Off the Leash

 'Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!

A shortcast with actor and film-maker Lorna Nickson Brown. Lorna recently played the role of Janis Carter in the HBO Max documentary, Lucy the Human Chimp, and is currently fundraising for a short film, DOG RUN, which tells the story of a vulnerable young man who escapes conditions of modern slavery through his relationship with a dog and nature. (We here at Off the Leash have no financial interest in this film whatsoever, incidentally, we just love stories about dogs and about nature.)

• Dog Run - A Short Film (Kickstarter) 
• Lorna Nickson Brown  Twitter  feed and Instagram
• Lucy the Human Chimp  IMDb

Off the Leash Podcasts is proud to publish a series of shortcasts supporting the Emily Williamson Festival.  Emily was a co-founder of the RSPB and an eco-activist before the term was even invented. Taking inspiration from her legacy, modern day change-makers will be exploring the links between Conservation, Campaigning, Science and Art in a weekend of events at Manchester Art Gallery between the 12th and 13th of November (NB the event was 12 - 14 Nov, but has now been shortened).

In this shortcast, Danielle Shaw - Communications Officer at Birdlife International and author of the blog Nature's Good News - talks about the power of environmental storytelling and how success stories, like Emily Willaimson's, can motivate others to take action, rather than falling into a feeling of helplessness that we all know too well. Danielle celebrates that there are so many influential female voices in what was once a very male-dominated sector - and while there's still work to be done to make sure that diverse voices are being heard in this space, it shows how far we've come thanks to people like Emily. 

• Danielle Shaw Nature's Good News
• Emily Williamson Festival Conservation, Campaigning, Science, Art
• A statue for Emily Williamson  emilywilliamsonstatue.com
• Shortcast #18 Tessa Boase | The Story of the RSPB's Women Founders

"The only thing they care about is burning the heather to drive the numbers of grouse up - they don't care about wildfires at all, let's be realistic."

In the following interview you'll hear Charlie Moores talking with Luke Steele, executive director of Wild Moors. We're discussing grouse moors and grouse moor fires, rewetting our peatlands, support from the government and MPs for moving from a partial ban on burning to a full ban, COP 26, NGOs working together, and a new reporting scheme whereby we can all contribute data that will prove just how many fires the shooting industry are setting on the UK's largest carbon stores.

Charlie begins though by asking Luke with a new so-called 'burning season' just underway whether grouse estates were taking any notice at all of climate change concerns or the partial ban on heather burning that came into force on the 12th of June...


Wild Moors works with communities, governments and companies to unlock moorland from grouse shooting for the conservation of wildlife and habitats.

• Wild Moors Website and Twitter feed
• Wild Moors More than 100 moorland fires reported in England in past four days   
• Wild Moors Report grouse moor burning 

 In The Off the Leash Podcast #19 we discuss the Mark Hankinson trial and the verdict that said ‘GUILTY’ – guilty as hell, of course you and your huntsman friends were educating the lower ranks on how to throw a smokescreen around illegal fox hunting.  We are talking about COP 26, the global climate summit which is set against a recent analysis that found a 99.99% scientific consensus that the climate crisis has been caused by us (take that Nigel Lawson you idiot climate change denier) and that we have just a few years left to sort out – well, sort out everything: COP 26 really does represent humanity drinking in the last chance saloon - with Boris Johnson playing the role of chummy ‘pub landlord’.  We name our Heroes and Villians of course, and give shoutouts to the Emily Williamson Festival, the National Trust AGM, and Dominic's 'State of the Earth' panel debate at COP 26. But we begin with some thoughts on Sir David Amess, the MP for Southend West who was murdered on the 15th of October...

• The Guardian  Obituary Sir David Amess
• Rupert Evelyn, ITV News  Mark Hankinson: Leading UK huntsman found guilty of telling others how to hunt illegally 
• League Against Cruel Sports  Guilty! And now it’s time to strengthen the Hunting Act, 
• Hunt Saboteurs Association Website 
• The Guardian The heat is on: from the Arctic to Africa, wildlife is being hit hard by climate chaos 
• Derbyshire Against The Cull Voices from the Cull Zone (podcast)
• Emily Williamson Festival (12 -13 November) Website 
• National Trust Annual General Meeting 2021
• COP 26 State of the Earth Panel Debate (chaired by Dominic Dyer)

In this podcast you'll hear 'Voices from the Cull', the uninterrupted voices of various members of the anti-badger-cull group Derbyshire Against The Cull,  "a coalition of angry Derbyshire locals opposed to the mass murder of badgers", recorded in a number of different locations in the county on the 13th and 14th of October.

In a previous podcast we described members of DATC as heroes. Most of us will never know who they are because the risk of harassment and actual violence is so great they use pseudonyms, but that doesn't stop them from going out night after night after night, trying to halt the slaughter of badgers, because they believe it is morally and ethically the right thing to do - for animals and for justice and for fairness – so heroes without a doubt…

• Derbyshire Against the Cull - Facebook page: facebook.com/DerbyshireAgainstTheCull/
• Derbyshire Against the Cull - Twitter feed:  @derbyshireATC
• Derbyshire Against the Cull - Ko-fi donation page:  ko-fi.com/derbyshireagainstthebadgercull

'Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!

A shortcast with two volunteers (Tina and Kez) from international marine wildlife conservation organization Sea Shepherd UK recorded at the #StoptheGrind demo in Trafalgar Square on the 16th of October, a demo organised in response to the massacre of a superpod of Atlantic White-sided Dolphins by Faroe Islanders last month.

Sea Shepherd UK website (seashepherd.org.uk/)
Sea Shepherd UK Twitter feed and Facebook page
Sea Shepherd UK Operation Bloody Fjords

Off the Leash Podcasts is proud to publish a series of shortcasts supporting the Emily Williamson Festival.  Emily was a co-founder of the RSPB and an eco-activist before the term was even invented. Taking inspiration from her legacy, modern day change-makers will be exploring the links between Conservation, Campaigning, Science and Art in a weekend of events at Manchester Art Gallery between the 12th and 13th of November (NB the event was 12 - 14 Nov, but has now been shortened).

In this shortcast nature therapy guide & eco coach Holly Barber – who you may know as ecomonkey – tells us how she found her drive to start the Global Wildlife Rescue Project, how concepts of our relationship with nature vary around the world, and how getting outside can help us deal with modern living due to our biology. Much like Emily Williamson in her day, Holly’s work tries to reconnect people with the natural world so that they don’t take it for granted. 

• The ecomonkey Website and Twitter feed
• Global Wildlife Rescue Project Website
• Emily Williamson Festival Conservation, Campaigning, Science, Art
• A statue for Emily Williamson  emilywilliamsonstatue.com
• Shortcast #18 Tessa Boase | The Story of the RSPB's Women Founders

Off the Leash Podcasts is proud to publish a series of shortcasts supporting the Emily Williamson Festival.  Emily was a co-founder of the RSPB and an eco-activist before the term was even invented. Taking inspiration from her legacy, modern day change-makers will be exploring the links between Conservation, Campaigning, Science and Art in a weekend of events at Manchester Art Gallery between the 12th and 13th of November (NB the event was 12 - 14 Nov, but has now been shortened).

"Find the humanity in the midst of the conflict". In this shortcast, award-winning author and campaigner Mary Colwell talks about what she learned when she set out to experience curlew decline, and what inspiration she has taken from Emily Williamson about changing hearts, minds and the status quo.

• Mary Colwell Website (curlewmedia.com) and Twitter feed
• Emily Williamson Festival Conservation, Campaigning, Science, Art
• A statue for Emily Williamson  emilywilliamsonstatue.com
• Shortcast #18 Tessa Boase | The Story of the RSPB's Women Founders

Off the Leash Podcasts is proud to publish a series of shortcasts supporting the Emily Williamson Festival.  Emily was a co-founder of the RSPB and an eco-activist before the term was even invented. Taking inspiration from her legacy, modern day change-makers will be exploring the links between Conservation, Campaigning, Science and Art in a weekend of events at Manchester Art Gallery between the 12th and 13th of November (NB the event was 12 - 14 Nov, but has now been shortened).

In this shortcast, Off the Leash Podcasts' Charlie Moores talks about his own experience as a birder and how he never knew how much he had to thank Emily Williamson for. He also talks about how much more work there is to do, and how it's just as important as ever that we use our voices for nature. 

• Emily Williamson Festival Conservation, Campaigning, Science, Art
• A statue for Emily Williamson  emilywilliamsonstatue.com
• Shortcast #18 Tessa Boase | The Story of the RSPB's Women Founders

Off the Leash Podcasts is proud to publish a series of shortcasts supporting the Emily Williamson Festival.  Emily was a co-founder of the RSPB and an eco-activist before the term was even invented. Taking inspiration from her legacy, modern day change-makers will be exploring the links between Conservation, Campaigning, Science and Art in a weekend of events at Manchester Art Gallery between the 12th and 13th of November (NB the event was 12 - 14 Nov, but has now been shortened).

In this shortcast, Tessa Boase -  journalist, campaigner, and  the organiser of the Emily Williamson Festival  - explains who Emily was and the legacy that the festival is celebrating in a weekend of events at Manchester Art Gallery between the 12th and 14th November 2021. 

• Emily Williamson Festival Conservation, Campaigning, Science, Art
• A statue for Emily Williamson  emilywilliamsonstatue.com
• Shortcast #18 Tessa Boase | The Story of the RSPB's Women Founders
• Tessa Boase Etta Lemon The Woman who Saved the Birds (Goodreads)