Month: October 2019

The following article was published today in the Wharfedale Observer:

Call for robust action to protect grouse on Ilkley Moor

by Annette McIntyre (reporter)

BRADFORD Council is planning “robust” action after reports of grouse being driven from Ilkley Moor to be shot.

Grouse shooting was banned on the moor at the start of 2018 when the council refused to renew a lease – but there are fears that birds are being deliberately driven onto private land to be killed.

Now Bradford is looking at taking tougher action after an allegation of an incident in October – and the Friends of Ilkley Moor are urging the public to report any attempts to get round the ban.

A Bradford Council spokesperson, said: “This is the second time we have received a report of grouse being driven from our land onto private land to be shot and we are extremely disappointed this has happened again.

The Bingley Moor Estate’s rights to drive and shoot grouse on Ilkley Moor expired in 2018, and last time this occurred we issued them with a legal warning.

Our staff have been trying to maintain good relations with the people from the Estate, but we are now seeking legal advice with a view to taking more robust action.”

The friends group issued a statement saying: “The Friends of Ilkley Moor are extremely concerned at what appears to be a concerted effort to get around the ban on shooting on Ilkley Moor. We call on the Council to take robust legal action. We urge any member of the public witnessing what appears to be a drive, to drive birds off Ilkley Moor, to take photographs and report the matter to ourselves and to Bradford Countryside Service“.

An alleged incident on October 18 was reported by an Ilkley woman, who does not want to be named.

She said: “I was walking with my dog in an area of moorland west and uphill from Silverwell cottage when I noticed a group of at least eight people walking in a line from Addingham Moorside towards Keighley Road. As they approached Keighley Road, they changed direction and started walking in formation towards Addingham Moorside.

It was an organised group, several (perhaps all) of the group were carrying walkie talkies which were in operation at the time. They were also carrying flags and had a number of dogs with them. I clearly saw ground birds being ‘lifted’ as they walked the area.

Gun shots could be heard, but I did not see the guns being fired. I assume the birds were being led to the area where shooting was taking place.

I stopped to take some photos, as I was surprised and unnerved to see beaters operating on Ilkley Moor, where grouse shooting is banned.

Once back at Keighley Road, I saw nine 4×4 type vehicles parked. This was above the parking area next to the driveway of Silverwell Cottage, above the sign stating not suitable for vehicles.”

Bingley Moor Partnership spokesman Edward Bromet said: “I do not deny we were there however Ilkley Moor is open access land for any member of the public including ourselves under CROW ( Countryside and Rights of Way) Act 2000 and since the ending of the lease by Bradford MDC we have to exercise this right to walk across it to reach Addingham Moor which we (the Bingley Moor Partnership) continue to manage.

There is no prescription in the CROW Act as to whether a group of people have to walk in a group or in a line or three or four at a time etc. It is a general right to roam, which Bradford MDC are happy to see exercised on Ilkley Moor but it inevitably disturbs wild ground nesting birds including red grouse which are native to the moorland. Where that bird then chooses to fly is of course at its discretion.

I confirm no shooting took place on Ilkley Moor. We parked beside the public highway in a car park, the same as many other visitors to Ilkley Moor do on a daily basis. We do not see we should be criticised for exercising rights available to the general public.

Revive, the coalition for grouse moor reform in Scotland hosted a well-attended fringe event at the recent SNP national conference in Aberdeen, attracting enthusiasm and support from members just as it did at the SNP’s spring conference event earlier this year (see here).

Revive’s campaign manager, Max Wiszniewski has written a blog about the event (here) and how this time the focus was on the climate crisis, the extent of animal welfare issues and how the culture of intimidation on some grouse moors affects local residents and visitors alike.

It was great to see former Environment Minister Stewart Stevenson MSP chairing the session and local councillor Julie Bell (SNP Kirriemuir and Dean) participating on the panel.

Libby Anderson from coalition partner OneKind gave a preview of Revive’s forthcoming report called Untold Suffering. This report will be published shortly and makes for a harrowing read.

For more information about the Revive coalition please visit the website here

If you support significant reform of Scotland’s grouse moors please consider signing Revive’s pledge HERE

[Photo by Getty]

At the RSPB’s AGM yesterday, the Chair of RSPB Council made the following announcement (also published on Martin Harper’s blog):

Announcement of review of RSPB policy on gamebird shooting

“There is growing concern about the environmental impact (including for carbon, water and biodiversity) of intensive forms of game bird shooting and associated land management practices.  This includes both driven grouse moor management (which involves shooting our native red grouse) and largescale release of non-native game birds, primarily pheasants and red-legged partridges, now in excess of 40 million birds annually.

Environmental concerns include the ongoing and systematic illegal persecution of birds of prey such as hen harriers on some sporting estates; the ecological impact of high numbers of game birds released into the countryside increasing the density of generalist predators; the mass culling of mountain hares in some parts of our uplands; the use of lead ammunition; the impact of burning peatlands and medicating wild animals for sport shooting.

In response to the evidence about the scale of the environmental impact and growing public concern, including from our membership, the RSPB’s Council has agreed to review our policy on game bird shooting and associated land management. 

This is an emotive and sometimes controversial subject but we want to use our scientific rigour to develop a set of conservation tests for management practices associated with game bird shooting.  We will use these to guide the RSPB’s conservation policy, practice and communications, consistent with the ongoing climate and ecological emergency, respectful of our charitable objectives and maintaining the confidence and support of our members.

We intend to do this, informed by the views of members and other stakeholders many of whom we have engaged with on these issues for decades. 

The exact process we shall follow to conduct this review will be communicated as soon as possible.  The intention is to complete this work as soon as is practically possible but in order to engage people in the right way and ensure we have the best available evidence it might take until the next AGM, though we hope that it will be completed sooner than that.

And to avoid doubt, we shall in this period, while the review is being conducted, continue to call for the introduction of licensing of driven grouse shooting.”

ENDS

This news is really encouraging, not least for many RSPB staff who we know have felt for a long time as though they’ve been fighting this battle with both hands tied behind their backs, unsupported by official RSPB policy.

Mark Avery has an interesting view on this policy review (here).

At the beginning of October one of Shooting Times’ regular columnists, David Tomlinson, wrote this:

That was decent of him and shows that the sensible people in the game shooting world can see the writing on the wall and recognise that they need to reform quickly before it all comes crashing down.

But as we all know, not everyone in the game shooting world is sensible.

Fast forward to this week’s Star Letter(!) in Shooting Times, from one J.M. Osborne, Oxfordshire:

It’s a shame Mr Osborne, a well-known sporting agent whose companies include J.M. Osborne & Co. and William Powell Sporting, didn’t declare his potential conflict of interest before he tried to defend large bag sizes.

Mr Osborne has been involved with over 100 sporting estates in the UK (and others abroad), some of which will be familiar names to blog readers (e.g. Glenogil, Leadhills, Raeshaw, Bransdale, Snake & Parkhall Moors, Swinton, Allenheads, Abbeystead, Wemmergill, Snilesworth, Broomhead, Glanusk, Glenlochy).

One of his companies has bragged online about large bag sizes: ‘We have broken the day or season’s record on 12 moors where we have been involved…..’ and you can see from this document that we picked up at this year’s Game Fair that bag sizes of 300 birds are routinely on offer via his other company:

Mr Osborne was no doubt thrilled about Wild Justice’s second successful legal challenge earlier this year when DEFRA finally admitted it had to assess the ecological impacts of releasing tens of millions of non-native gamebirds in to the countryside every year. We await action from DEFRA.

Ps. Wild Justice is celebrating its first birthday today (see here).