Month: August 2014

Young peregrine shot in Co Wexford

Perg Co WexA young peregrine falcon has had to be euthanised after it was illegally shot in Co Wexford, Ireland.

The news article in the Irish Times (here) doesn’t say when the bird was found but it can be assumed it was quite recently – the young bird had been ringed with a unique identification number so presumably the authorities know it was one of this year’s fledglings.

The bird was found at Ballynastraw near Enniscorthy and an x-ray revealed it had been hit with shotgun pellets in its wings and leg. A vet decided the injuries were too severe for the bird to be rehabilitated.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service has appealed for information. Dominic Berridge of NPWS said: “The finding of this bird is not an isolated incident. There have been attempts to poison and shoot birds at a number of nests and if people see anything suspicious like a tethered pigeon or a trap, NPWS staff should be called”.

Mr Osborne loves hen harriers!

No, not THAT Mr Osborne (he may or may not love hen harriers – who knows?). This is another Mr Osborne, one J. Mark Osborne of Oxford.

Mr Mark Osborne is a grouse moor manager extraordinare. He is feted by the grouse-shooting industry for his ability to turn a ‘poorly performing’ grouse moor in to “something beyond the moor owner’s wildest dreams” (e.g. see here).

Well, it turns out that Mr Osborne loves hen harriers, according to an article that appeared on his website today – see here.

We were surprised to read it. Well, so might you be if you’ve read this and this.

Who knew?!

Rumour has it that Mr Osborne, as well as Mr Baikie (see last link above to find out who he is) have recently taken over the management of a number of neighbouring driven grouse-shooting estates in the Highlands. We’ll probably be blogging about this area in the not-too-distant future….just to report on the number of successfully breeding hen harriers and other raptors, natch!

Hen Harrier photo by Gordon Langsbury

Hen harrier ‘quota’ system nothing more than legalised persecution

HH Laurie CampbellSo here we are again, the Inglorious Twelfth, heralding the start of the grouse-shooting season and the papers are full of the usual guff about how great this ‘sport’ is for the economy, conservation, world peace etc etc, although very little information about the industry’s undeniable link with the illegal persecution of raptors.

One particular story that’s getting a lot of media coverage is the publication of a scientific paper that suggests a hen harrier ‘quota’ system could solve the long-running conflict between grouse-moor management and raptor conservation e.g. see here.

It’s not a new story – this quota system idea, which basically means that once the hen harrier population has reached a certain size, birds will be ‘removed’ from grouse moors so as not to interfere with the profits of driven grouse shooting, has been around since 1998 and has been wheeled out in various guises ever since, notably by Professor Steve Redpath of Aberdeen University who has directed much of the research. Indeed, the quota system was central to the six-year ‘Hen Harrier Dialogue’ talks between the grouse-shooting industry and conservationists, which eventually collapsed because the ‘dialogue’ was seen by the conservationists as a delaying tactic – while everyone was busy ‘talking’ the hen harrier was virtually eradicated as a breeding species in England (see here for why the RSPB walked out, here for why the Northern England Raptor Forum walked out, and here for why the Hawk & Owl Trust walked out).

In the latest paper (see link at foot of this blog entry) a new data model is put forward which demonstrates that ‘across the grouse moors of England there is room for 70 pairs of hen harriers at relatively low cost for grouse shooting’.

At a superficial level, 70 pairs of hen harriers sounds quite good, especially when you consider that this year there are only three reported breeding pairs in the whole of England. However, 70 pairs represents only 20% of the estimated 340 pairs that could inhabit the English uplands. Should we cut our losses and accept that having 20% of the population is better than having the less than 1% of the population that we currently have? We don’t think so.

Why should we accept anything less than 100% of the estimated 340 breeding pairs that could exist? Why should a species of high conservation concern pay the price just so a minority of people can maintain artificially-high populations of red grouse in order to spend a few days each year blasting them from the sky?

There are many other issues, too. Let’s just suppose the quota system was agreed by all the stakeholders and it went ahead. For the first few years, hen harrier chicks would be removed from the grouse moors, reared in captivity and then released ‘elsewhere’. What would happen once the hen harriers have recolonised their former range and filled all the spaces? Where would the hen harrier chicks then be released? The removal of those birds could only ever be a short-term solution until all the vacant territories have been filled. In the long-term, it would undoubtedly lead to calls for a cull.

Then there’s the issue of trust. And it’s a big issue, perhaps the biggest of all. Would we trust the grouse moor owners not to persecute the hen harriers that are ‘allowed’ to breed on grouse moors? Not a chance in hell! This industry has denied involvement in raptor persecution for decades, despite all the evidence against them. They have proved themselves to be untrustworthy and incapable of self-regulation. Why would we trust them to do the right thing now? Come on.

Another concern is the precedent that would be set by this quota system. First hen harriers, but then what? Peregrines? Golden eagles? Short-eared owls? Goshawks? Red kites? Sparrowhawks? Buzzards? Ravens? All of these species are already illegally killed on grouse moors. You can bet your house that if the hen harrier quota system goes ahead, these species will be next on the list. It’s simply a way for the grouse-shooting industry to legalise a crime that they’re already committing.

So what’s the alternative? That’s easy – a ban on driven grouse shooting. An industry that cannot function without relying on illegal persecution has had its day. Sign the petition here.

Download the latest scientific paper on a hen harrier quota system here: Elston et al 2014 HH quota model_JAE

Raven found poisoned at Killard Nature Reserve

raven poisoned KillardThanks to the contributor who sent us a copy of the following article, published in the (County) Down Recorder, 23 July 2014. We’ve shortened it slightly:

The poisoning of a raven at Killard Nature Reserve, County Down, has prompted a police investigation and raised serious concerns amongst environmentalists.

The dead bird was found on 15th March 2014 but it has only now been confirmed that it was poisoned with the banned pesticide, Carbofuran.

Situated at the mouth of Strangford Lough opposite Ballyquintin, where walkers are attracted by the area’s rich wildlife and interesting rock formations, the site is managed by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA).

An NIEA spokeswoman said they were “deeply concerned” and advised members of the public at Killard not to pick up any dead wildlife in case they are poisoned. She explained that the raven, protected by the Wildlife (NI) Order 1985, was found by one of their wildlife officers on the cliff top above Benderg Beach.

“The dead raven was found in an unnatural posture which, from experience, led the officer to believe that it may have been poisoned”, said the spokeswoman. “Despite a thorough search no evidence was found that poison had been laid in the reserve. Tests completed in early July revealed that the raven had died as a result of ingesting Carbofuran, a poison banned for use throughout the EU. It is likely that the bird picked this up from a poisoned bait within 100 metres of where the raven was found.

“NIEA is deeply concerned, not only the poisoning of a protected species nesting locally, but also that it took place on or near a protected site where wildlife should be safe”.

NIEA said it wasn’t aware of any other incidents at the reserve but issued the following advice: “Members of the public visiting Killard are asked to avoid handling any dead animals such as rabbits or birds in case they may have been poisoned or baited with poison. Dogs should be kept on the lead and prevented from approaching any such corpses, and dogs are not permitted on the Reserve when livestock graze there over the winter months.

“If members of the public in the Killard and Ballyhornan area do come across any dead crows, birds of prey or foxes, or find any suspicious carcasses or rabbits or chickens covered in granular or powdered substances, or see any suspicious activity which could relate to illegal poisoning, they are asked to contact Downpatrick PSNI”.

A spokeswoman for the RSPB in Northern Ireland said the incident was “very disappointing”.

“All cases of birds or wildlife being poisoned by an illegal substance are worrying, but this incident is particularly concerning because the County Down area is a stronghold for the threatened red kite”, she said.

“Having been persecuted to extinction in Northern Ireland more than 200 years ago, kites were reintroduced here in 2008. Sadly, last year alone around 30% of the breeding population were confirmed poisoned, making it more difficult for the species to thrive.

“Leaving out poisoned bait is an illegal practice as it is indiscriminate and can affect not only scavenging birds like red kites, but also pets, livestock and humans”.

Hen Harrier Day: “We will win”

What an absolute privilege it was to be part of the 570-strong crowd at Derwent Water today for the inaugural Hen Harrier Day. 570 people, from Inverness to the Isle of Wight, who wouldn’t even let ex-Hurricane Bertha stop them from coming out to stand together and say they’d had enough of illegal hen harrier persecution. Strong, resolute and defiant; even if the dam’s wall had burst they’d still have stood firm. The cheers and applause that greeted Chris Packham’s closing statement, “We will win“, could probably be heard throughout the Dark Peak. Long may it resonate.

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That guy in the blue coat holding up his phone (below) – that’s Barry Gardiner MP, the Shadow Environment Minister.

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The woman in the blue coat (below) – that’s Amanda Anderson, Director of the Moorland Association, who appeared to be recording the speeches – perhaps the MA are getting a bit jittery?

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“We will win”

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Of course, illegal hen harrier persecution isn’t restricted to driven grouse moors in England. Here’s a quick overview of the issue in Scotland (info from the 2011 Hen Harrier Conservation Framework & the 2010 national survey):

  • The potential national hen harrier population in Scotland is estimated (conservatively) to be within the range 1467-1790 pairs.
  • The current national hen harrier population in Scotland as recorded during the most recent (2010) national survey is 505 pairs, more than a 20% decline from the numbers recorded during the 2004 national survey.
  • In Scotland, the hen harrier has a favourable conservation status in only five of 20 regions.
  • Two main constraints were identified: illegal persecution, and in one region, prey shortages.
  • The species is particularly unsuccessful in the Central Highlands, Cairngorm Massif, Northeast Glens, Western Southern Uplands and the Border Hills. There is strong evidence in these grouse moor regions that illegal persecution is causing the failure of a majority of breeding attempts.

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This is what solidarity looks like (thanks Chris & Mark for being good sports!). Special mention to Findlay Wilde and his Dad for bringing along this spectacular centre piece.

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Why not join 13,000 other voices and sign this e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting.

Media coverage of Hen Harrier Day in the Peak District:

Read Mark Avery’s take on the day here

Read what Guy Shorrock (RSPB Investigations) had to say here

A blog about the event from Alan Davies (The Biggest Twitch) here

Findlay Wilde’s blog about the day here

Article on Birdwatch website here

A blog about the event by Stewart Abbott here

A blog about the event by Ginny Battson here

Hen Harrier Day in pictures on RSPB Skydancer blog here

Watch Mark Avery & Chris Packham deliver their speeches (filmed by Stephen Cummings aka @TheBaldIbis) here

A video from the day, filmed and produced by Chris Packham’s ‘team’ here

East Scotland sea eagle chick fledges: what fate awaits this one?

For the second consecutive year, a young white-tailed eagle has successfully fledged from a nest in east Scotland.

His sibling, who hatched in 2013, un-mysteriously ‘disappeared’ earlier this year in a notorious raptor persecution blackspot in the Cairngorms National Park (see here and here). He was the first sea eagle to fledge in east Scotland in over 200 years but he didn’t even survive to see his first birthday. His satellite transmitter went silent after he’d visited a driven grouse moor where previously a head gamekeeper had been convicted of poisoning offences (2006), a poisoned golden eagle had been found in 2011 (no prosecution), a poisoned buzzard had been found in 2011 (no prosecution), poisoned bait had been discovered in 2011 (no prosecution) and a short-eared owl had been found in 2011 that had been shot and shoved underneath a rock (no prosecution). The police raided the estate in April this year but found no trace of the eagle.

He might not have been the first sea eagle to fledge in Scotland in over 200 years if another east Scotland pair had not had their nest tree felled by someone with a chainsaw (see here – no prosecution).

The BBC is running an article on this year’s fledgling (see here) and includes a telling remark from RSPB Scotland saying they hoped the young bird would avoid areas where birds of prey have been poisoned or trapped. In other words, steer clear of driven grouse moors.

He’s got at least five years in which to run the gauntlet before he becomes mature enough to breed – we don’t rate his chances much.

Go west, kid, go west.

wtse fife 2014 ian francis

LUSH Cosmetics supports hen harrier day

We saw this on Twitter yesterday (thanks to @vickysummers86) and thought it deserved sharing. It’s a window display from a LUSH Cosmetics shop:

LUSH shop VSummers

Well done LUSH! Check out their website here and buy their products!

Also seen on Twitter yesterday…..Reservoir Cats make a welcome return after four long years with this masterpiece. Wonder if we’ll see them hanging out at Derwent this weekend…

GWCT, the Moorland Association, and their absurd hen harrier pantomime

There’s a very good blog published today on the British Ornithological Union’s website (here). It’s written by Dr Arjun Amar, a leading raptor ecologist who has published widely on the hen harrier following his PhD and post-doc studies on this species.

Arjun’s blog summarises what he calls the ‘terminal decline’ of the hen harrier and discusses the various approaches that are currently being discussed to prevent the inevitable. The three main approaches are:

1. A ban on driven grouse shooting.

2. A grouse moor licensing scheme whereby sporting rights can be removed if illegal persecution continues.

3. A brood management scheme – which basically means removing young harriers from grouse moors, rearing them in captivity and releasing them elsewhere.

In Arjun’s considered opinion, “any one of these three approaches could work well to provide a conservation success (i.e. more harriers) at least in the short term“.

He’s right, of course, in a strictly scientific sense, although he doesn’t address either the ethical, practical or enforcement issues that accompany each approach. But then why should he? He’s a scientist and he’s arguing from a scientific perspective, which is appropriate in the context of the BOU website.

Meanwhile, Andrew Gilruth of the GWCT has jumped on Arjun’s blog and has written an article proclaiming, ‘Leading raptor scientist believes hen harrier brood management could provide success‘ (see here).

Yes, strictly speaking, that’s what Arjun did say. But he also said that the other two approaches could also work well. But then we’d hardly expect GWCT to headline an article with, ‘Leading raptor scientist believes a ban on driven grouse shooting could provide success‘!

Why did GWCT choose to highlight the brood management option and not the banning of driven grouse shooting or a grouse moor licensing scheme? Well, according to Andrew Gilruth, “it would appear to make sense to implement the only approach that is ready right now – brood management“. The thing is, the brood management approach is not ‘ready right now’. In fact it’s far from being ready – read this for a good explanation.

It’s all about the careful cherry-picking of words, of which the GWCT (and others in the game-shooting industry) do so well. If you’ve read the GWCT’s recent articles on hen harriers and taken them at face value (i.e. not bothered to read around the subject), you’d be forgiven for believing that the GWCT loves hen harriers and wants to help them recover. But you have to read the small print to understand that this ‘recovery’ is conditional on the hen harriers being restricted to areas away from driven grouse moors.

It wasn’t so long ago that the GWCT (or Game Conservancy Trust as they were then called) were calling for a cull of hen harriers on grouse moors (e.g. see here), as was the Moorland Association (see here) who are also currently trying to convince us that they love hen harriers. This is the same Moorland Association who claimed there was ‘no evidence’ of gamekeepers persecuting hen harriers and that moorland owners are ‘within their rights and the law to deter hen harriers from settling on their moor to breed’ (see here). This is also the same Moorland Association (along with the National Gamekeepers Organisation) who failed to encourage their members to sign a pledge to accept the laws protecting hen harriers (see here).

Some people may be taken in by the GWCT and Moorland Association’s current absurd hen harrier pantomime, but many of us are not.

E-petition to ban driven grouse shooting: SIGN HERE.

To find out how you can get involved with Hen Harrier Day activities, click here.

Hen Harrier photo by Gordon Langsbury.

Standing in solidarity for Hen Harrier Day: 10th August 2014

Hen-Harrier-Day-2014cHen Harrier Day is only a week away.

At 10am on Sunday 10th August 2014, hundreds of people will gather at three locations in northern England to protest about the illegal killing of hen harriers on driven grouse moors.

At the same time, over one million social media users will be seeing a ‘thunderclap’ message on their timelines about illegal hen harrier persecution.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a Hen Harrier Day ‘event’ planned in Scotland this year (although there will be next year – we’ll make sure of that). However, this provides us with an opportunity to stand in solidarity with our colleagues south of the border and show our unified support – after all, hen harrier persecution is not restricted to the English uplands – they are just as likely to be killed on a Scottish grouse moor as they are on an English grouse moor.

Here’s one example – this male was caught in an illegally-set leg-hold trap on a driven grouse moor in the Highlands a couple of years ago. Had he not been found and rescued by raptor fieldworkers, it’s quite likely his head would have been smashed in with a stick or a rock and his lifeless, bloodied body carted off to be hidden or burnt. Various red kite body parts were found on the same estate at the same time, their dismembered legs stuffed down rabbit holes. Nobody was prosecuted for these offences.

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We know that a large number of our friends and colleagues from Scotland are travelling to the Northumberland rally next weekend, and we (RPS) will be at the demo in the Peak District.

Hen Harrier Day is an unprecedented opportunity to stand up and show you care. We urge as many of you as possible to get involved and show your support. There are a number of ways of doing this, including turning up at one of the demos, getting yourself a Hen Harrier Day t-shirt, joining the social media Hen Harrier Day ‘thunderclap’, downloading the Hen Harrier Day poster and taking a ‘selfie’ and using the #HenHarrierDay hashtag on Twitter. Details about all of these things, and more, can be found here.

You can also join over 10,000 others who have signed a petition to get driven grouse shooting banned – sign here.

Massive, massive kudos and thanks to Birders Against Wildlife Crime, Mark Avery and Chris Packham for their extraordinary (voluntary!) efforts to bring desperately-needed media attention to expose one of the biggest on-going scandals in UK conservation history. We’re very proud to be part of it.