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Chris Packham

Bill Walford said:
There was a time when I was “that person” to say “pull yourself together” if someone started about being depressed, it’s probably an age thing and my upbringing BUT now that both my sons have suffered from depression and needed help I think a bit differently but the cynic in me also thinks that some people just want a peg to hang their hat on rather than getting to grips with life. I am a “glass half full” person and try to find the positives in situations, I appreciate that some others are wired differently.
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(As a retired psychotherapist and psychotherapy lecturer myself)... I blame f'in 'Mindfulness' 🙃🤯🤣
Packham? Sorry, nah.
 
Neil Blood said:
Its right that Packham and country sports don't mix and I commend both he and Wild Justice for some of the work they've done on challenging both Natural England and DEFRA.

To echo some of Joe's comments above.........

What happens on sporting estates and particularly driven grouse moors is a national disgrace. It seems like there's a story every week involving raptor persecution and especially dead Hen Harriers on or near a driven grouse moor. Also what the hell is this all about:

Eagle Owl used to lure buzzards on sporting estate

Then we have the release of an estimated 47 million non-native pheasants annually and DEFRA don't even know what the impact is on our native wildlife! Of these 47 million birds, it is estimated that only 1/3 are actually shot, with the rest serving to boost fox and corvid numbers, which is bad news for other wildlife! Also the reason so many of our woodlands are infested with non-native rhododendrons is because, short sighted and selfish idiots have illegally planted them as cover for pheasants.

I have friends that shoot and I fully accept that shooting has its place in conservation to control some species e.g. corvids, foxes and deer; however as an angler, birder and conservationist, I don't wish to be associated with country sports!

More specifically on Packham, the mentioned Facebook fan page, came about, after the shooting mob, started a petition to get him kicked of the BBC. It is also true that he is on record as saying that as a child he had an interest in fishing, which helped nurture his love affair with nature.

Yes he's not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm glad such people are there to call things out like they really are!
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He "calls things like they are" to suit his point of view. It's not likely he would alter his stance on shooting if no raptors were ever illegally shot. Do you think comparing people who shoot with psycopathic murderers is calling things as they are?

You may not wish, as an angler, to be associated with field sports Neil, but I'm afraid it is a branch of field sports. Is there any difference in killing a trout or a bass for the table to a pheasant or a partridge? Because that is the arguments that will eventually be put by anti fishing/field sports people. I don't for one minute think anyone who fishes should automatically be supportive of shooting but the fact is, in both sports, living creatures are killed. Certainly coarse angling is catch and release on the whole, but do we then expect to see a divide between coarse and game and sea anglers where the quarry is frequently taken for food, as are pheasants etc?

It is not a straightforward topic and there are a great many grey areas in what is seen as sport, hunting for the table, field sports and conservation etc. but I have never seen Chris Packham as anything other than anti country sports. And angling is a country sport.
 
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Joe Winstanley said:
I understand that CP was a pretty keen angler in his teens and as far as I'm aware is pro-angling? I'm told he recently gave an interview where he talks about his love of grayling. He's not even campaigning to have grouse shooting banned. just driven intensive grouse shooting. Not walked up / over pointers.

I think Wild Justice was right to challenge the failings with the General Licence. I've never been comfortable with species Jays and Jackdaws being on there - it's never made any sense. Neither species is a threat to farming or game shooting yet they could be culled indiscriminately? There is no finer species for propagating oak trees than the jay, they are a species that adds life to the landscape. And worth remembering that Wild Justice did not demand that the General Licence arrangements were changed overnight, in fact they proposed it should be phased in. It was Defra and Natural England who had the hissy fit and decided the GL arrangements had to be changed overnight.

As a countryman who appreciates a range of field sports, I think the arrogant attitude of the grouse shooting industry and the likes of the Countryside Alliance do more harm to field sports than anybody.

I'm jealous of your hen harrier sighting! Not seen one in ages.
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You make good points about Jays and Jackdaws and I feel crows should be seasonal quarry i.e. during lambing season when they can be most destructive. The brief cancelation of shooting mainly corvid pests came during nesting season and the damage done to small birds during this period really only highlighted why many of them were on a general license in the first place. This could be seen as a bit of an own goal but the review was necessary.
 
Joe Winstanley said:
There is a lot of bullshit about Chris Packham being deliberately spread by the Grouse shooting industry. It's being going on for years. Sadly mud sticks.

Chris Packham has campaigned against driven grouse shooting, and for very good reason. It is an activity which is underpinned by criminal activity, e.g. the systematic persecution of hen harriers. The Langholm Moor project proved beyond and doubt that hen harriers and driven grouse shooting are incompatible because harriers eat the 'shootable surplus'. That's why hen harriers were practically driven to extinction in England a few years back. And the persecution is systematic, anybody who knows what they talking about understands this. And not just on the moors, keepers travelling across the country to target harriers in their winter roosts. And then you have the subject of intensive heather burning on deep peats..

Chris Packham, along with Mark Avery have done a good job in shining a light on these issues.

www.theguardian.com

The grouse shooters aim to kill: the first casualty is the truth | George Monbiot

Their campaign against the RSPB is a shameful example of ‘astroturfing’. The public should beware
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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I wish he'd also highlight the terrible decline of our rivers, what with the continued pumping in of raw effluent, abstraction, misguided work by the EA and such like. Even on the spring/autumn/winter watch programs, there's precious little coverage on our rivers, particularly of the fish that live therein.
 
Joe Winstanley said:
What comments about country sports are these Martin?

I think your completely wrong about mental health. Thankfully the world is moving on from the 'stiff upper lip/ just get on with it/strong silent type' approaches to mental health. Some unfortunate people find it crippling and it blights lives. Having higher profile public figures talking about their own experiences (in Chris Packham's case severe Asperger's and suicidal depression) must be a help to those unfortunate enough to be similarly afflicted.

Suicide is the biggest single killer of men under the age of 45 in the UK and if raising the profile of mental health issues helps just one person then that is a good thing. I know from personal experience the impact of a family member somebody taking their own life. It is utterly devastating.
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Yep a friend of mine took his own life 1 month ago. 63 years old , no warning signs other than he appeared a bit stressed. Yes - Utterly devastating for his family, friends and colleagues and a damn waste of a really good person . Knocked the stuffing out of me I can tell you and has really shocked me as you just do it know what’s really going on with people?
 
Dave Quinn said:
🙂 I wouldn’t dream of contradicting a professional but I’ve been practicing Mindfulness since long before it became fashionable and it certainly helps me. 👍
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Yeah Dave, just joking about the Mindfulness thingie craze. It's all very much a re-hash of meditative Buddhist etc thought, about 'Being in the Moment' ... I reckon Aaron Beck (cognitive) got it right when he stated (to paraphrase, not got the book to hand atm but basically..) "It not so much what actually happens to you in life that's important, but how you perceive it"
 
I firmly believe the mind is a muscle like any other component of our body it can become injured or damaged, even tired. If you broke your arm you’d get it fixed so you didn’t end up deformed, the mind is no different. Life’s happenings leave scars on us, even if we don’t see them ourselves. So often we’re trying to run marathons on park run fitness levels and then wondering why we’re struggling.
 
Terry Simner said:
Yeah Dave, just joking about the Mindfulness thingie craze. It's all very much a re-hash of meditative Buddhist etc thought, about 'Being in the Moment' ... I reckon Aaron Beck (cognitive) got it right when he stated (to paraphrase, not got the book to hand atm but basically..) "It not so much what actually happens to you in life that's important, but how you perceive it"
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Fishing is about as good as it gets for being in the moment without actively meditating IMO. I think watching a float, quiver or Rod tip would put most of us in a meditative state without realizing it.
 
Richard Parsons said:
I was under the impression that the beeb's impartiality rule relates to politics, rather than employees not being allowed to voice a personal opinion. May be wrong.
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I don't really see the difference. As a license payer I don't really like being compared to a psychopathic murderer by somebody who's wages I am contributing to. I agree to a certain extent that some opinions have to be allowed and total impartiality is difficult and often subjective anyway. But he's gone beyond that with his comments and I think he uses his position to make comments that are insulting and beyond his remit.
 
Stephen Crowhurst said:
I firmly believe the mind is a muscle like any other component of our body it can become injured or damaged, even tired. If you broke your arm you’d get it fixed so you didn’t end up deformed, the mind is no different. Life’s happenings leave scars on us, even if we don’t see them ourselves. So often we’re trying to run marathons on park run fitness levels and then wondering why we’re struggling.
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It's actually an organ. A very weird organ at that.
 
Alex Gowney said:
I don't really see the difference. As a license payer I don't really like being compared to a psychopathic murderer by somebody who's wages I am contributing to. I agree to a certain extent that some opinions have to be allowed and total impartiality is difficult and often subjective anyway. But he's gone beyond that with his comments and I think he uses his position to make comments that are insulting and beyond his remit.
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Chris Packham made the comments you are referring about in an interview with the Guardian. Not whilst working for the BBC. If BBC employees were banned from expressing their personal opinions off air then that would be absurd. The sort of thing you would expect in North Korea, not the free world. He's a naturalist, not a political correspondent.

But for the record he said the following when asked about foxhunting.

“I don’t understand it, I suppose. That’s the bottom line. To me, it has to have a psychopathic element, if you’re taking pleasure from killing things, just for that pleasure. If you’re going to eat it, if you’re culling an animal that is otherwise damaging the environment because it’s too abundant, I have no problem with killing animals. But if you have no reason but pleasure, then that surely is psychopathic.”

www.theguardian.com

Chris Packham: ‘It has a psychopathic element, taking pleasure from killing’

The Countryside Alliance says he is an extremist and wants the BBC to fire him. But the conservationist insists he is on farmers’ side, and unafraid to go on opposing foxhunting and badger culling
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
Chris Guy said:
I wish he'd also highlight the terrible decline of our rivers, what with the continued pumping in of raw effluent, abstraction, misguided work by the EA and such like. Even on the spring/autumn/winter watch programs, there's precious little coverage on our rivers, particularly of the fish that live therein.
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He would have plenty to say if it was killing the cuddly otter
 
Joe Winstanley said:
Chris Packham made the comments you are referring about in an interview with the Guardian. Not whilst working for the BBC. If BBC employees were banned from expressing their personal opinions off air then that would be absurd. The sort of thing you would expect in North Korea, not the free world. He's a naturalist, not a political correspondent.

But for the record he said the following when asked about foxhunting.

“I don’t understand it, I suppose. That’s the bottom line. To me, it has to have a psychopathic element, if you’re taking pleasure from killing things, just for that pleasure. If you’re going to eat it, if you’re culling an animal that is otherwise damaging the environment because it’s too abundant, I have no problem with killing animals. But if you have no reason but pleasure, then that surely is psychopathic.”

www.theguardian.com

Chris Packham: ‘It has a psychopathic element, taking pleasure from killing’

The Countryside Alliance says he is an extremist and wants the BBC to fire him. But the conservationist insists he is on farmers’ side, and unafraid to go on opposing foxhunting and badger culling
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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I take your point, but as his work for the BBC relates almost entirely to wildlife then his comments in the Guardian remain relevant to his job. I don't agree that he should have been sacked, far from it, just because I disagree with him. Many people love him and that's fair enough. But he is anti game shooting as it isn't specifically shooting for food or pest control. In reality, the game does go for food although that is obviously not the purpose behind organised shoots. And his psychopath comments reflect this approach to shooting as game shooting is for the sport of shooting. So it was not just about foxhunting at all. His comments about dwindling wildlife being down to fieldsports is also ridiculous. Even the most uneducated are aware that shoots breed thousands of birds, and when hunting was stopped many farmers turned to other, more efficient methods of control. And to repeat a question, when was the last time a psychopathic murderer declared shooting or hunting as a hobby?

But each to their own, he isn't on my Christmas card list and no doubt I wouldn't be on his!
 
Did that walk from Eastleigh to Winchester with my brother about 12 years ago, a very fine walk too. Not long into it, grassy field with hilly woody rise other side of bank an angler had just caught a 20lb + pike (think it was 27). We took a photo for him. Thoughts of grayling, and jealousy of the gardens that back down to it a bit upstream. Kedgeree in the pub, not a poodle in sight. Beautiful bit o river.
 
I find Chris Packham irritating as a TV presenter [ give me Michaela Strachen any day ] , however he is brave enough to talk about his mental ill health and break the taboo , that act alone will help many thousands of people who suffer in silence and he should be applauded for that .If you are on Facebook have a look at the ''Angling in Mind '' page a very laudable initiative to reach out to anglers who suffer from mental ill health
 
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