The poor season for hen harriers was covered in yesterday's Daily Telegraph and Guardian. The Guardian basically rehashes our press release (I'm not complaining!) whereas the Telegraph quibbles a bit about whether the lack of this grouse-eater is the fault of grouse-shooters. I found the last line in the Telegraph piece very witty - you don't often find jokes in the papers' news coverage. It says that '...gamekeepers and landowners insist that shooting estates are helping to protect the hen harrier by ensuring grouse moors are well managed and maintaining native moorland.'. That was meant to be a sardonic joke, surely?
I can't find any comment from Natural England on their web page on this sorry state of affairs - although we did offer them a quote in our press release. In the past Natural England has been commendably outspoken on the subject of raptor persecution. On 22 December 2008 Natural England were happy to say 'Persecution is prime cause of harrier disappearance.'. On 2 November 2009 Natural England were happy to say '... illegal persecution has led to today’s critically low breeding numbers and patchy distribution.'. So what has happened since then? The General Election was held on 6 May 2010.
Maybe in this new age, Defra is the place to look for comment on this subject? I cannot find any comment on the Defra website - certainly not under 'news'. Bu then this isn't news is it? It is the status quo.
The Raptor Politics website is naturally concerned about the plight of this fantastic bird. Farmers Guardian and Bird Guides also cover the story.
Yes redkite quite agree about the legislation but as most shooters are law abiding and a lawful pursuit,although personally get more satisfaction seeing a pheasant on our garden hedge this morning than seeing a dead one i think we may get better results from not having a war with them because sad to say whatever the RSPB thinks shooters consider that they are hated and some suggest that we would be better off with the law abiding ones on our side so to speak as lots of extra eyes.Seems even on Orkney Hen Harriers decreased in the 90s by 97% sheep killed them presumably by treading on nests.Think quite a lot of shooters feel they are being forced to take a harder attitude because the RSPB seem intent on lumping them all together as B O P killers whether that is true or not that is how they feel.
Sooty, your point about the remoteness of some parts of the country is well taken, as is the need to change peoples attitudes to BOP in particular. You are right on both these points . However having meaningful legislation in place is the first step of many other steps towards changing those attitudes. Without meaningful legislation there is little incentive for these people to stop and think what is being done might be wrong. Unfortunately whatever measures can be or are taken they will not stop the murder of BOP in its stracks , it is like the Malta shootings in a way where strong legislation is again the first step of many.
Find it incredibly hard that anyone can think this minor new piece of law will help,perhaps if i am wrong Mark will comment but the last conviction i can find for Hen Harrier offence is the year 2000 obviously it is almost impossible to get a conviction,please do not think i am not against B O P persecution but present ways of improving their lot are not working,as a retired small farmer if so minded i could have done absolutely anything on the remote parts and no one would have ever known so for sure these massive moors can never be policed effectively.Changing peoples attitude by talking or other means in my opinion is B O P only hope.
Love Hen Harriers and am saddened by the persecution and almost equally saddened by woolly thinking that a law that is unenforceable and other talk on and on about persecution,sadly no help in sight for Hen Harrier until someone recognizes that Grouse moor owners need dialogue to see what they would accept as a solution because this stance of threat is obviously having no effect,it has surely been illegal to kill them or harm in any way for a long time with no improvement.How does anyone think they can enforce a gamekeeper if so minded not to accidentally step onto a Hen Harriers nest.If we want to have more Hen Harriers maybe we have to find a way to have better relationship with shooters but certain groups just for their own reasons seem set against that.I saw that Duke of Norfolk had increased Grey Partridge numbers on his farms from about single figures upto two thousand and i bet other birds had benefited as well so things can be done if the will is there,for sure it was for the benefit of the shoot but still a benefit when there are hardly any left in most places.
If management concentrated on Black Grouse not Red then the uplands would be diverse. As for the income made by these estates, I would not tell the tax man that they are making so much money. The fact is that most of this money has been taken from the tax man before the treasury has a chance to use it for say conservation. Every angle of commercial shooting is absorbing fast amounts of money which the treasury never sees. The only man to save all these birds of prey and the landscape is the tax man by changing the tax laws.