5,000 signatures reached
To: Andy Beer, Director for the Midlands & Helen Ghosh, Director General of the National Trust
No moor management for grouse-shooting on two National Trust estates in Derbyshire
1) Accept congratulations for making the right decision to revoke the shooting licence of your tenant on the Hope Woodlands and Park Hall moorland estates in Derbyshire.
2) We now call upon the National Trust not to replace the soon-to-be-evicted grouse shooting tenant on these two estates around Kinder Scout and Bleaklow. Instead the Trust should work with conservation-minded partners to establish a wilder landscape, free of intensive grouse-management, where wildlife can recover and thrive and with less risk of illegal persecution.
2) We now call upon the National Trust not to replace the soon-to-be-evicted grouse shooting tenant on these two estates around Kinder Scout and Bleaklow. Instead the Trust should work with conservation-minded partners to establish a wilder landscape, free of intensive grouse-management, where wildlife can recover and thrive and with less risk of illegal persecution.
Why is this important?
The National Trust owns 8,000 hectares of moorland around Kinder Scout, Bleaklow and Ladybower Reservoir in the Derbyshire Peak District. It’s a honey pot for tourists, walkers and runners who love these open landscapes. You might think they are all wild, healthy habitats, rich in wildlife and untouched by human hand. The reality couldn’t be further from this (at least, not on those moors that are managed for grouse-shooting). There it can be more like a wildlife war-zone, where only the grouse are allowed to live in peace.
Despite being part of the Dark Peak ‘Site of Special Scientific Interest’, crimes against protected wildlife still occur on these remote uplands, but can rarely be proven. Nothing is allowed to exist on these moors if it conflicts with profitable grouse-shooting. This includes birds of prey like the Peregrine Falcon, Goshawk and Hen Harrier, as well as the Mountain Hare. All on National Trust land too!
Concern over the ways these moors are intensively managed by grouse-shooting tenants for profit has been growing for some time. The RSPB have twice produced publications entitled “Peak Malpractice” to highlight these illegal activities.
Early in 2016 a man was secretly filmed with a gun and a decoy Hen Harrier on these National Trust moors. Now, the Trust has had enough. In June it served notice on its shooting tenant to vacate the land. It said it no longer had confidence he was committed to the delivery of their vision for the land. We totally agree, and we fully support the National Trust's stance.
Shooting rights on these National Trust moorland estates were let out to a single, commercial tenant. Whilst this undoubtedly brings in extra income, it does nothing to enhance the Trust’s reputation, nor the richness of the landscapes around the Kinder Scout plateau, Bleaklow or the Upper Derwent above Ladybower. Management for grouse-shooting will always conflict with the Trust's own vision for restoring the High Peak, and will encourage crimes against wildlife to continue.
This petition is promoted by a coalition of over a dozen local outdoor and environmental groups who care about the moorlands in Derbyshire and the Peak District (e.g. Derbyshire Ornithological Society, Dark Peak Fell Runners, Derbyshire Mammal Group and Buxton Ramblers).
So we call on the National Trust to go further. . . we want it to seize this opportunity and make the moorland estates of Hope Woodlands and Park Hall completely shooting-free. Permanently.
We ask the National Trust not to appoint another shooting tenant here at all. Instead let wildlife and vegetation recover and thrive naturally.
More information and an up-to-date list of 'sponsors' of this petition can be found at www.nomoorshooting.blogspot.co.uk (Note: It has also been produced in a paper-format for local people in Derbyshire to sign directly. So, if you intend to sign the printed version, it wouldn't be fair to sign this online version as well.)
Despite being part of the Dark Peak ‘Site of Special Scientific Interest’, crimes against protected wildlife still occur on these remote uplands, but can rarely be proven. Nothing is allowed to exist on these moors if it conflicts with profitable grouse-shooting. This includes birds of prey like the Peregrine Falcon, Goshawk and Hen Harrier, as well as the Mountain Hare. All on National Trust land too!
Concern over the ways these moors are intensively managed by grouse-shooting tenants for profit has been growing for some time. The RSPB have twice produced publications entitled “Peak Malpractice” to highlight these illegal activities.
Early in 2016 a man was secretly filmed with a gun and a decoy Hen Harrier on these National Trust moors. Now, the Trust has had enough. In June it served notice on its shooting tenant to vacate the land. It said it no longer had confidence he was committed to the delivery of their vision for the land. We totally agree, and we fully support the National Trust's stance.
Shooting rights on these National Trust moorland estates were let out to a single, commercial tenant. Whilst this undoubtedly brings in extra income, it does nothing to enhance the Trust’s reputation, nor the richness of the landscapes around the Kinder Scout plateau, Bleaklow or the Upper Derwent above Ladybower. Management for grouse-shooting will always conflict with the Trust's own vision for restoring the High Peak, and will encourage crimes against wildlife to continue.
This petition is promoted by a coalition of over a dozen local outdoor and environmental groups who care about the moorlands in Derbyshire and the Peak District (e.g. Derbyshire Ornithological Society, Dark Peak Fell Runners, Derbyshire Mammal Group and Buxton Ramblers).
So we call on the National Trust to go further. . . we want it to seize this opportunity and make the moorland estates of Hope Woodlands and Park Hall completely shooting-free. Permanently.
We ask the National Trust not to appoint another shooting tenant here at all. Instead let wildlife and vegetation recover and thrive naturally.
More information and an up-to-date list of 'sponsors' of this petition can be found at www.nomoorshooting.blogspot.co.uk (Note: It has also been produced in a paper-format for local people in Derbyshire to sign directly. So, if you intend to sign the printed version, it wouldn't be fair to sign this online version as well.)
How it will be delivered
Updates on the number of signatures will be made at intervals via our website and by direct contact with National Trust officers. Signatures will be emailed to the National Trust in advance of their Annual General Meeting in 2017.
