RSPB: CAP proposals are bad news for wildlife and farmers in the West Country

Proposals for the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) unveiled today are a let down for wildlife friendly farmers in the West Country.

That’s the message from the RSPB and farmers who are doing their bit to create space for nature in our countryside.

The European Commission today released full details of its plans for a reformed CAP. The new policy would mean less support for targeted environmental measures on farms and is bad news for farmers working on the most wildlife-rich land in Europe.

The document unveiled today confirms fears of an overall cut in funding for agri environment schemes. On top of this European Member States could be free to re-allocate already overstretched rural development funding away from these schemes. There is also no targeted support proposed for High Nature Value (HNV) farmers and crofters in areas such as the Scottish Highlands and Islands which provide vital habitats for wildlife.

Gareth Morgan, RSPB head of countryside conservation, said: “This is very worrying news for anyone who cares about the wildlife in our countryside.

“Many farmers in the UK work hard to put in place measures on their land to help farmland birds and other wildlife. In the West Country a whole range of species such as cirl bunting, stone curlew and chough benefit from this work

But Brussels’ plans to cut cash for environmental farming schemes in the UK mean this is under threat – exactly at a time when we need to see this support grow.

“The Common Agricultural Policy is paid for by taxpayers and one of its main responsibilities is to protect and enhance nature – the very building blocks of food production. From what we have heard today, the new plans are built to fail.

“We welcome the addition of new rules, such as a basic requirement to put a proportion of farmland to be put into environmental management – but on its own this will not restore the wildlife in our farmed countryside.

“To achieve that aim we also need to make more money available for targeted, scientifically robust schemes that benefit threatened species as well as diverting much needed resources to High Nature Value farms which are so rich in wildlife.

“But these are just proposals. Now is the moment for the UK Government to translate admirable rhetoric about reform of the CAP into clever footwork in Brussels that will turn these disappointing proposals around. They have until 2014 to make a difference.”

-Ends-

For further information please contact:

Tony Whitehead, RSPB SW Press Officer on 01392 453754 / 07872 414365

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, South West England Office, Keble House, Southernhay Gardens, Exeter, Devon, EX1 1NT

Tel: 01392 432691 Fax: 01392 453750 or UK Headquarters Tel: 01767 680551 www.rspb.org.uk

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: USEFUL RESEARCH SOURCES FOR FORTEANS

I belong to the Talking Folklore Yahoo Group and Stephen Miller posted the list of Notes and Queries publications below on September 27th 2011, which he has given me permission to reproduce here. I can testify that I have found useful stuff in them, eg the ancient Chinese submarine story I posted the other day. I also found some of the British Amphisbæna information in City Notes and Queries which covered the Manchester area.

Dear List,

As some of you may be aware, I am compiling an index to the folkloric material in N&Q, which is close to completion. I have become interested in the various country/regional versions of N&Q inspired by the periodical itself. At present, I am simply interested in knowing which English country/regional versions exist (with no promise about incorporation into a wider index, well, not at this stage). Using COPAC (www.copac.ac.uk) I have compiled the following list and I would be grateful for additions to the list:

Stephen

• Advertiser Notes and Queries



• Bedfordshire Notes and Queries



• Berkshire Notes and Queries



• Cheshire Notes and Queries



• Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries



• Devon Notes and Queries



• East Anglian Fenland Notes and Queries



• Gloucestershire Notes and Queries



• Hampshire Notes and Queries



• Leicestershire and Rutland Notes and Queries



• Lincolnshire Notes and Queries



• Middlesex and Hertfordshire Notes and Queries



• Norfolk and Norwich Notes and Queries



• Northamptonshire Notes and Queries



• Northern Notes and Queries: devoted to the antiquities of Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmorland, and Durham



• Notes and Queries appearing in the Somerset County Herald during 1898



• Notes and Queries for Bromsgrove and the district of central Worcestershire



• Notes and Queries for Somerset and Dorset



• Notes and Queries for Worcestershire



• Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Notes and Queries



• Science Gossip and Country Queries and Notes



• Somerset Notes and Queries



• Suffolk Notes and Queries



• Sussex Notes and Queries



• The Eastern Counties Collectanea: Notes and Queries on subjects relating to the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Cambridge



• The Kentish Note Book



• Wandsworth Notes and Queries



• Wirral Notes and Queries
  
  

On 6 October Stephen added Yorkshire Notes & Queries ed Charles Forshaw vols 1-5 1905-1909.

On October 11th he added:

• City News, Notes and Queries



• Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Notes



• Manchester Notes and Queries



• Notes & Queries concerning Evesham and the Four Shires

Frankly if you look through say a quarter of the above and find nothing I will eat my hat! Or collection of Fortean Times.

Rich

HAUNTED SKIES: Press Cuttings from January 1969

http://hauntedskies.blogspot.com/2011/10/press-cuttings-january-1969.html

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

Yesterday’s News Today
http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

On this day in 1947 American air force captain Chuck Yeager became the first pilot to travel faster than the speed of sound.
And now the news:

Meerkats recognise others' voices
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More on Yeager:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dke2i-xO1uo