12th August. Inglorious Bastards

Why the world awaits confirmation that an endangered species, held in a British zoo, might have been successfully artificially impregnated by the hands of man another story at the opposite end of the spectrum slipped by almost unnoticed and certainly without any amount of cooing and awes.

At the hands of a small number of individuals, supported by greedy unscrupulous Grouse Moor managers and owners and helped by short-sighted ignorant politicians the Hen Harrier is now extinct as a breeding English bird. This post from Raptor Persecution Scotland sums up the situation in its succinct title.

There's nothing glorious about the 12th August when the true cost of these 'managed' moors is revealed. The 12th should from now on be a date to celebrate the magnificence of the Hen Harrier. Perhaps with enough pressure we may live to see them grace our moors again, though whilst the likes of senior royals get away with destroying them I won't hold my breath.