Wild Justice



An open letter to the Charity Commission

Dear Charity Commission, we are writing to you from Wild Justice, a nearly-six-year old not-for-profit company whose objects are: We […]








Dartmoor – commonly badly managed

This blog provides background to our legal challenge of the Dartmoor Commoners’ Council – see previous blogs here (22 July) […]



























Restore Nature Now – your photos

On Saturday 22nd June, tens of thousands of you took to the streets for nature and for the climate. Here […]
































Restore Nature Now – Placards

If you’re joining us at the Restore Nature Now march on 22nd June, here are two PDF documents of a […]









Badgers – we write to Defra

Statement by Badger Trust and Wild Justice We jointly instructed Leigh Day solicitors to send an urgent request to Defra […]








Wild Justice’s 2023

Here’s a very quick run through some highlights of 2023. It’s been a good year for our legal challenges. The […]


We wish you a…

Merry Christmas, from the small team of us here at Wild Justice! May your break bring you rest and peace, […]









Blow that whistle!

Let us tell you a story – some of it is known, some of it is surmise based on anonymous […]



Wild Justice on Sea – thank you!

Last weekend Wild Justice took to the seas – venturing out into Poole Harbour, Dorset, with two boat loads of […]



Ban or license? – a Wild Justice report

We asked subscribers to the Wild Justice newsletter whether they favoured licensing of driven grouse shooting or would they support […]










Are lead levels falling in game meat?

Wild Justice has led the way in testing game meat (Pheasant, partridge (unknown species) and Woodpigeon) that has been on […]




Survey responses 2023 (2)

Two years ago we sent out a survey through our newsletter and summarised the responses in five blogs over the […]


Survey responses 2023 (1)

Two years ago we sent out a survey through our newsletter and summarised the responses in five blogs over the […]



Dendles Wood – a sorry tale

We have received a response from NE to our information requests about Dendles Wood (see here). It reveals a sorry […]





Thank you, Benji Fallow!

Last December we wrote about how nine-year-old artist and naturalist Benji Fallow had chosen to donate the proceeds from his […]



Woodcock petition timeline

2022 early March – we talk about Woodcock shooting mid March – we talk to our lawyers about Woodcock shooting […]



Thanking a mammal

Our newsletter is received by over 30,000 subscribers and shared around and read by very many more. We obviously know […]






What you’ve told us about SSSIs (1)

Wow! We’ve already had over 500 responses to our Monday newsletter, and blog – click here – about SSSIs. And […]





Wild Justice scoops two awards!

We are delighted to have won two awards, voted by the readers of Birdwatch, in the 2022 Birders’ Choice Awards. […]





We lost our sewage appeal

We’re disappointed to have to tell you that we lost our appeal for permission for judicial review of Ofwat’s regulation […]






















Ofwat desperation

At Tuesday’s in-person hearing in front of Mr Justice Bourne to decide whether Wild Justice will be given permission to […]



We’re in court today

We’re in court today. Our legal team will be making the case that Ofwat has failed to meet their responsibilities to […]
























Rivers and Sewage

You’ve probably seen water pollution mentioned a lot in the news recently. Cases of sewage discharge and run-off from farming […]











Debating Badgers in Parliament

Yesterday afternoon, parliament debated our petition from last year, signed by over 106,000 of you. MPs gathered to discuss the […]




Important new study on Badger culling

Today an important paper on Badger culling has been published in the journal Veterinary Record. The paper reports on new […]















It’s our birthday!

Three years ago Wild Justice had its public launch. We’re still very much new kids on the conservation block and […]


Delaying tactics

We’ve learned, since our public launch on 13 February 2019, that public bodies almost always try to delay any legal […]








Glyphosate: taking the p*ss study

Wild Justice is interested in the use of the powerful pesticide glyphosate in the environment – as are many others.  […]









Thank you for your feedback

We get hundreds of emails a week and all of them are read. We can’t possibly reply to them all […]













We lost our renewal application

Today Wild Justice lawyers were arguing for a renewal of our claim for judicial review of DEFRA’s feeble burning regulations. […]





Ecological illiteracy from BASC

An article in this week’s The ENDS Report highlights the ecological illiteracy of the British Association for Shooting & Conservation […]



Glyphosate use by local authorities

Since we asked you to contact your local authority about their use of glyphosate, Wild Justice supporters have contacted over […]




E-action – 38,008 emails sent

As the #COP26 meeting starts in Glasgow, Wild Justice supporters have sent messages to all elected UK parliamentarians, at Westminster, […]





Three years ago…

Three years ago today, Wild Justice was incorporated as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. We think of 13 February […]


Burning bogs – we have appealed

We told you last week that we had been refused permission for judicial review of the DEFRA regulations on burning […]


Beavers – just saying…

This letter was sent on behalf of Wild Justice in response to the DEFRA consultation on Beaver reintroduction. In para […]





A setback – permission refused

We heard yesterday, Friday, afternoon that we have been refused permission for judicial review of the much criticised and frankly […]














NRW consults on general licences in Wales

Yesterday, Natural Resources Wales launched a consultation on their general licences. The consultation is lengthy but that is because it […]


Glyphosate use by local authorities

Last summer we wrote to 43 local authorities in England and Wales about their use of glyphosate-based herbicides. Although herbicide […]









Some recent messages

Our beautiful birds of prey deserve all the help they can get Having just watched Hen Harrier Day, we were […]











Thank you!

We get some lovely letters and notes and cards and emails. This note was one of many which arrived this […]



Thank you Gill!

Gill Lewis is a children’s author who has written many books about issues in nature conservation. Her books Sky Dancer […]



A letter to the Shooting Times

Dear Shooting Times, We write to you to draw to your attention the inaccuracy of an article published in your […]




200,000 signatures to save wildlife!

Early this morning the joint NGO #stateofnature petition passed 200,000 signatures. Wild Justice supporters played a large part in helping […]






What you think about lead in game meat

In yesterday’s Wild Justice newsletter we asked our over 40,000 subscribers (you can subscribe for free here https://wildjustice.org.uk/contact/ ) six […]




Lead levels in game meat

Later this week we will publish the results of laboratory analyses of lead levels in game meat sold in Sainsbury’s […]





Survey responses (5)

Over the Easter period we’ve post five short summaries of the responses – just for interest really. This is the […]


Survey responses (4)

We asked you: These are difficult figures to compare with UK averages but it is fairly clear that Wild Justice […]


Survey responses (3)

Over the Easter period we’ll post five short summaries of the responses – this is the third. We asked you: […]


Survey responses (2)

We sent out a survey in our newletter #57 and 8640 of you responded – which is amazing! Thank you. […]


Survey responses (1)

You’ll see that our newsletter subscribers are primarily, but not exclusively, UK based and from right across the UK. Very […]


DEFRA omnishambles

Dear DEFRA, we asked you at a so-called stakeholder meeting in early November about the conditions applying to your (then) […]


Thank you! 106,000 times

Thanks to you, this matter will be debated in Westminster Hall later this spring. You’ll be able to watch the […]





Thank you for your responses (4)

Hundreds and hundreds of you are responding to the DEFRA gamebird consultation and telling us that you have done so. […]


Thank you for your responses (3)

Many hundreds of you are responding to the DEFRA gamebird consultation and telling us that you have done so – […]


Thank you for your responses (2)

Hundreds of you are responding to the DEFRA gamebird consultation and telling us that you have done so – here […]


Thank you for your responses

We have been amazed by the number of people who have already told us that they have responded to the […]





DEFRA launches gamebird consultation

This consultation was released today – over two weeks later than we were told. The consultation period is three weeks, […]


In the post

Last week, a package arrived for Wild Justice in the post and it contained a cheque, a letter and some […]


Sainsbury’s game meat

There’s a slogan on Sainsbury’s website stating that its vision is to become the UK’s ‘most trusted retailer’. Some might […]


It’s our birthday – we are two

Two years ago today we launched Wild Justice. Since then our action has: led the reform of general licences across […]





GWCT, please check these statements

Wild Justice mounted a legal challenge to make DEFRA review harmful gamebird impacts which concluded last October when DEFRA agreed […]


Badger petition update

Our e-petition has passed 88,000 signatures with several thousand signatures being added yesterday. Yes, we had given this petition a […]



Making payments to our bank account

We bank with Triodos Bank because we like their environmental credentials – and they are efficient and friendly. Over the […]




We’re waiting patiently

We are waiting patiently for the judgment on our judicial review of the Welsh general licences. There is no point […]


This is a surprise…

This petition was submitted in July 2019, published by the Westminster Parliament in August 2019, reached 100,000 signatures in September […]


What will DEFRA do?

Thanks to the legal challenges made by Wild Justice, and our subsequent lobbying and that of others, the general licences […]



Happy Christmas!

Sign up to our newsletter – https://wildjustice.org.uk/contact/ Read our blog – https://wildjustice.org.uk/blog/ Donate to our work – https://wildjustice.org.uk/wildlife-donations/ Folow us […]



Thank you!

Thank you for all your messages of support – these come in a wide variety of forms and we get […]



Wildlife crime podcast

Wild Justice Director Ruth Tingay was interviewed on Planet Pod recently, discussing wildlife crime in the UK with podcast host […]





RSPB AGM and gamebirds

Tomorrow is the RSPB AGM and one of many interesting items will be the revelation of the RSPB’s new improved […]



Gamebirds subtract adders

This story in the Guardian today backs up our worries about the impacts of massive, unregulated releases of gamebirds on […]



Our Badger petition

It’s Tony Juniper’s birthday today and the House of Commons Petitions Committee have inadvertently given him a present from Wild […]




Fight back on Badgers

Last week we had a setback on our Badger case when we heard that the Hon Mr Justice Johnson had […]


123,678 e-actions!

An amazing total in just 24 days. If you’d like to continue to take action on this issue then sign […]


100,000+ e-actions – thank you!

Three weeks ago on Hen Harrier Day (online) we launched an e-action with Hen Harrier Action and the RSPB. Since […]


Setback on Badgers

Yesterday evening we heard that we have been refused permission for judicial review of Natural England’s licensing of Badger shooting. […]



Generous donation from WILD Sounds

Huge thanks to Duncan from WILD Sounds for a very generous donation of £600, collected from sales of Dara McAnulty’s […]


Wild Justice in conversation

A couple of weeks ago the three of us (Chris Packham, Mark Avery and Ruth Tingay) were interviewed by raptor […]












What others say (said) about us

There is a lot of comment about Wild Justice from others (we may even have been given a tangential mention […]


Thank you HSI-UK!!

This time last week we were approached by Humane Society International – UK offering us support for our challenge of […]


Press release from Leigh Day

Wildlife campaigners launch legal case to challenge the humaneness of the badger cull Wildlife campaign group Wild Justice has launched […]


Companies House

Wild Justice has filed its first-year accounts with Companies House – click here. We also paid our Corporation Tax last […]







Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Thank you so very much. Our third major crowdfunder has been fully funded by over 900 generous donors. The English […]




Getting close

Our crowdfunder is approaching its target – thank you to everyone who has contributed at this very difficult time. We […]



Through the post

This card arrived in the post recently… And on the back was the message; Dear Wild Justice I thought I […]


Pheasants everywhere

This post describes a piece of scientific analysis carried out by Wild Justice and friends. Estimating the occurrence of Common […]




BASC blow a gasket

We’re pretty accustomed to abuse from the shooting community – often from individuals but increasingly from their representative body BASC. […]





Putting UK gamebird numbers in context

Here is another paragraph from the Wild Justice witness statement supporting our legal challenge; The scale of gamebird releases is […]




Small successful event in London

On Thursday evening, Wild Justice held a small event in London with friends, colleagues, donors, potential donors, journalists and others. […]


An announcement from DEFRA

As a result of Wild Justice’s legal challenge of last year and recent pokes for updates, DEFRA announced this on […]


Game Fair, fair game 2020

Last year Wild Justice directors Chris Packham and Mark Avery were invited to the annual Game Fair to face a […]


Superb raptor watch at Wicken Fen

We were very lucky. Considering the wind was blowing and it was raining when we arrived, it was unexpected that […]


DEFRA roll out of general licences

DEFRA has rolled out the existing scientifically flawed and, we believe, unlawful general licences for several more months. This is […]


It’s our birthday!

We launched Wild Justice a year ago today. We’re just getting into our stride and looking forward to Year 2. […]


Gamebird releases – update

Here are the most pertinent parts of a letter sent to DEFRA yesterday; and then; We trust that is clear…


A busy week

Monday – receive response from DEFRA on gamebird releases – we are waiting for our lawyers to advise us on […]



When will this e-petition get debated?

Wild Justice is looking forward to the day when our successful e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting will be debated […]


Parkgate – Sunday 9 February

On Sunday 9 February Ruth Tingay and Mark Avery from Wild Justice will join lots of other birders and raptor […]


In the post…

This seems an appropriate day for this card and its message and enclosure to arrive in the post. Wildlife knows […]


A recent email

We received this on Thursday afternoon but didn’t actually read it until Thursday evening (which is quicker than we get […]


Titchwell – Friday 7 February

A week today, Friday 7 February, Wild Justice co-founders Mark Avery and Ruth Tingay are visiting the RSPB Titchwell nature […]


Badgers and biscuits

On Tuesday Wild Justice had a long and detailed meeting with our legal team and a group of experts on […]


Letter to DEFRA on general licences

Yesterday Wild Justice’s lawyers sent this letter to DEFRA. Paragraphs 16, 17 and 18 sum it all up pretty well. […]



Wallasea raptor watch

Ruth Tingay and Mark Avery from Wild Justice went raptor watching yesterday afternoon at a rather chilly Wallasea Island RSPB […]


BASC go ballistic

Maybe it was optimistic to think that the shooting industry would be eager to see the issue of the conservation […]


Wild Justice Fighting Fund

We launched our fundraising drive for the Wild Justice Fighting Fund less than a week ago but it has already […]


Gamebird releases – renewed challenge

Today, indeed this very afternoon, our lawyers have sent the following Pre-Action Protocol letter to the Secretary of State for […]


Thank you!

We’ve been getting payments through PayPal, transfers to our bank account and cheques in the post. All are very, very […]


Raptor watching this winter

There are lots of nature reserves around the UK where you might see birds of prey this winter, including, if […]


We are raising money

Wild Justice launched 11 months ago and in the month running up to our birthday we are asking you for […]




It’s our birthday!

Today is our birthday! On 26 October last year we registered Wild Justice as a not for profit company.  It […]


Open letter to Natural England

Dear Tony Open letter to Natural England Chair, Board and staff It was good to meet you and Marian two […]


Well done Wales!

Natural Resources Wales (the equivalent of Natural England, the Environment Agency and Forestry England rolled into one) has issued its […]



Chris Packham wins another award

Huge congratulations to Wild Justice co-director Chris Packham, who received the Outstanding Contribution Award at the Mirror Animal Hero Awards […]




General licences – Scotland

Everyone is looking at general licences following our successful legal challenge of the system, and in the knowledge that further […]



General licences in Wales

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) ordered a review of licencing arrangements following a legal challenge in England by campaign group Wild […]


Gamebirds legal challenge

We sent the following letter to the Defra legal team yesterday. As you can see, they are either in some […]



#HHDay2019 (4)

To somewhat use the words of one of my favourite Bob Dylan songs, at Hen Harrier Day at Carsington the […]



Bird Fair bits

Wild Justice was quite busy at the Bird Fair over the Friday-Sunday. Friday morning started at 09:30 with a talk […]


If you are at the Bird Fair today

If you are at the Bird Fair today then please take a postcard away with you. This postcard: It’s obviously, […]



#HHDay2019 (3)

What wonderful speakers there were at Hen Harrier Day! We don’t have images of them all, but here are some. […]


#HHDay2019 (2)

The Derbyshire Wildlife Trust were wonderful partners at yesterday’s Hen Harrier Day event at Carsington Water. Not only was Tim […]


#HHDay2019 (1)

Yesterday’s Hen Harrier Day event was a great success. Here are just a few images of the day (all by […]



Getting very close to fully funded

Our crowdfunder is £4000 short of being fully funded – that’s amazing. Thank you to all who have contributed. This […]







Do not read if you are easily offended

Three weeks ago Chris Packham posted this image – it’s the three Wild Justice co-directors, Mark Avery, Chris Packham and […]




Crowdfunder update – over half way

On Thursday morning, at 10am, Wild Justice launched its current crowdfunder to raise the massive sum of £44,500 in order […]





Countryfile

Mark Avery, co-director of Wild Justice writes: It’s over a fortnight ago that I drove for three hours to Yorkshire […]


Hen Harrier Day update

Preparations for Hen Harrier Day are proceeding well – although setting up an event is always a bit nerve wracking. […]


Natural England’s conduct

This letter was sent to Natural England yesterday and copied to the EFRA Committee.


Thank you very much

From a sixth form college in the south of England – thank you very much indeed. We’re very grateful for […]





Hen Harrier Day 11 August

The speakers confirmed so far are the three Wild Justice directors (Chris Packham, Ruth Tingay and Mark Avery) and Iolo […]


Response due from Natural England.

Natural England should be replying to Wild Justice’s Pre-Action Protocol letter over General Licence GL26 by 4pm tomorrow. We’ll be […]



Evidence base for GL26 is threadbare

This is the section in the Licence Determination document received from Natural England to justify the publication of General Licence […]



More on our latest legal challenge

Because the magazine/website Sporting Gun was unique among shooting magazines in actually asking us about what we were doing when […]



A message from Defra

Received from Defra yesterday afternoon: Dear colleague,   We intend to announce shortly how we will proceed on general licensing, […]


Hen Harrier Day 2019 #HHDay19

It looks like there will only be one Hen Harrier Day event in the UK in 2019 – but everyone […]


Nothing’s happening?

You may remember this handy visual aid published by BASC a while ago – it shows the scale of revocation […]




Short statement by Wild Justice

Wild Justice noted with interest the Efra Committee meeting which took evidence yesterday from Natural England.  Wild Justice will make […]


Questions for Natural England

Natural England’s Deputy Chair Lord Blencathra (who was Acting Chair at the time of the decision to revoke the General […]


Thank you RSPB

Wild Justice is pleased, but not remotely surprised, to see that the RSPB has followed our lead on the general […]


Thank you GWCT

A few days ago we thanked BASC for their response to the Defra consultation on general licences because it clarified […]


Thank you BASC

We are grateful to BASC (British Association for Shooting and Conservation) for providing a very helpful visual aid to guide […]





Wild Justice blog

Hi there! We have a blog. We will be blogging. Watch this space.