“I think your own contribution is very important, you cover a wide range of issues, bring a high level of understanding to the comments you make and succeed in being independent” Sir John Marsh, govt adviser
“I did like your Guest Blog very much. Although you write a lot of nonsense, you do write rather well” Mark Avery, campaigning environmentalist
“You’re in the right place, with the skills, to be the interpreter between the science and those on the ground” Dave Bavin – scientist
“What I experienced was a very informative enquiring examination of the conflicting position of nature v human interaction. This was very much down to the questions you posed and the discussion you led” Walker on guided walk
“Problem is Rob, you know too much” Tim Rice, opinion editor, The Times
“Not many cover the countryside wide picture so well, whether on Twitter, at the Hay Festival, in The Times letters pages. Always thought-provoking and pithy” Alan Spedding, RuSource
“I’ve always found your commentary very thought-provoking and at times challenging to my comfort zone!” PhD Student
“My personal thanks for the great job you did today in stirring up some good thinking and in running the panel session so effectively. It was a very helpful way to run things and the debate benefited from your key inputs” CEO of environment NGO
“While I am not sure I agree with your letter (yet), it has made me read more on the subject!” via Twitter
“I enjoy your influential contributions on Twitter and elsewhere” Govt environmental adviser
Richard Negus (in his article): Rob Yorke is one of my favourite writers and thinkers on the countryside. He has a theory as to why this is the case. “Michael McCarthy, an environmental correspondent, once wrote glowingly about farmland, managed for shooting wild grey partridges, being a mecca for wildlife. The shooting community is rediscovering this core value in what shooting is about.
“As shooting has become more popular, it has spoiled itself. Shooting is not about what guns demand, or expect, but what the countryside provides as surplus when managed well for wildlife – which includes wild game. Aldo Leopold was a hunter–conservationist whose spirit UK shooting would do well to embody as it embraces wilder, higher-quality hunts of unpredictable, habitat-savvy pheasants in November, or a brace of snapshot January woodcock.”
Rob’s views on land management challenge those on all sides of the shooting and conservation debate. He is, however, regarded by many as not only a speaker of truth but also something of a clairvoyant regarding changes in land management practices.”