Author: RaptorPersecutionUK

Regular blog readers will know we’ve been banging on about the use of propane-powered gas guns (bird scarers) on grouse moors for a couple of years.

For those who don’t know, propane gas guns are routinely used for scaring birds (e.g. pigeons, geese) from agricultural crops – they are set up to deliver an intermittent booming noise and the audible bangs can apparently reach volumes in excess of 150 decibels. According to the Purdue University website, 150 decibels is the equivalent noise produced by a jet taking off from 25 metres away and can result in eardrum rupture. That’s quite loud!

We, and others, have blogged about them being deployed on various grouse moors in Scotland and England, and our suspicion that they are being used to deter certain raptor species from settling for a breeding attempt, especially hen harriers.

Last year (May 2016) we blogged about a gas gun that had been photographed on the Barnside Moor, which is part of the Broomhead Estate in the Peak District National Park. This estate is owned by Ben Rimington Wilson, a spokesman (see here) for the grouse-shooting industry’s lobby group the Moorland Association.

The gas gun was positioned right on the edge of the area designated as a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and an SPA (Special Protection Area), both designated in part for breeding bird populations, particularly short-eared owls, merlin and golden plover. As such, we believed the gas gun would require consent from Natural England as it would fall under the list of ‘operations likely to damage the special interest of the site’. However, at that time Natural England still hadn’t published its long-awaited guidance on gas gun use so that particular enquiry didn’t go very far.

Fast forward a year, and one of our blog readers has sent us some photographs (thank you) of another gas gun on this moor (photos taken this week) and this time the gas gun is placed in a different position from last year.

This year the gas gun is positioned well within the boundary of the SPA, the SAC (Special Area of Conservation) and the SSSI, as the following maps show:

What’s also different this year is we now have the ‘official guidance’ published by Natural England about gas gun use and whether the landowner has to apply for consent. According to the (not very impressive) flow chart that NE produced, it would appear that consent would be required for this particular gas gun as it sits well within the boundary of the SSSI:

At this stage we’re not suggesting that Mr Rimington-Wilson has acted unlawfully – he may well have applied for, and received, consent from Natural England. What we’re interested in finding out is DID he apply, and DID Natural England provide consent, and if so, on what grounds? How would Natural England ensure that the deployment of a gas gun would not disturb the breeding birds for which the site was designated for special protection?

Emails to: enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk

We’re also interested in finding out how many raptor species bred successfully on this moor this year. The Broomhead Estate is part of the Peak District Birds of Prey Initiative, a project that failed to deliver its five-year targets but was set to continue in 2015 with “renewed commitment” and “new rigour and energy” from project partners, according to the Peak District National Park Authority (see here). Now, as it’s still only July, it’s unlikely that the raptor breeding data for 2017 have been analysed and submitted yet, but nevertheless, it’s worth lodging an interest in these data and asking the PDNPA to forward those results as soon as they become available, which should be later this year.

Emails to Sarah Fowler, Chief Exec of the PDNPA: sarah.fowler@peakdistrict.gov.uk 

And while we’re on the subject of the Peak District National Park, the PDNPA is currently consulting on its Management Plan and wants to know your views. See Mark Avery’s blog today (here) for some helpful hints on which issues you might want to raise. The consultation ends at the end of this month.

UPDATE 24 July 2017: Natural England responds (see here)

Here’s an unusual opportunity to listen to a number of raptor scientists talking about their research, with subsequent panel discussions and audience debate.

Day one will be held in Edinburgh (Friday 22 September 2017) at the Royal Botanic Garden Lecture Theatre. Tickets cost £20 and this includes refreshments and lunch. Here’s the programme:

Day two will be held in Dumfries & Galloway (Saturday 23 September 2017) at St John’s Town of Dalry Town Hall. Tickets cost £10 and this includes refreshements but a sandwich lunch is to be paid separately. Here’s the programme:

Booking is essential. Download the booking form here: Watson Birds events September 2017 Booking form

The Mirror has just published an article entitled “Barbaric”: Wild animals trapped and shot in UK National Park to protect birds for shooting season and a by-line stating “Film taken in Peak District National Park shows gamekeepers shooting and trapping wild animals in a bid to stop them killing grouse as bird hunting season nears” (see here).

The article includes video footage and a number of photographs taken by a group called the Hunt Investigation Team. The video shows a masked man shooting off a snare around a badger’s neck (and the badger subsequently running off) and another masked man shooting dead a snared fox.

The video is graphic and makes for unpleasant viewing, but from what we can see, none of the filmed activity shows obvious illegal activity. Interesting, though, that the armed men are masked. That’d be quite a shock for any member of the public who happened to be walking in this National Park.

It is legal to snare foxes (as long as certain snaring conditions are met, and these conditions vary between England & Scotland) and then to shoot the snared fox. The snared fox in the video, which is obviously distressed, is dispatched quickly.

It is illegal to deliberately snare badgers, however, as snares are indiscriminate, badgers and other non-target species can often be caught by accident. When this happens, the badger must either be immediately released when found by the snare operator, or, if it is badly injured, it can be humanely killed. The masked man in the video uses his firearm to shoot through the snare and the badger is able to run free. The masked man makes no attempt to kill the badger, even though he had ample opportunity.

There are obvious welfare concerns about the badger being released with wire still around its neck, and by law, snares should not be set in areas where badgers are known to inhabit. The snare operator should be skilled at detecting badger signs and where seen, snares should not be set. Perhaps this is what the police are investigating? *see update at foot of blog

It’s also possible that there is further video evidence that has not been released to the media. One ominous photograph, that looks like it’s a screen grab from a video, shows a masked man approaching an apparently snared badger with a half-raised shovel. It’s impossible to judge from this photograph whether the masked man is about to use the shovel to protect himself as he frees the badger, or whether he is about to use the shovel to cave in the badger’s skull. Perhaps the full video sequence is more enlightening.

The Mirror article claims the two masked men are gamekeepers, working to protect grouse stocks. The ground that can be seen in the video doesn’t look like a grouse moor but of course this footage could have been filmed on land adjacent to a grouse moor. The name of the location has not been published. It’s highly likely that the two masked, armed men are gamekeepers, and perhaps the Hunt Investigation Team has further intelligence to support this. If they’re not gamekeepers, then the police will be investigating whether these two armed, masked men had landowner permission to be snaring and shooting wildlife here.

So although there may be more to this story than has been presented by the Mirror article, based on what’s been published this appears to show gamekeepers undertaking lawful gamekeeping activity. Nevertheless, it will be abhorrent to many, and probably an eye-opener to the average Mirror reader who perhaps is unaware that snaring is even legal in 21st Century Britain, and probably also unaware of the routine killing of wildlife that is allowed in this country all so a minority sector of society can shoot gamebirds for fun. That this is permitted within a National Park will also probably be shocking news to many. Good, this is exactly the sort of information that needs to be widely publicised.

UPDATE: Thanks to one of our Twitter followers for providing the following link to the Hunt Investigation Team website, which names the estate as the Moscar Estate (a known grouse-shooting estate within the Peak District National Park) and provides much more detail and further gruesome video evidence and commentary on what was filmed there earlier this spring. See HERE.

A coalition of wildlife campaigners will be marching to Downing Street on the Inglorious 12th August 2017 to protest about the on-going cruelty and criminality against badgers, foxes and hen harriers in the UK countryside.

Key issues of this protest include the Government’s ineffective and costly badger cull policy, strengthening rather than appealing the Hunting Act, raising awareness of barbaric fox-cub hunting, and calling for a ban on driven grouse shooting.

Supported by all the major wildlife protection charities (including Badger Trust, LACS, IFAW, Born Free), the march will begin at Cavendish Square at 1.30pm before heading down Regents St, Pall Mall, around Trafalgar Square and down Whitehall, ending at Richmond Terrace opposite Downing Street.

Speakers will include Chris Packham, Dominic Dyer, Mark Avery and others.

RSPB press release: (as read on Mark Avery’s blog)

The RSPB has learned that large numbers of protected birds are being killed on a grouse moor in Lancashire.

A RSPB staff member working in the Bowland area discovered two estate workers shooting nesting lesser black-backed gulls – on a grouse moor managed by the Abbeystead Estate – leaving their chicks to be either killed by dogs or left to starve.

Lesser black-backed gulls have been nesting on the moors of Lancashire for more than 80 years. The recovering colony in Bowland is one of the most important in the UK and is protected under British and European law, having once been in excess of 20,000 pairs. Lesser black-backed gulls are declining across the UK and the RSPB is becoming increasingly worried about their future in the UK.

This species can only be legally culled if they pose a threat to human health, risk spreading disease or are having a negative effect on other species of conservation concern. The RSPB understands Natural England – the government agency for responsible for protecting the countryside – granted consent for the cull. But while the nature conservation organisation has repeatedly asked Natural England for scientific evidence which would justify a cull, none has been forthcoming.

Although the RSPB has yet to see the full details of the consent, it has reason to believe that the landowner may have breached both the letter and the spirit of the agreement, and is calling on Natural England to investigate the matter urgently.

Graham Jones, RSPB Conservation Area Manager for North West England, said: ‘We are devastated that this cull of a protected species has been taking place, apparently without any justification. Although it may occasionally be necessary to cull a small number of large gulls for conservation and health reasons, there is absolutely no evidence to support it in this case. 

We want Natural England to tell us why they think the gulls at Bowland met the legal criteria for a cull and also want them look into whether the terms of an already flawed agreement have been broken. Bowland should be a safe place for this declining species and Natural England should be focussing on helping the colony’s recovery.

We believe the only reason these protected birds are being killed is simply to satisfy the requirements resulting from the ongoing unsustainable approach to grouse moor management”.

ENDS

This isn’t the first time the culling of Lesser black-backed gulls on the Abbeystead Estate has been in the news. Four years ago Leo Hickman of the Guardian wrote an article on how Natural England had been licensing a cull of this species on the Abbeystead Estate for decades, officially “to stop water pollution” although some believed it was partly done to protect grouse shooting interests.

At the time, the Lesser black-backed gull had been identified as a qualifying species (along with hen harrier and merlin) for the Bowland Fells Special Protection Area, but the official documentation hadn’t been updated to include the gull on the citation, which led to confusion about the legality of the cull.

We’ve just looked at the latest version of the Bowland Fells SPA citation (here) and Lesser black-backed gull is now included, supposedly affording it special protection during the breeding season.

So what gives, Natural England? Have you licensed this cull and if so, what is the scientific justification? If you haven’t licensed it, is this latest cull a wildlife crime? Emails to: enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk

Following earlier blogs where we challenged Gift of Grouse chef Andrew Fairlie’s claim that red grouse are “organic” (see here and here), the Foods Standards Officer at Perth & Kinross Council has completed an investigation. Here are the findings:

“You are alleging that Mr Fairlie makes a fraudulent claim about organic status of red grouse being sold at the Mitchelin-starred Andrew Fairlie Restaurant based at Gleneagles Restaurant, Auchterarder.

The provided link to the ‘Gift of Grouse’ web based article contains a quote from Mr Fairlie, which includes the following wording: “In the summer our customers come from all over the world and they want to eat the finest local food. Customers like it because it’s organic, sustainable and its provenance is exact.”

Having checked the restaurant’s available advertising materials, including menus and compliance history I am satisfied that Mr Andrew Fairlie doesn’t make any direct claim that the red grouse or any other food he serves in his restaurant is organic or made from organic ingredients.

I have brought the matter to Mr Fairlie’s attention and received assurance that using ‘organic’ for the purposes of the quoted article was merely reflecting the drive to use natural and locally sourced foods.

I advised Mr Fairlie to refrain from using ‘organic’ as a descriptor of food unless the food complies with the prescribed legal requirements. I intend to monitor the situation in future to ensure that no unauthorised claims are made“.

Glad that’s cleared up then. When Gift of Grouse chef Andrew Fairlie of the Michelin-starred Andrew Fairlie Restaurant at Gleneagles Hotel claims that a food product is organic, when it obviously isn’t, you can be sure he’s not trying to mislead customers, abuse public trust or make a false representation – he’s ‘merely reflecting the drive to use natural and locally sourced foods’.

Genuinely certified organic producers will be thrilled!

Interestingly, the false statement that red grouse are “organic” has not been removed from the Gift of Grouse website. Hardly a surprise – it sits well amongst all the other “risible, make-believe tosh” generated by the grouse-shooting industry’s inept propaganda machine.

Original photo of red grouse by Jim Wood

A few days ago we blogged about an extraordinary claim that red grouse are “organic” (see here).

The claim was made by chef Andrew Fairlie, who runs the Michelin-starred Andrew Fairlie Restaurant at Gleneagles Hotel. His claim was widely published in Scottish newspapers and also promoted on the Gift of Grouse website.

We did a quick bit of research and couldn’t find any evidence of any grouse moors in Angus, East Lothian or Deeside being registered / certified as “organic” (these are the geographic areas from where Mr Fairlie’s grouse are sourced).

Indeed, given the associated environmental damage of intensive grouse moor management, its strong link to wildlife crime (especially raptor persecution) and the high level of poisonous lead shot, worming drugs and pesticides that may be inside the bird, we’d argue that red grouse are about as far away from being organic as it’s possible to be.

It is an offence to call a food product “organic” if it hasn’t been inspected and certified by one of the UK’s nine control authorities. We would expect a Michelin-starred chef, in whom the public place great trust, to understand the implications of describing a food product as “organic”.

Many blog readers contacted Andrew Fairlie, the Gift of Grouse, and Ochil Foods (Mr Fairlie’s game supplier) to ask for evidence of the organic certification of the red grouse being served at the Andrew Fairlie Restaurant. As far as we’re aware, no responses have been received.

A report has now been submitted to Trading Standards Scotland, who have confirmed that an investigation has been launched.

UPDATE 7 July 2017: Gift of Grouse chef told to refrain from calling red grouse “organic” (see here)