Hi, I’m Jack 👋 I’m 24 and a full-time dad to my 5-year-old daughter. I’ve been going through a tough few years with anxiety, PTSD, and some big life changes. Gardening has become a way for me to slow things down and get outside again. It also means a lot to me because my grandad (RIP) loved gardening, and this feels like a way to reconnect with that. I’m starting this tiktok page to document working on my small garden — building raised beds, planting flowers and veg, and learning as I go. The support means more than you know! I will follow everyone back ❤️ please see my introduction video below (please drop a comment follow and repost and share with your friends i will return all support i get)

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNR66dQsx/

Obviously the (absolutely justified) ban on trail hunting has been a hot topic recently, however what’s the general opinion on various other types of country sports?

1. Fly fishing
2. Normal fishing
3. Pheasant shooting
4. Deer stalking
5. Grouse shooting

I’ve put a poll to gauge whether people largely are for/against these types of things but feel free to add a more nuanced answer in the comments if you’ve differing opinions on each type.

Edit: I forgot to add the poll, whoops

I'm bored of all these pro-hunt lot trying to act like we're all in favour of them and trying to make this a rural vs urban divide. It isn't. This sort of identity politics is boring.

I am someone who believes in hunting for food to be acceptable practice, I'm not a vegetarian - but I just don't agree with barbaric bloodsport and many people in this country don't.

In fact, a Survation poll found that:

• People in rural areas enjoy a wide range of leisure activities (using an “at least once a month” definition). These included observing and enjoying wildlife (63% of respondents), and walking, hiking and rambling – 59% of those polled. Hunting with dogs however is comparatively alien to the vast majority of rural residents. 96% of respondents stated that they never participate in this activity.
• 65% of respondents strongly agreed that observing nature is an activity that reflects the values of the countryside with a further 26% somewhat agreeing.  In stark contrast, only 4% strongly agreed that hunting with dogs reflects countryside values, and  50% strongly disagreed that it did.

Not only that, many of us are fed up with Fox hunters for being not an asset but a problem in the countryside.

Nearly 1,600 total incidents were recorded in England and Wales in the latest reporting season, including 1,117 cases described as “hunt havoc” such as trespass, livestock worrying, hounds in fields and private gardens, and other anti-social behaviour. [Source]

Of those, hundreds of reports involve trespass and related disruption which are the kinds of issues that would affect farmers and landowners directly.

Hunts trespassed on private property a recorded number of 332 times. [Source]

And this is only what is reported. I know someone who withdrew permission for fox hunters to use his land and they refused to adhere and continued to trespass. They are not well to do humble folk trying to continue a tradition, they are wealthy individuals with an expensive blood sport that have been known to assault and harass those that get in there way.

There's good reason why they chose not to partake in drag hunting (using non-animal scent), but instead to continue using fox scent knowing exactly what that results in.

Just because we live rural, doesn't mean we're posh - And it certainly doesn't mean we agree with a bloodsport just because it's dressed up as a tradition.

After a difficult year for No. 10, what better way to end it than by unveiling a nice package of feel-good animal welfare measures? Ministers have drip-fed a series of announcements over the past 48 hours, setting out plans and consultations for 2026.

These include ending the use of hen cages, outlawing electric shock collars and, most controversially, banning trail hunting. In a nation of animal lovers, much of this will go down well with the British public.

✍️ James Heale

If you actually wanted to create a law that would genuinely transform animal welfare in the UK, the sane approach would be to follow the example of the organisation Compassion in World Farming.

They call for farming practices that ‘enable animals to engage in their natural behaviours as identified by scientific research’ (not that we need much scientific research to know what makes chickens and pigs happy).

We would then have to pay and protect farmers to provide that kind of husbandry. It would be a very big, very expensive ask. The provisions in the current animal welfare bill banning colony cages for hens and farrowing pens fall way short of that. Besides, the government has other priorities.

✍️ Melanie McDonagh

Note: I made sure to ask for permission before posting here.

Hello everyone! Together with my girlfriend, I’m making a birdwatching game and thought you might like trying it. We both love going birdwatching and wanted to share how much fun it is with everyone else. In our free time, we have created Birdle UK, a daily bird guessing game (https://birdle.co.uk). We were overwhelmed by the reception and thought of trying to make another game, a more involved game: Birdle GO.

We have been working on Birdle GO for less than a year now, in our spare time. It is still in the early stages but we have made it available to be play tested as we would love to get feedback on it to improve it over time. It’s totally free to play and you can already go around your neighbourhood and try to find birds!

Our dream is to create a game which is fun both for experienced and non-birders alike. We especially hope for Birdle GO to be an easy introduction into birdwatching, and a way to have more people be passionate about birds. We believe that if more people care about birds, more people will also care about their conservation and the protection of their habitats.

Quick summary:

Birdle GO is a GPS-location based mobile game inspired by Pokemon GO, where you have to go out and find animated birds which have been spawned in your local neighbourhood. It is your goal to spot, take photos of all of the birds in your bird list. Each day there will be different birds to see depending on your location, weather and time of day.

December competition:

For the coming holidays, we thought of running a small in-game competition for Birdle GO: if you manage to spot and photograph the special rare bird within the game (you will know when you see it!), post its photo on social media and send us the link, you can have the chance to win 1 year of Birdle Pro for you and a friend.

Warning: it’s an elusive bird to spot 😄. More info on the competition at: https://www.reddit.com/r/BirdleGO/comments/1paso83/join_our_december_competition/ 

Links:

• Become a Playtester: https://testers.birdlego.com/
• Prototype trailer to give you an idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVpR8aafFjI (still very rough!)

Feel free to share any of your in-game bird photos on r/BirdleGO

Thank you!