Britain’s countryside is dominated by bullies – as Chris Packham has found | George Monbiot

[News]

People who challenge shooting, hunting and the destruction of wildlife are too often treated like vermin
I’ve often thought, watching the felling of ancient trees, the slaughter of wildlife and the stripping of topsoil: “I love this land more than the owner does.” While there are plenty of careful landowners, there are others who seem to despise their own property. Those of us who love the land struggle against its owners to protect it from ruin.

For centuries, challenging the way the land is used has been treated as a trespass: we are told that it is none of our business. Yet this is the very fabric of our nation. Conflicts over its treatment are portrayed in the billionaire press as a war between town and country. But his isn’t about rural versus urban – it’s about power. As Guy Shrubsole’s crucial book Who Owns England? shows, major rural and urban landowners are often the same people.

There is one real difference between town and country. In the countryside, people are often afraid to speak out.

Related: Chris Packham reveals death threats made in bird-shooting row

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[Woodlander]

People offended by a wildlife experts opinion. Either you agree or disagree with that opinion but the dead crows and death threats nonsense is uncalled for

 

[38thfoot]

Like most things both sides of the argument have their extremists who believe that their actions are justified by their views.

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[Ystranc]

I agree that any form of threatening behaviour is completely uncalled for, it's also illegal.
It does make the shooting community look like nutters and bullies but it was not representitive of the general feeling of the shooting community.
Most of us quite rightly blamed English Nature for rescinding the general licences without consultation or sufficient warning to put in place licences for individuals to legally trap or shoot pest species.
As usual the actions of a tiny minority reflect badly on the majority, personally, I feel that whoever has done this has foolishly gifted Chris Packham and his media backed campaign the moral high ground as well as a whole load more publicity. The withdrawal of the general licences hardly made the news at all but a couple of crows and a note on on Chris Packhams gate hit the national news strait away.
I do however differ strongly with George Monbiot's opinions in the Guardian and his attempt to hijack what has happened in order to push yet another agenda.

 

[Harry Palmer]

Well said Ystranc. My few on shooting is don't kill an animal if its not going to get eaten. All this 'protecting the countryside is doing in reality is isolating the outdoors from the masses.

 

[Ystranc]

Also there is a great deal of misinformation (at least information from a very skewed perspective rather than impartial reported facts) in the Guardian article.
People forget that the landscape is in a constant state of change and almost none of the land in the British Isles is natural. They miss that it's a managed landscape because they only visit it, they don't live in it.

I'm also betting that programs like spring watch will have more difficulty dealing with landowners in future. I've had Iolo Williams filming on my property in the past but I certainly wouldn't allow Chris Packham to come here..

 

[Brambling]

@Ystranc, you hit the nail on the head.
There's only one thing George Montbiot cares about...George Monbtiot. I met him once after a lecture of his I was made to attend. What a patronising, arrogant, mysoginistic Pr*ck. He's also boring as all get out.