Month: August 2011

Farming journalist laments our lost hen harriers

Stand up and take a bow, Rognvald (Rog) Wood, who wrote the following article in The Herald this week, under the headline, “Pity the graceful hen harrier in grouse season“.

Today may well be the “Glorious 12th” for the landed gentry and the privileged few who can afford to shoot grouse, but spare a thought for the unfortunate “muir cocks” for whom today will be their last.

Over the past few days I have been receiving press releases from estate agents revealing the prospects for the coming season on the various grouse moors around Scotland.

While the breeding success of grouse this year is of interest to a minority, there are a lot more folk who would like to know about the breeding success of graceful hen harriers, another bird that lives on our heather-clad hills, but has the misfortune to be a predator of grouse.

I can reveal that, once again, hen harriers have had an unsuccessful breeding season.

A report published in February of this year by the UK’s nature conservation co-ordinator on hen harriers in the UK said that persecution is a significant factor limiting growth of the hen harrier population.

Persecution was considered to be a particular problem in areas associated with grouse moor management in Scotland where numbers of the raptors are kept at rock-bottom.

Not surprisingly, the report came under heavy fire from the shooting fraternity and landed gentry who claimed it contained serious scientific flaws that undermined its conclusions.

Those allegations were strongly rebutted by Professor Des Thompson, SNH principal adviser on bio-diversity, who said: “The report is not flawed and is a robust piece of scientific work carried out by some of Britain’s leading raptor scientists.”

Underlining the extent of persecution – that includes destroying nests and eggs as well as shooting the raptors – Prof Thompson went on: “This study supports an independent study published last year by Prof Steve Redpath and colleagues that calculated there should have been 500 successful hen harrier nests on Britain’s grouse moors in 2008 when there were only five – just 1% of the predicted number.”

Farmer, author and journalist, Rog Wood has been farming correspondent for several specialist farming publications. Writing as Tom Duncan in the Sunday Post for 19 years, he is currently farming editor of The Herald. He is also a former columnist with the Standard.

No vicarious liability for England

Richard Benyon MP, the DEFRA Minister for the Natural Environment and Fisheries, doesn’t see any need to follow Scotland’s lead of introducing vicarious liability to make landowners legally responsible for incidents of raptor persecution that occur on their estates.

On 30 June 2011, Labour MP Angela Smith (Penistone & Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire) asked the following question: Only two weeks ago, a gamekeeper was convicted for illegally killing birds of prey in my constituency. Is it not time to think about introducing a vicarious liability offence to ensure that landowners and estate managers supervise their gamekeepers more closely and more effectively?

Richard Benyon’s response: There are very good laws in place to punish the illegal killing of any animal. If they are not being effectively enforced, they must be and we will take steps to make sure that happens. However, this is a good opportunity to applaud gamekeepers for the wonderful work they do in providing excellent biodiversity across our countryside.

It was reported in the Telegraph last year that Mr Benyon is a ‘keen grouse-shooter’ (see here).

Perhaps Mr Benyon hasn’t looked at the national poisoning statistics of the last few years. If he had, he couldn’t have failed to notice how many of these confirmed incidents were now listed as ‘closed’ before any enforcement action was taken! (see here for 2008-2011 database).

Perhaps we should all be writing to Mr Benyon, to point him in the direction of these official statistics and to ask him what ‘steps he will take’ to ensure that effective law enforcement is taking place? Here’s his email address: richard@richardbenyon.com

Welcome to the inglorious twelfth!

Today is the inglorious 12th, the start of the four-month grouse shooting season in the uplands of northern England and Scotland. Today, and for many days to come, ridiculously rich people will dress up in clownish outfits and head for the moors in the hope of shooting dead some birds. Many will pay an estimated average of £15,000 for the experience. I wonder how many of them will enjoy the sight of a hunting hen harrier or a golden eagle quartering across the moor? Very few, infact probably none of them because scientific evidence shows that hen harriers and golden eagles have been exterminated on most grouse moors in the UK, with just a few notable exceptions. Has anyone been convicted? One person was once convicted for killing a hen harrier, and that’s it. Nobody has ever been convicted for killing a golden eagle (someone was once taken to court a few years back but the case was dropped). Even though several dead eagles and the UK’s biggest stash of the poison they died from were all found on a sporting estate last year, still nobody has ever been convicted.

Four years ago today, this golden eagle (pictured) was found dead in Peebleshire. She was one half of the last breeding pair of golden eagles in the Borders. She had been poisoned by the banned pesticide Carbofuran and was found dead under her nest tree. Her death caused outrage and triggered the thematic inspection into the prevention, investigation and prosecution of wildlife crime in Scotland (read the resulting 2008 ‘Natural Justice’ report here). This report highlighted the problems that stand in the way of effective wildlife crime law enforcement in Scotland. Four years later, many of the same problems still exist. Nobody has been charged with the illegal killing of that female golden eagle in Peebleshire and according to a report by the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme, the case is now closed.

Since the year she was killed (2007), how many other protected raptors have suffered the same fate? The following have all been confirmed poisoned in Scotland over the last four years – the vast majority of them were found dead on grouse moors:

8 golden eagles, 3 sea eagles, 63 buzzards, 25 red kites and 8 peregrines.

These numbers do not account for birds that were trapped, shot, or had their heads smashed in with a shinty stick while their broken legs were pinned in an illegal spring trap. Nor do they account for the ‘missing’ birds – including over 2,000 hen harriers.

Today, the grouse-shooting industry will have filled the media with stories about how ‘great’ grouse moors are for conservation, how ‘great’ grouse shooting is for the economy, how ‘great’ grouse-shooting is for biodiversity. Fortunately, the general public are becoming wise to the propaganda.

Appeal pending for convicted gamekeeper Glenn Brown

An appeal is pending for convicted gamekeeper Glenn Brown, who was found guilty in June 2011 of offences relating to the illegal use of a cage trap to catch raptors on the National Trust’s Howden Moor in Derbyshire (see here, here and here).

This information was included in a feature article called ‘Raptors and the persecution of gamekeepers’ in the August 2011 edition of Modern Gamekeeping, written by solicitor Tim Ryan. It’s a tediously unoriginal article (you know, the old ‘planting of raptor corpses on shooting estates in order to get a keeper prosecuted’ routine), for which nobody has ever produced any evidence by the way. If there’s interest, the article can be posted here later.

The basis of Brown’s pending appeal is not given.

Badger cull model proposed for pine martens, otters, oh and buzzards

Thanks to the contributor who sent in the August edition of ‘Modern Gamekeeping’, a monthly rag that claims to be ‘Britain’s only independent gamekeeping industry publication’, although it boasts ‘to be in partnership with The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), so the notion of being an independent publication is somewhat perplexing.

The first article in this month’s rag is entitled: “Rise of the Mesopredator”. The sub-heading reads: “Editor Peter Carr welcomes the expected badger cull which, if it proves successful, may be a useful model to adopt for future predator licensing applications”.

It’s a longish article and because I’ve got to type it out I’m going to ignore the first half  which basically is a scare-mongering exercise on the badger ‘problem’, and I’ll just regurgitate the second half:

“Perhaps government will learn from this experience [a “too large” badger population] and look at other burgeoning predator populations in our countryside that are an increasing threat to our game birds, fisheries and other wildlife interests. If the proposed area-specific badger culling programme is successful, this model could be used in relation to the control of other mesopredators threatening countryside interests.

The problem predator situation in our Isles has been made much worse by misguided conservationists who have released and translocated certain mesopredators once thought to be threatened. Translocated pine martins [sic], for instance, have since spread across much of the country, destroying many of Scotland’s remaining capercaillie populations. One report conducted at Abernethy recorded that predators had destroyed 65 per cent of known capercaillie nests on the estate, and that a whopping great 57 per cent of these were known to be predated by pine martens.

Is it right to promote a predatory species that has found its natural balance to the detriment of an already struggling species such as the caper? I think not. Surely in areas of serious concern common sense has to be realised, and limited licensing of control put in place to prevent further loss of this iconic species.

The rapidly increasing otter population presents a similar story. In many areas, otters have turned to raiding commercial fisheries after decimating wild fish stocks.

Celebrity angler John Wilson MBE recently caused a major stir in the press when he once more called for immediate action against marauding otters and cormorants that have caused a catastrophic loss of fish in many parts of the country. Specimen carp fisheries that generate a significant amount of money and other wild coarse fisheries have crashed in recent years due to predation by both otters and cormorants. Serious concerns from salmon fisheries have also been expressed, especially in vulnerable spawning redds.

John Wilson has compiled a dossier over many months recording how his local waters and associated businesses have been affected by both otters and cormorants. He has called for other anglers around the country to help him compile further evidence and said: “why is it within the law for a farmer to shoot someone’s dog that is worrying his sheep, yet fish farmers, fishery owners and angling clubs etc are not freely allowed to cull predators such as cormorants and otters decimating their stocks of fish, it all beggars belief”.

The ‘Go Fishing’ star also recently appeared on prime time BBC news slamming predating otters that have been reintroduced all over the country by conservationists. “The otter is a wanton killer; it grabs a carp, eats a pound or two of flesh around the throat region and then leaves it. One in 20 people in Britain go fishing, paying 35 million pounds to the Government to look after our fisheries. I don’t think it is special pleading at all”, said the Norfolk-based TV angling legend. He certainly does have a point that should be seriously considered.

Let us hope that Government continues to see sense, and puts the regulation of wildlife concerns that affect our countryside’s economy and biodiversity into the hands of those that are in the know. Whether it’s badgers, otters, pine martens or buzzards, none of us want to eradicate these species, but it really is a question of balance that should be shared by all stake holders, and interested parties. Control practices should be implemented by professionals, and a high percentage of these, if ever licenses are put in place, will be by gamekeepers, river keepers and water ghillies. Let’s hope it is not too far in the future”.

No surprises there then – the usual anti-predator rhetoric that just happens to have thrown buzzards into the mix in what looks like a ‘jumping on the band wagon’ after-thought. Unfortunately this great rag is not available to read on-line, although you can subscribe (see here). It’s published by Blaze Publishing Ltd, with James Marchington listed as ‘Editorial Director’. The author of this particular article, Peter Carr, may be the same Peter Carr listed as ‘ex-gamekeeper, professional stalker, big game hunter and editor of Sporting Rifle magazine’ on the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation’s website.

It’s just ‘a few rogues’

One of the most significant barriers to ‘sorting out’ the widespread illegal persecution of raptors in Scotland is getting anyone to accept responsibility for these crimes. Previous analyses by the RSPB have shown an irrefutable link between illegally-killed raptors and the game-shooting industry (e.g. see here). Time and time again, scientific peer-reviewed studies have also shown the incontrovertible relationship between areas that are ‘missing’ breeding raptors such as golden eagles and hen harriers, and areas managed as sporting grouse moors (e.g. take a look at the government-funded Conservation Framework Reports for the golden eagle and hen harrier as a starter).

Despite the long-standing and highly-regarded body of evidence, the game-shooting industry continues to refuse responsibility. The latest article in the Scotsman (see here) provides a perfect example of this.

It’s a handful of “rogue estates” carrying out poisonings, say the gamekeepers. It’s a “handful of estates” says David Hendry of the Cardney Estate. It’s “a minority” says Susan Davies of Scottish Natural Heritage. It’s a “tiny minority” according to the SGA response to the article on their Facebook page.

It’s an interesting choice of words isn’t it? The term ‘rogue’ is often used in a jocular sense in today’s society – “Oh, he’s just a loveable rogue”, meaning yes an individual is bending the rules but he’s not doing any real harm, he’s alright really. The term ‘rogue’ is also used to infer just one or two individuals (e.g. it was a rogue crocodile, or it was a rogue tiger that attacked the man), as is the term ‘a handful’. What is a handful? One or two? Not more than five? Not more than ten? The term ‘minority’ (depending on the context) refers to less than the majority.

Do any of these words adequately describe the extent of illegal raptor persecution on Scottish sporting estates, or are they just words used to deflect the increasingly obvious conclusion that illegal raptor persecution is endemic across many sporting estates? Let’s look at the stats.

This blog has been accused of using out-of-date information to create the false illusion of widespread raptor persecution. It’s a valid criticism in some ways as our Named Estates page dates back to incidents that were recorded in 1979. Actually it only includes one record from 1979 but to be fair the list does include a lot of reported incidents from the 1980s and 1990s. These early reported incidents were only used to illustrate the historical nature of illegal raptor persecution – i.e. it’s been going on for decades, but to be completely upfront we have since indicated which of those estates are known to have since changed hands (and thus potentially changed their ‘management’ practices). So, let’s just look at reported incidents from the last two years – that is, from January 2009 to March 2011, the most up-to-date figures available in the public domain.

During this period, twenty-six named locations have been identified as places where dead raptors have been reportedly found in suspicious circumstances. Most were poisoned but ‘a handful’ were shot or trapped and one (on Logie Estate) was found dead but the cause of death remains unknown. Of these 26 locations, 14 were on named estates: Auch Estate, Edradynate Estate, Farr and Kyllachy Estate, Glenbuchat Estate, Glenogil Estate, Invercauld Estate, *Leadhills Estate, Logie Estate, Millden Estate, Mountquhanie Estate, *Moy Estate, *Redmyre Estate, *Skibo Estate, Strathspey Estate. The remaining 12 locations were un-named and may or may not involve estates: eight in 2010 and four between Jan/Mar 2011. Of course, just because an illegally poisoned, shot or trapped dead raptor is discovered at a location doesn’t necessarily implicate the estate owner, shooting tenant or gamekeeper. It could just be a series of unfortunate coincidences, even though in the Scotsman article David Hendry of Cardney Estate admits that “there are a number of estates using poison still.” On only four of the above estates have gamekeepers been convicted for related crimes (Leadhills, Moy, Redmyre and Skibo).

If we expand the search to the previous five years (2006-2011 – as this is still relatively recent), then obviously the list grows:

*Birthwood Farm, *BlythFarm, *Cabrach Estate, Clova Estate, Dawyck Estate, Dinnet & Kinord Estate, Dunecht Estate, *Frogden Farm, *Glenbuchat Estate, Glenfeshie Estate, Glenogil Estate, Glen Turret Estate, *Innes House Estate. (The ones with an asterisk indicate a conviction during this period).  In addition, a further six un-named locations are reported.

If we remove from this expanded list those estates that were already included in the two-year analysis (i.e. Glenbuchat, Glenogil) then we are left with a total of 25 different estates where dead raptors have been reportedly discovered in suspicious circumstances in the last five years. Add to these the 18 un-named locations and you get a running total of 43 different locations, assuming that all of the un-named locations were different to the named locations.

Forty-three. Is that ‘a minority’? Well yes, in the strictest sense it is because there are hundreds of shooting estates in Scotland. The exact number seems hard to pinpoint but it’s certainly at least in the low hundreds, which means that 43 is a minority in this context. But is it a ‘tiny minority’? Is it ‘a few rogues’? Is it ‘a handful’? No it isn’t. It’s a lot more than that and the game-shooting industry is being disingenuous if it continues to peddle this rural myth. But of course they’ll continue to peddle it because they want us to believe that they’re a law-abiding industry who just happen to want licences to be allowed to legally kill ‘just a few rogue’ raptors.

And what of the locations that haven’t been reported but can be implied by the ‘missing’ breeding raptors reported in the scientific papers? How many of these locations are there? Who knows. One thing is for sure – if the landowners and gamekeepers won’t admit responsibility for the incidents we do know about, they sure as hell aren’t going to admit to the ones we don’t know about! The representative bodies all say they’re working hard behind the scenes to get the ‘rogues’ to stop, but they’ve been saying that for a long, long time and here we are in 2011 and the killing continues up and down the country, with the exception of ‘a handful’ of decent estates who proactively welcome breeding raptors. Why does it continue? Because the majority know they can get away with it, just as they have been doing for the past 50+ years.

RSPB tells estates & landowners to ‘sort out’ illegal raptor persecution

In an article published in today’s Scotsman newspaper, RSPB Scotland has told estates and landowners it is time they “sorted out” the problem of birds of prey being killed.

They place the blame for illegal raptor persecution firmly at the feet of landowners and estates and say that persecution could be halted if landowners were more willing to address the problem. In reply, landowners and gamekeepers say it is just ‘a handful of rogue estates’ involved and that peer pressure is being applied behind the scenes to try and get them to stop. Bob Elliot, Head of Investigations with RSPB Scotland says more needs to be done. “They (estates and landowners) have said they don’t condone it time and time again – but what other industry do you know that wouldn’t have sorted this out by now, internally? Evidence that there is anything changing is very difficult to judge. We need to concentrate on the fact that our species are being targeted illegally and being killed.”

While Elliot is happy that vicarious liability has been included in laws covering wildlife crime, meaning landowners as well as gamekeepers have responsibility for what happens on estates, he says he would like them to be toughened further: “You can charge someone with possession of a banned chemical but there is no equivalent to a charge like ‘going equipped’ or ‘concerned in the use of’.”

The concept of ‘just a handful of rogue estates’ being involved is a familiar one, but when you look carefully at the recent persecution incidents you realise it’s simply not true. The next blog post will investigate this concept in more detail.

Well done to Bob Elliot and his colleagues at RSPB Scotland for continuing to expose the criminal persecution of raptors on sporting estates and elsewhere, and for trying to bring to justice those responsible for these selfish, disgusting crimes.

The article in the Scotsman can be read here.

Grouse moors – an assessment by Mark Avery

Mark Avery probably thinks we’re stalking him. We’ve posted quite a few of his thoughts on this site in recent weeks, and here are some more…

Mark, former RSPB Conservation Director, has a lively blog and he’s also started to produce monthly ‘newsblasts’ – in these he discusses a particular topic in more depth than he would on his daily blog, and he then emails the ‘newsblast’ to his (presumably) long list of subscribers.

His August newsblast is all about grouse moors – very topical as we approach the opening of the grouse-shooting season on the inglorious 12th August. It’s written for the reader who has scant prior knowledge of grouse moors but it also debunks a few myths about the notorious Langholm Study, which makes it interesting reading material for those with a more advanced knowledge of grouse moors. He also talks a bit about illegal raptor persecution, a topic that seems intrinsically linked to grouse moor management.

Understandably, Mark doesn’t want his newsblast re-posted on other websites so we can’t post it here. Fair enough – he wants to attract readers to his own blog. His newsblast doesn’t appear to be posted on his blog, but you can subscribe to it, free of charge on his website, and have it emailed directly to your inbox. Highly recommended.

Visit Mark’s website here.