I know that the posting of this blog, at this time in the morning - so late - will slightly irritate some readers who are early risers but I hope that you will cut me a bit of slack after last night's big win. I refer, of course, to Rushden and Diamonds's 5-1 victory over Bath City. As you know, I'm not one to complain but... even Bath's single goal was the result of an appalling penalty decision by the referee - we were robbed!
And after yesterday's popular blog about how to measure conservation success and the importance of nesting success and survival which turned, I knew it would, it always does, into a discussion about predator control, we come to another subject of great and lasting interest; raptors and whether people are nice to them or not.
Whereas everyone loves a lapwing, wants to see its population rise, wishes it a long and happy life and wishes to see it have a huge number of babies, the same cannot be said for the hen harrier. We contend, and there is science to back this up although those studies are a little dated now, that hen harriers' lifespan is artificially adjusted downwards and their breeding success is also discouraged rather than encouraged. I wonder whether hen harriers wish they were lapwings?
In fairly recent times hen harriers, although unloved by some, may have felt a bit smug because their UK population level (that's the measure!) has gone up. It has gone up in those parts of the UK where driven grouse shooting is a rare land use - west Scotland (but not east or south Scotland), Wales, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man (not part of the UK strictly speaking) but not in the north of England (where there should be about 300+ pairs).
The latest UK-wide survey results are now available and confirm the utter paucity of hen harriers nesting in grouse moor areas. Although grouse moor areas have suitable habitat for around 500 pairs of hen harrier recent numbers on such areas, nesting successfully, have not reached double figures.
And this time the results show a slightly surprising overall population decline too.
Region/country 2004 2010
England 11 12Isle of Man 57 29Northern Ireland 63 59Scotland 633 489 Wales 43 57 UK total 749 617 UK & Isle of Man 806 646
In Scotland, the Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill, which is currently being debated, provides a great opportunity to take new steps to try and help save hen harriers. One option being looked at is making landowners legally responsible for the actions of their gamekeepers.
Later this week, the meeting of the Partnership for Action against Wildlife Crime meeting will be addressed by Richard Benyon, Minister for the Natural Environment and Fisheries. We hope that the Defra Minister will agree with us that it's time to take decisive action in the struggle to protect threatened birds of prey.
More than 70 per cent of people convicted of bird of prey persecution in the last 20 years have been gamekeepers, in reality it's often landowners who effectively force their employees to break the law. We believe that making landowners legally accountable for bird of prey crimes in Scotland and England is a vital step in the road to reducing persecution.
A love of the natural world demonstrates that a person is a cultured inhabitant of planet Earth.
Carduus - thank you. I don't think we really know the reason for the big fall on the Isle of Man. Perhaps its just a fluke, perhaps there has been some habitat change leading to loss of nesting areas or more likely a loss of food supplies or perhaps these birds are killed when they leave the IoM. It's difficult to say. And the same is true for the fall in Scotland. But they have gone up in Wales.
We do get reports of hen harriers being killed at winter roosts. If this happens on a significant scale then the impacts could be found in the breeding population in any parts of the range - I'm not saying that is the reason but it's the type of thing that would explain the overall population change.
Mark,
Do you know the reason for the big fall on the Isle of Man - persecution or another explanation?
Also, why the decline in Scotland (after previous increases)? Is persecution more intense than before, more widespread in formerly 'safe' areas, or what?
Regardless of the practical difficulties in collecting evidence for prosecutions, I'm all in favour of making landowners (and estate managers / head gamekeepers where relevant) legally responsible for raptor persecution on their land / by their employees. While gamekeepers can be replaced, the threat of being personally prosecuted ought to be a significant deterrent.
Trimbush,
Mark has written quite a few blog postings on badgers/TB (which I assume is what you're getting at here). So no need to keep pushing your agenda when the subject is raptor persecution.
trimbush - well, it's a point of view.
Sooty - with the greatest of respect, do you think that there has been no dialogue? Of course there has been and is. Human murder is quite difficult to solve - wildlife murder even more difficult. I suspect that RSPB Investigations staff have a pretty good idea of how difficult it is too. The RSPB certainly uses the deliberate breaking of wildlife protection laws for publicity - do you suggest that we should hush it up or ignore it?
Is there anyone out there can tell me how it is possible to track every gamekeeper 24hrs a day over thousands of Hectares of moors and stop him from accidenally putting his foot on Hen Harriers nest.I suspect without any disrespect only Trimbush knows the difficulty of policing moorland. Unless anyone knows the answer to the above question any change in the law is irrelevant.If the law would solve this problem it would have already done so and some shooters believe the RSPB use this for publicity and for certain think dialogue would be a better option to try than law.
mark
…….. What are you and the rspb afraid of ……… the rspb appears to be a massive SCAM …. You collect money for a good cause but fail to deliver because your policies – based on bias and a serious lack of knowledge - do not translate into reality – real deliverables – as recently discussed by your ex-Chairman was it?
And now you appears fearful of CAPS – at first I though you many Europe
With a turnover of some £125 Millions – how could the rspb say that a much-loved diseased mammal needs culling? Very little for Birds – Nothing for Nature!
The con goes on!