stand together in opposing plans for non-stop bullet trains that would cut the journey time from London to Birmingham to 49 minutes.

They say the proposed route for HS2 will create a “massive iron and concrete curtain” that will have a “devastating” impact on wild animals and plants.

Chief executive Steven Trotter, who this year took over the running of Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, based at Brandon Marsh Nature Reserve, has spoken out since the government announced their intended route.

He said: “The new route for HS2 will be devastating for Warwickshire’s wildlife – and especially protected species such as bats, nationally-rare butterflies, bluebells and otters in some of our most sensitive and beautiful habitats.

“We’re here to stand up for wildlife. I know that thousands of Wildlife Trust members and members of the public will be writing to their MPs, lobbying government, and collaborating with the many community Stop HS2 action groups.”

On Monday, transport secretary Philip Hammond announced the government’s “preferred route” for the £17 billion scheme, which would see 250mph trains run through local communities including Burton Green, Stoneleigh, Kenilworth, Southam and across the western edge of Coventry.

A six-month public consultation will now follow.

Warwickshire is one of seven Wildlife Trusts that will feel the impacts of the high- speed rail route and Mr Trotter’s fears have been echoed at a national level.

Stephanie Hilborne, chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts, said: “Whilst consideration may have been given to noise and visual impacts on those people who live along the proposed route, Philip Hammond made no reference at all to the impact on the natural environment.”

Analysis by the Wildlife Trusts finds the route will directly affect two of its nature reserves, four sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs), 10 ancient woodland sites and 53 local wildlife sites.

The Wildlife Trust is made up of 47 groups nationwide with more than 800,000 members.

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2010/12/24/hs2-plan-will-destroy-warwickshire-wildlife-92746-27881636/#ixzz19Pj3bOh5

HS2 plan 'will destroy Warwickshire wildlife'

THOUSANDS of nature lovers across Coventry and Warwickshire are being rallied to fight the latest plans for a high-speed rail line.

Warwickshire Wildlife Trust is calling on its 23,500 members to stand together in opposing plans for non-stop bullet trains that would cut the journey time from London to Birmingham to 49 minutes.

They say the proposed route for HS2 will create a “massive iron and concrete curtain” that will have a “devastating” impact on wild animals and plants.

Chief executive Steven Trotter, who this year took over the running of Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, based at Brandon Marsh Nature Reserve, has spoken out since the government announced their intended route.

He said: “The new route for HS2 will be devastating for Warwickshire’s wildlife – and especially protected species such as bats, nationally-rare butterflies, bluebells and otters in some of our most sensitive and beautiful habitats.

“We’re here to stand up for wildlife. I know that thousands of Wildlife Trust members and members of the public will be writing to their MPs, lobbying government, and collaborating with the many community Stop HS2 action groups.”

On Monday, transport secretary Philip Hammond announced the government’s “preferred route” for the £17 billion scheme, which would see 250mph trains run through local communities including Burton Green, Stoneleigh, Kenilworth, Southam and across the western edge of Coventry.

A six-month public consultation will now follow.

Warwickshire is one of seven Wildlife Trusts that will feel the impacts of the high- speed rail route and Mr Trotter’s fears have been echoed at a national level.

Stephanie Hilborne, chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts, said: “Whilst consideration may have been given to noise and visual impacts on those people who live along the proposed route, Philip Hammond made no reference at all to the impact on the natural environment.”

Analysis by the Wildlife Trusts finds the route will directly affect two of its nature reserves, four sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs), 10 ancient woodland sites and 53 local wildlife sites.

The Wildlife Trust is made up of 47 groups nationwide with more than 800,000 members.

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2010/12/24/hs2-plan-will-destroy-warwickshire-wildlife-92746-27881636/#ixzz19Pj3bOh5

Race to save rare butterfly

CONSERVATIONISTS say a small Warwickshire nature project could have a huge impact on some of Britain’s most threatened wildlife.


Teams have created new habitats for an endangered species of butterfly in south Warwickshire, as reported in yesterday’s Telegraph.

But they say the work for the Grizzled Skipper could have a knock-on effect on a series of species that have been gradually disappearing across the UK.

CONSERVATIONISTS say a small Warwickshire nature project could have a huge impact on some of Britain’s most threatened wildlife.


Teams have created new habitats for an endangered species of butterfly in south Warwickshire, as reported in yesterday’s Telegraph.

But they say the work for the Grizzled Skipper could have a knock-on effect on a series of species that have been gradually disappearing across the UK.


http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2010/04/15/race-on-to-save-rare-butterfly-92746-26249592/