Chairmans Blog

May 2nd

The joys of modern communications.

I ordered some memory cards for my camera on- line which came by parcel force. No one was here to sign for the small package so they were handed into our local post office.

March 16th

Yesterday I attended the Scottish Police Wildlife Liaison Conference at the Police College at Tulliallan.

February 20th

Many gamekeepers and stalkers will be having a well deserved rest after spending some very long days and nights working throughout the season and there is only a small window before it starts all over again.

26th July

 

For the first time in months I've got a whole week at home without having to attend any meetings. So I'm catching up on estate work and continuing with the never ending job of feeding pheasant poults. They're quite big now and not too intimidated by this year's new crop of buzzards which have fledged and on the hunt. But not everyone is past the worst with the buzzards and I'm hearing horror stories from keepers all over the country. But while I'm interested, of course,  in hearing about individual problems, I keep on telling everyone that it's their MSP they need to be writing to. It may not be in our nature to sit down and write emails at the end of a long physical day but it is absolutely essential if we are going to convince Government that buzzard numbers have ballooned and are now completely out of balance with other wildlife.

So please, if your poults are being hammered by buzzards, write to your MSP so that they know what is going on in their own constituencies, and it's not just me repeating the same stories over and over again at Holyrood.  You'll find your MSP's contact details if you click on the following link http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/apps2/msp/msphome/default.aspx

I had an interesting trip down to the English CLA Game Fair at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire last Friday. There was business to be done with the GWCT and the National Gamekeepers Organisation and it was useful to catch up with the editors of some of the shooting press. It's an impressive event with a strong Scottish presence so important to be there and fly the flag.

And finally a massive thank you to the Aberdeenshire lads who worked hard to raise £3700 for SGA funds at their clay pigeon shoot earlier this month. What a fantastic effort! And good luck to Bruce Cooper and his helpers at this weekend's SGA rifle shoot at Glen Tilt, Blair Atholl. We've had some great fundraising efforts all across the country this year so far, and if anyone wants help with organising their own regional event call the office. They're always keen to help.

 

 

 

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