I’ve blogged several times about the so-called “brood management” of hen harriers, including setting out two big unanswered questions and 25 more specific ones raised by the idea of brood management.
To be honest, I’d rather hoped not to have to write another blog on brood management this soon. I’d much rather be talking about the positive work RSPB and our partners are doing for hen harriers, for example through our Life project on the species.
But the Hawk and Owl Trust have now elaborated on their apparent plans for a Brood Management Scheme, with two pieces on their website covering the “conservation” and “science” around the idea, so it feels necessary to comment.
It’s worth saying I have a huge amount of respect for the Hawk and Owl Trust and a lot of the work they’ve done over the years. While we all make bad judgements from time to time, in this case the consequences could be extremely serious.
I also think it is unedifying that Defra have left it to another conservation organisation to try to justify a brood management scheme.
This is not the way to instill confidence from those sceptical that the brood management scheme is anything other than a sop to those running the most intensive driven grouse moors.
There is one section on the Hawk and Owl Trust website that exemplifies all that is wrong with this scheme.
“The six point plan has been agreed in principle by all parties but has yet to be ratified as one member believes that the brood management trial should be delayed until Hen Harrier numbers have recovered to a pre-determined number.
This is a worthy but sadly unrealistic objective, as it is not always understood or appreciated that Hen Harriers, as colonial or semi-colonial nesters, will become concentrated on a small number of individual moors. The fact of this concentration places these birds at huge risk of further persecution.”
I object to the implication that a brood management scheme is essential to prevent further illegal killing of birds of prey.
Let’s call it what it is. The brood management scheme is a persecution avoidance scheme. And its supporters primarily come from the shooting community including the Moorland Association, the Countryside Alliance and the National Gamekeepers’ Association. Its only support from the conservation sector has been the Game and Wildlife and Conservation Trust and now the Hawk and Owl Trust – an organisation that was not part of the talks which have taken place over the past two years.
These proponents and especially Defra will have to do more to explain how it be justified legally.
The brood management scheme is a project involving a European protected species. As such it would be subject to a series of tests under European law. These aren’t arbitrary bureaucratic tests – they are the embodiment of smart nature conservation decision-making.
The first test is to demonstrate that there are no alternative ways of meeting the objectives of the project.
There are clearly alternative ways of stopping illegal killing either through better enforcement or through the proven technique of diversionary feeding.
There are no imperative reasons of overriding public interest for intervening in this way. What is so peculiar is that Defra itself recognises that the alternative measures are necessary and appropriate components of the draft Hen Harrier action plan. By including these measures, it has essentially shot its own fox – or should I say, grouse.
Even if the alternatives test was somehow past, I struggle to see how it could be justified to issue the necessary licence under section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
I could offer a point by point rebuttal (I really could - I have a piece of paper sitting on my desk that does exactly that) but I cannot see how that helps anyone.
I don’t want the Hawk and Owl Trust to be set up as the fall guy by being Defra’s champion of an ill-conceived and potentially unlawful scheme.
For now, I simply want to reiterate publicly what I have said privately on many occasions. Let’s get on with the non-contentious parts of the Hen Harrier Action Plan and consult more widely on the concept of the brood management scheme.
I agree with all the comments made here but clearly we have reached an impasse. Those in the shooting community that break the law or turn a blind eye to others that do,will be quite happy with a status quo that sees birds of prey absent from many of our uplands. Implementation of the brood management scheme, while not justified on so many grounds, provides an opportunity to challenge the shooting community to deliver the only card they have on the table - an end to persecution. And this means not only the wilful destruction of birds of prey and their eggs but also the various practices of moorland management that are designed to disturb or prevent breeding. Parts of the grouse moors on private estates in the Bowland Forest where hen harriers have traditonally nested are burning as we speak and just as the first sky dancing has started. Brood management will help breeding success in the short term and provide birds that can be tracked with the shooting community fully in the spotlight if they disappear. Only then can we catch the burglar red-handed.