Natural England and Thursley Common

This was the scene on a Surrey heathland managed by Natural England – a heath with a panoply of designations to protect its wildlife from harm – one evening in June this year. The evening before, a group of local birdwatchers had been watching Nightjars feeding over this very spot. We are told that on the nights after this event no Nightjars were seen.

This site is also home to Woodlarks and Dartford Warblers as well as a variety of reptiles including Adders.

NE decided that such filming – on several nights and in several places – would not significantly harm the wildlife of this designated site and so gave permission for filming to go ahead. They were also paid a sum of money that NE have refused to disclose but which locals say was of the order of £30k – maybe 30 large pieces of silver?

NE has disclosed to us that these (see below) are the Nightjar breeding territories but any birdwatcher would know that Nightjars do not hop about on the ground in a small area to feed – they will be swooping around all over this heathland.

We find it inconceivable that wildlife was not harmed by this event (filming by a 100-strong crew with lights, artificial smoke, vehicles and horses) and we wonder whether NE would have given a private land owner permission to host such an event on similar land. We hope not – for the wildlife’s sake.