There’s lots of talk at the moment, not least in Durban, about what new commitments governments might make to help save the planet. But we shouldn’t forget one very important promise the UK Government has already made – in the revised England Biodiversity Strategy - to prevent any human induced extinctions of known threatened species before 2020. As I have blogged before, this is a bold and rightly ambitious commitment. But, the reality is Defra Ministers have their work cut to fulfil this promise.
The hen harrier is a spectacular bird of prey, which has been a rare sight in England for many years due to illegal persecution, mainly on land managed for intensive driven grouse shooting. Figures released today show that a population that has been in terrible health for many years is now on life support. Despite the Government’s own figures showing there is enough habitat for 323-340 pairs of hen harriers in England, in 2011, there were just FOUR successful nests. All were on a single estate in Lancashire, owned by United Utilities and managed in partnership with the RSPB. This is a terrible state of affairs. One wet spring, or a bad year for voles, or a fire at the wrong time of year or simply the pervasive effect of continued persecution and the hen harrier could be lost from England. This would be a tragedy for the birds and for anyone who cares about wildlife. But it would also mean the UK Government would have broken its promise.
With this in mind, you might think the UK Government would be throwing everything at saving these last few birds. Yet right now its quite hard to identify what they are doing. It is the RSPB and a few friends, including United Utilities and dedicated raptor workers, and with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, who are fighting the harrier’s corner. We recently launched Skydancers, a project designed to help the hen harrier recover across northern England through a mix of community engagement and direct conservation work. Skydancers is named after the male hen harrier’s rollercoaster aerial display, known to many as ‘skydancing’. Through this, we have to dispel the notion that hen harriers and grouse shooting cannot co-exist.
I visited Langholm moor in southern Scotland in the summer, where a diverse group of partners are working to demonstrate exactly this. One of the techniques being trialled is diversionary feeding – basically a bird table for harriers so they don’t need to predate grouse. It is straightforward to deliver, and the good news is it appears to work. In four years of diversionary feeding, not a single grouse has been observed being brought to hen harrier nests at Langholm. Yet despite this, there isn’t a long list of grouse moor owners lining up to trial it for themselves. There are a few honourable exceptions in Scotland, but in England, to the best of my knowledge, no grouse moor is trialling it. We think they should be, and Natural England agrees with us.
Of course, diversionary feeding isn’t the only option. Scotland has introduced vicarious liability – making landowners legally responsible for ensuring their gamekeepers don’t kill birds of prey. The public interest case was accepted in Scotland - is there any reason why it wouldn’t also be met in England given the damage being wrought on our birds of prey? I can’t think of one. Defra has asked the Law Commission to consider how wildlife protection laws in England and Wales can be improved - we expect the Commission’s proposals to be made public in mid 2012. We will suggest vicarious liability as one means of strengthening protection for wildlife. There will be opportunities for readers of this blog to have their say – more nearer the time. In the meantime, and if you haven’t already, please support this epetition, asking for the idea to be debated in Westminster.
So the gauntlet has been laid at Defra's dorr. If you want to keep your promise to prevent extinctions on your watch, then you need to commit to a dedicated species action plan for hen harrier and other highly threatened species. This is what England’s wildlife needs and what everyone who cares about the rare and threatened demands.
What do you think the answer is? Diversionary feeding might be an easier option, but does it need the stick of vicarious liability to deliver real change? Maybe both?
It would be great to hear your views.
PS Did you watch David Attenborough's Frozen Planet finale last night? Read what RSPB Chief Executive, Mike Clarke, says here.
Looks like the "greenest ever Government" will be the one that presides over the extinction of the Hen Harrier as an English breeding species. A shameful situation that could have been avoided with a measure of political determination. The vicarious liability "stick" is vital and penalties need to genuinely hurt the offenders.
Think the reason they will not take up diversionary feeding is that as good as it is it defeats there ideas as we would get a very large population of Hen Harriers.Goodness knows what can be done but we have to hope someone finds a solution that they are comfortable with.
Alas, explicit reference to ghg reduction was lacking from the piece last night. Shame.
Very good Martin. It reminds me of a friend who had a "bird table" at night of dead poulets from a battery chicken outfit and spots on laser trips so that as the owls came in they wre lit up for all to see; the late and great bird man of Wapley Hill, Radnor; Miles Bradley.
I do nt suppose David Attenborogh actually committed himself to specific CO2 reduction targets live and on air on prime time BBC did he ? It would be an NHU first (right at the end of the Kyoto process) !