Underworld of badger baiting.

There was a very good piece in  The Yorkshire Post last week on how police nationwide are struggling to tackle badger baiting, which has continued unabated despite being outlawed in 1835.
But the response of the North Yorkshire force to my call the day I spotted badger baiters in the act was prompt and efficient and in the trial that followed the judge praised the local force for their"expidicuous" reaction.
She singled out PC Stephenson, who led the investigation, for particular praise and I would like to add that if it hadn't been for his determination to see the perpetrators put on trial this case might have ended up as yet another failed prosecution.
As it was four men were imprisoned for badger baiting last week in what has become a landmark case in the history of wildlife crime.
The Yorkshire Post also told my story of catching the badger baiters in red-handed. Click on the highlighted words to read it.

Badger Baiters are sent to prison

Four men were sent to prison for four months for badger baiting at Scarborough Magistrates Court yesterday. Sentencing them, the judge said that people in Yorkshire would not tolerate such "abhorrent" and "barbaric" behaviour.

I have photographed badgers for years for my paintings and it was because I know these wonderful animals so well that I knew I had to investigate when, one sunny day last January, I heard a pack of dogs barking incessently. When I reached the scene I saw eight men, some of them armed with shot guns, and 13 dogs torturing a badger. It was broad daylight close to a public path, and some of the men were laughing. Two of the dogs were tearing and ripping at a badger, which hung suspended between them like a rag doll in a grotesque game of tug-of-war.

I took out my camera and photographed them and the photographs were used as evidence in the trial that followed.

The story was picked up by journalists from across the country and even got a mention on the BBC World Service. But most of the newspapers shied away from publishing the photographs. 

I've decided, in the interests of letting the world know that this medieval sport is still alive and kicking, to publish them here. Some of the images are quite upsetting. 

I took this photograph shortly after the men shot the badger that the dogs had been tearing apart. You can still see the smoke in the air.

This was the badger the police found at the scene after the men had been apprehended.

Three tiny, still pink, foetuses, and a torn-off badger's tail were also found lying on the grass nearby. Realising that the carcass of the badger we had found was not pregnant, we knew that there had been more than one badger killed that day.

We then discovered this hole, which had been hastily covered over with turf. Inside was a disemboweled badger sow. She had been pregnant with the three young foetuses.
It turned out that the men had sent a terrier fitted with a locator collar into the badger sett and this dog had conered the badger in its sleeping chamber. They had then known where to dig down to get the badger out of its sett and force it to fight the dogs.
What those men did was truly horrific.

Click on the words in blue to read the coverage in the national press. Judge condemns badger baiters The Daily Mail; badger baiters jailed after dogs tore apart badger The Mirror; Barbaric gang jailed for badger baiting, The Guardian

Badger Baiting Still Rife

The trial of a horrific case of badger baiting which I was witness to comes to an end tomorrow. Seven men will be sentenced by a judge at Scarborough Magistrates' Court.

Click on the words highlighted in bold to read an article in  The Guardian on badger baiting  and learn how this atrocious practise still goes on.

From gravel pits to wildlife haven.

Congratulations to the North Cave Wetlands centre which has won an award for transforming old sand and gravel quarries into a magnificent wetland area. I saw avocets like the ones in this painting when I last visited.
At one time I drove all the way to Exmouth to see these birds and now we have them here in Yorkshire!
Click on the text in blue to read how the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust team won an award for transforming this former industrial landscape into a haven for wildlife.

Will Hockney Trail stop at Fotherdale?

I read in the papers this week that David Hockney, the godfather of modern art, is to endorse a new tourist trail to the sites from which he painted his latest series on the Yorkshire Wolds.

Warter, Woldgate Woods and Thixendale are among the beauty spots visitors will be encouraged to visit on the trail. I wonder if the painting above - which actually has my gallery in it - will be chosen for the trail?

Painted from the hillside opposite, you can see the gallery in the distance just to the right of centre.

P-p-p pick on someone your own size!

Beaches in South Georgia can get a little crowded at times. During my trip to Antarctica I witnessed an incident of 'beach rage' in which a penguin slapped an elephant seal with his flipper as he tried to get to the water's edge.

It was a brave move, as the penguin discovered when the seal rounded on him with a fierce bark.

Despite the fact that South Georgia hosts the largest penguin colony in the world, this unique habitat is under threat.

Rats, introduced by sealers in the 19th century, are killing young chicks at an alarming rate. 

Please click on the text underlined to read my column in the Malton Gazette & Herald this week on the South Georgia Heritage Trust 's ambitious plans to eradicate rats from the Antarctic island.

Time to Buy Your Christmas Cards

There's still time to buy your Christmas cards online, but hurry up because we can't guarantee we'll get them to you by post after December 21st.

Here are a few from my greeting card range.

This one remind you of the BBC's fantastic Frozen Planet series?

Waxwings always make me think of Christmas.

And of course Robins say it all.

Don't worry if you miss the posting deadline since you can always come in to the gallery to buy them. We are open all every day until Christmas now.

Click on the words greeting card range to order your cards.