Shooting on the reserve.......are you sure?

It depends on who has the shooting rights. When Leighton Moss in Lancashire first became an RSPB reserve, it was held on lease. Then the RSPB where given the chance to buy the freehold at Leighton Moss, but not the shooting rights. So for quite a long period of time the RSPB didn’t have the shooting rights and shooting was allowed at Leghton Moss on birds that where legally allowed to be shot at certain times of the year and it only quite late on that the RSPB where able to buy the shooting right and then shooting ended. Also on occasions the RSPB has to control certain wild animals and even some wild birds over the years. The RSPB had to control the Black Headed Gulls at one time on the scape at Minsmere, as the Black Headed Gulls where affecting the breeding success of Avocets taking the young Avocets. So they didn’t cull the Black Headed Gulls, but they did a certain thing by making the eggs infertile by some of the Black Headed Gulls to stop them having young. At Leighton Moss over the years the RSPB have sadly had to control the Deer population because the Deer where damaging the Reed-Beds. Also the National Trust in the past on at least on two occasions have had to control the Seals on the Farne Islands in Northumberland in an area not far from where I live, because the population was so high and was affecting the breeding success by some of the rarer breeding birds and it was all done legally under license. And County Wildlife Trusts have had to this from time to time as wel. And sadly I have to agree it has to be done on occasions by wildlife conservation organisations. It’s a difficult and hard decisions to make, but on occasions it has to be done if there’s no other way and sadly I have to agree with this.

Thanks for your reply, was interesting to read and I do agree that sometimes this sort of action is necessary for the reasons you outlined. That said the example I mention above is related to the rspb not having control of shooting rights as they lease the reserve. In this instance it sounds like a great deal for the shooting estate as the rspb pay to lease the reserve, spend money improving it making it attractive to breeding birds only for the shooting estate to have a much improved number of birds to shoot. Additionally this reserve also includes nesting and visiting category 1 birds. Given some of these people take pot shots at anything that moves there’s got to be a risk to those birds. Can’t help but feel that this is wrong in so many ways and that the rspb need to be more open about this sort of thing allowing their members to make informed decisions about how they choose to donate money and where they choose to visit.

Hi there,

I can confirm that we lease the Loch of Kinnordy nature reserve and we don’t own the shooting rights. We believe that working together with the owners allows the greatest positive impact for nature at the reserve. If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to get in touch. You can email the reserve team team at lochleven@rspb.org.uk.

Thanks.

Hi Kirsty and thanks for your comment. I have already emailed the rspb on this and am awaiting a response. That said, I do note that that you have chosen not to address any of the points I raised. I think it’s important that these sort of issues be addressed in public with openness rather than via private email.