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Shameful Natural England due to begin hen harrier brood meddling

Natural England has announced its disgraceful plan to brood meddle hen harriers is due to begin imminently.

An article in today’s Guardian claims this controversial “trial” is ‘supported by conservation groups including the International Centre for Birds of Prey and the Hawk & Owl Trust‘. Of course it is! The ICBP is being paid to manage the brood meddling, and several Hawk & Owl Trust Board members are believed to be benefiting from this trial. These are hardly independent supporters!

The article fails to mention that no independent conservation organisation is supporting this “trial” because everyone recognises it as a sop to the grouse shooting industry that has been killing hen harriers for years, without sanction.

[Drawing by Gerard Hobley]

The article also includes a quote from Tony Juniper, the new Chair at Natural England:

“Conservation and protection of the hen harrier is at the heart of what we are doing in licensing this trial of brood management. This decision takes forward but one element in a far broader recovery strategy for the species.

Natural England is ready to take the next careful step, aware that the licensed activity and the research will rightly come under close scrutiny from the scientists on the advisory group, from ourselves as the licensing authority and by those both supportive of and opposed to this trial.

We, as an organisation, must pursue all options for an important bird such as the hen harrier, so that our children may enjoy this majestic species in the wild“.

How disappointing from someone who has been held in high regard by the conservation community for many many years. Conservation and protection is NOT “at the heart” of what Natural England is doing in licensing this trial – how can it be, when it knows from it’s own commissioned research that the main threat to hen harriers (illegal persecution by gamekeepers on grouse moors) will still be present when those young brood meddled harriers are released back to the wild later in the summer?

It’s our understanding that at least one of the nests under consideration for being brood meddled is on a grouse shooting estate that has a reputation for the illegal persecution of birds of prey, including an earlier conviction of at least one gamekeeper employee.

Who says crime doesn’t pay, eh?

Meanwhile, both Mark Avery and the RSPB are still waiting to hear whether their appeals against their earlier judicial review brood meddling rulings can proceed.

Revive conference in Scotland (in support of Hen Harrier Day) – 3rd August 2019

Revive, the coalition for grouse moor reform will be hosting a one-day conference on Saturday 3rd August in Perth, Scotland in support of Hen Harrier Day.

This will be a free event at the Perth Theatre but due to space restrictions it will be a ticketed event (~200 seats). You’ll be able to apply for tickets from Revive very soon.

There’ll be a number of speakers and presentations from the Directors of Revive and a number of expanded panel discussions and debates with representatives from partner organisations and agencies.

From 10am – 4.30pm, Saturday 3rd August.

Save the date!

More details to follow, hopefully early next week.

Raptor Persecution Awareness Day – 10th August 2019, North Yorkshire

This year the Northern England Raptor Forum (NERF) will once again be hosting a raptor persecution awareness day (Saturday 10th August) in support of Hen Harrier Day.

Last year NERF hosted an awareness day in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (a hotbed of illegal raptor persecution) and this year they’ll be in the North York Moors National Park, also a hotbed of raptor crime.

There’ll be a number of speakers and it’ll be a free, drop-in type event at The Goathland Hut, a community hub in Goathland, North Yorkshire.

More details to follow.

GWCT refuses to address accusation of deliberate misrepresentation

In March we blogged about how Andrew Gilruth of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) had recently written letters to four media outlets (The Field, BBC Wildlife, The Scotsman, The Independent) and in each one he’d included the same quote, attributed to the RSPB, that would suggest to the reader that the RSPB is supportive of grouse moor management techniques:

“The RSPB has been clear that the ‘management of land for grouse shooting has protected upland areas from the worst of over-grazing and blanket conifer plantations, while generating income for upland communities and forming a uniquely British form of cultural land use‘”.

We showed that Andrew Gilruth had cherry-picked that particular quote, out of context, from a 2006 RSPB publication:

We argued that Andrew Gilruth’s cherry-picking activity appeared to be so deliberately deceptive that his motive must have been to mislead the public – a serious accusation for an organisation with charitable status, and especially for one that prides itself on its so-called scientific integrity.

Since March, we’ve complained to the GWCT about this apparent deceptive misrepresentation on three separate occasions; twice to Teresa Dent (Chief Executive) directly and when she didn’t reply we sent a complaint to her via GWCT’s general email address (info@gwct.org.uk). No response.

We then looked at the GWCT’s complaints policy (here), which opens with ‘We want to find out about things that have gone wrong so we can fix them and prevent things going wrong in the future‘.

However, bizarrely it seems this policy doesn’t apply to criticisms of GWCT’s media statements! Right at the bottom of the GWCT complaints policy it says this: ‘This policy does not cover comments made in the media‘.

Eh?

Hen Harrier Day 2019

It looks like there will only be one Hen Harrier Day event in the UK in 2019 – but everyone who cares about this bird, and wants to see an end to its persecution, is invited.
[Hen harrier, photo by Mark Hamblin]
Hen Harrier Day events started in 2014 and have been held at locations from Northern Ireland to inside the M25 and from the south coast of England to the highlands of Scotland. They are now a firm part of the ornithological and conservation scene.
This year on the afternoon of Sunday 11 August, Wild Justice is organising a Hen Harrier Day event, with Severn Trent Water, at Carsington Water in Derbyshire. This is a large venue and can probably cope with what we hope and expect to be a sizeable crowd.
Hen Harrier Day 2019 at Carsington Water will be a family-friendly event (bring your picnic if the weather turns out fine) with a host of great speakers. The event will celebrate this fantastic bird and highlight the ongoing illegal persecution that it faces on grouse moors.
More details to follow.

Regulating grouse moor management in Scotland – the next steps

As we all sit and wait for the publication of the Werritty Review (due out shortly) and find out what recommendations have been proposed for the regulation of grouse moor management in Scotland, it’s well worth having a read of another report that’s just been published by RSPB Scotland.

Called ‘Grouse Moor Licensing in Scotland: Where Next?‘, it’s written by Lloyd Austin, an authoritative and respected commentator and the former Head of Policy at RSPB Scotland who is now working as a freelance consultant.

[The end of the road for driven grouse moor management as we know it in Scotland? Photo by Ruth Tingay]

This report sets the scene succinctly and then discusses the five broad options that the Scottish Government will face, regardless of whatever the Werritty Review recommends:

  1. Do nothing at all
  2. Carry out a few, piecemeal bits of regulation tightening
  3. Develop a coherent regulatory system for the existing industry – a ‘licensing scheme’
  4. Seek comprehensive reform of the entire hunting culture/system and its entire legal framework
  5. Instigate some form of complete ban of grouse shooting – at least in its highly intensive ‘driven’ form.

Lloyd explores each of these options in turn and discusses why they would or wouldn’t work, and then goes in to some detail about how his favoured option (#3) could actually be delivered.

This is a really important and impressive piece of work. We understand that it has already been shared with several key players in the Scottish Government, Parliament and beyond.

You can read the report here: Grouse moor licensing – Where Next – Report by Lloyd Austin for RSPB Mar 2019

For those who don’t want to read the detail in the report (although we’d encourage you to do so!), RSPB Scotland has written an accompanying blog that picks out the key points – see here.

What you get from Lloyd’s report is that, aside from being subject to potential complications from Brexit, it seems that it’s the end of the road for driven grouse moor management in Scotland as we know it. The Government does have the option to ‘do nothing’, of course, but as Lloyd points out so well, this is politically untenable given the breadth of concerns, the scale of campaigns and the support for change.

Bring it on.

Andy Wightman attempts to close loop hole that allows grouse moor owners to abuse hill tracks legislation

One of the long-running consequences of intensive grouse moor management has been the bulldozing of hill tracks, predominantly created to enable gamekeepers easier access to carry out their wildlife killing duties but also to transport wealthy guests direct to their designated grouse butt to save them the bother of walking up there across the moor.

Thousands of kilometres of these tracks have been built in often sensitive upland environments and many campaigners have spent years outlining their concerns about the damage caused to sensitive vegetation and soils, about the visual impacts to environmental amenity, about the increased disturbance to wildlife, about the initiation of erosion leading to silt run-off in to waterways, and about the destruction of large areas of peatland and subsequent loss of stored carbon.

[An example of a bulldozed hill track across moorland in the Angus Glens. Photo from Chris Townsend’s blog on the devastation caused]

Grouse moor owners are currently able to build these tracks without planning permission. As Andy Wightman explained in this November 2018 article in The National: ‘The core issue is that tracks built for the purposes of agriculture and forestry do not have to apply for full planning permission. They are, in the jargon, permitted developments and cannot ultimately be refused. Tracks built for hunting are meant to secure full planning approval but are all too often built under the guise of agricultural purposes. A few sheep on the hill is enough to prevent planning authorities being able to challenge such obvious fabrications‘.

There is currently a Planning Bill going through the Scottish Parliament and Andy Wightman is trying to amend it to close this loophole. However, so far the SNP and Tories have blocked his efforts.

For further details, please see this page on the Scottish Greens website.

The Scottish Greens are asking you to email your MSP to ask them to support Andy’s amendment. There is a simple box to fill out on the Scottish Greens website that will record your submission.

Unfortunately, the forthcoming Werritty Review, which is assessing various aspects of grouse moor management, is NOT considering the issue of hill tracks. Andy’s amendment looks like the only real opportunity to bring about change in the foreseeable future. Let’s not waste that chance.

 

Raven found poisoned on Ruabon Moor, the ‘grouse capital’ of North Wales

RSPB press release (31/5/19)

(Links have been added by RPUK)

RAVEN FOUND POISONED ON RUABON MOOR

  • The dead bird was found on the same estate near Wrexham, where two satellite-tagged hen harriers recently vanished.
  • Police are now appealing for information from the public. 

A dead raven found on Ruabon Moor, near World’s End, North Wales, has been confirmed as deliberately poisoned – triggering a police investigation.

The bird was found dead on 28 August 2018 by a man who had been out photographing birds.

He said: “I was coming home from Wrexham when I noticed the bird on the ground, away from the road in a little clearing of grass. It was upside down, its eyes sunken, and its feet in the air. It didn’t look like it had been dead for long.”

Thinking it may have been shot, he contacted the RSPB’s Investigations Unit. Following liaison with the North Wales Police, Welsh Government arranged for toxicology tests on the bird. This revealed that the raven had been deliberately poisoned with the highly toxic insecticide bendiocarb which had been most likely been applied to a bait. Police enquiries in the area have failed to identify anyone responsible.

[The illegally poisoned raven, photo from @RSPBBirders]

Ravens are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Killing one is a criminal offence and could result in an unlimited fine or up to six months in jail.

Ruabon Moor holds a significant proportion of the Welsh black grouse population and is an area managed for red grouse shooting. In 2018, two rare hen harriers named Heulwen and Aalin went off the radar in this general area. The birds had been fitted with satellite-tracking devices as part of the EU-funded Hen Harrier LIFE project.

Jenny Shelton, RSPB Investigations, says: “It would seem that ravens and birds of prey are not welcome in this area, and naturally people will be asking why. There is a history throughout the UK of birds of prey and ravens being targeted on areas managed for intensive grouse shooting, due to the perceived threat these natural predators pose to the grouse. However, the law is plain: killing birds of prey and ravens is illegal.

“On top of this, placing poison in a public area is hugely irresponsible. Many people will be bringing their families to places like this as the weather warms up. To think that a child or a family pet could have found this bird is outrageous. These crimes must stop before someone is seriously harmed.”

Jenny continues: “Ravens are beginning to recover in the UK after decades of persecution, and Wales is a key stronghold for these impressive birds. Spring – the start of the bird breeding season – is sadly a key time for the illegal killing of birds of prey and ravens. If you notice a bird of prey dead on the ground in suspicious circumstances, call the police right away.”

North Wales Police are now appealing for information.

Rob Taylor, North Wales Police Rural Crime Team manager said “The deliberate killing of a bird by poisoning is a serious risk to humans and other animals such as certain birds of prey who frequent the area. We are continuing our investigation and we ask members of the public who have information to contact us or ring Crimestoppers anonymously.”

If you have any information relating to this incident, call North Wales Police on 101.

If you find a wild bird of prey which you suspect has been illegally killed, contact RSPB investigations on 01767 680551 or fill in the online form.

Or, to speak in confidence about bird of prey persecution taking place in your area, call the confidential Raptor Crime Hotline: 0300 999 0101. This number is for bird of prey-related matters only.

ENDS

It’s not clear why it’s taken nine months for this news to emerge. Hopefully North Wales Police were more vocal in the local community at the time, warning the public about the presence of this deadly poison.

Let’s hope they’re also alerting locals and visitors alike that this part of North Wales is earning the reputation of being a wildlife crime hotspot, just like so many other grouse shooting areas across the UK.

The placement of warning signs at these locations is the very least we should be expecting from the authorities.

Political silence in response to wildlife crime in Cairngorms National Park

Nine days ago we learned that yet another satellite tagged hen harrier (‘Marci’) had vanished in suspicious circumstances on an unnamed grouse moor near Strathdon, an area of the Cairngorms National Park previously identified as a raptor persecution hotspot.

[Hen harrier Marci, photo by Shaila Rao]

Hen harrier persecution is a National Wildlife Crime Priority and the population in Scotland has suffered a 27% decline in the last 12 years. As such, we expected a strong response from the authorities.

We’ve trawled websites and Twitter feeds and this is what we’ve found:

Cairngorms National Park Authority – silence

Grant Moir, Chief Executive Cairngorms National Park Authority – silence

Roseanna Cunningham, Cabinet Secretary for the Environment – silence

Mairi Gougeon, Minister for Rural Affairs and Natural Environment and Hen Harrier Species Champion – silence

Alexander Burnett MSP, in whose constituency Marci ‘disappeared’ – silence

PAW Scotland – silence

Scot Gov Greener, ‘the official Twitter channel of the Scottish Government covering the environment and rural economy’ – silence

And then seven days ago we learned that four geese had been found poisoned by a highly toxic banned pesticide on the western side of the Cairngorms National Park. Police have been searching an area on the Pitmain Estate near Kingussie after estate workers reportedly alerted them to the corpses.

Given the seriously high risk to humans, wildlife, domestic stock and pets, and the Scottish Government’s previous comments about having a zero tolerance policy for illegal poisoning, we expected a strong response from the authorities.

We’ve trawled websites and Twitter feeds and this is what we’ve found:

Cairngorms National Park Authority – silence

Grant Moir, Chief Executive Cairngorms National Park Authority – silence

Roseanna Cunningham, Cabinet Secretary for the Environment – silence

Mairi Gougeon, Minister for Rural Affairs and Natural Environment – silence

Kate Forbes MSP, in whose constituency the poisoned birds were found – silence

PAW Scotland – silence

Scot Gov Greener, ‘the official Twitter channel of the Scottish Government covering the environment and rural economy’ – silence

So what’s the deal, here?

Don’t they care?

They do care but they’re too embarrassed to comment?

They’ve commented on so many other similar incidents that there’s nothing new to be said?

They know they’re impotent to stop it happening again and again and again?

Keep quiet and hope it all goes away?

Compare and contrast this silence with the recent response of the North Pennines AONB Partnership to the illegal shooting of two buzzards within the protected area – Strong public statement, posters put up on public noticeboards, fliers distributed to shops and pubs in the area and lots of coverage on social media.

The Scottish authorities couldn’t even manage a tweet between them!

And then compare and contrast this silence with the recent sentencing of wildlife poisoners in Spain – Two years and eight months in prison AND a five year & four month disqualification from the management of hunting reserves and the right to hunt AND a fine of 67,538.65 Euros AND to been told to ‘take measures to recover the damage caused’.

The last prosecution for an alleged wildlife poisoning case in Scotland (that we’re aware of) involved the poisoning of three buzzards on a game shooting estate in Perthshire. Despite pleas from Police Scotland, the Crown Office decided to drop the prosecution and didn’t provide an explanation for this decision.

Is anybody still wondering why wildlife crime is still so prevalent in Scotland?

Scottish Gamekeepers Association’s pity party in response to failed Strathbraan raven cull bid

At the beginning of May we blogged about how SNH had rejected a 2019 application for a raven cull licence in the Strathbraan area of Perthshire (see here).

This decision followed last year’s fiasco when SNH had issued a raven cull licence for Strathbraan, on what we considered to be false pretences, and which was eventually withdrawn after a legal challenge by the Scottish Raptor Study Group.

A subsequent analysis by SNH’s own Scientific Advisory Committee found the ‘study’ (designed by GWCT) to be ‘completely inadequate’, ‘seriously flawed’ and said ‘it will fail to provide any meaningful scientific evidence’.

In response to SNH’s 2019 licensing decision, the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) has today decided it’s going to have a massive pity party. It’s written a seven-page invitation to anyone that might want to attend: SGAs open letter_Strathbraan raven cull_May2019

This open letter has apparently been sent to MSPs and also to a number of news desks.

Many thanks to journalist Ilona Amos for allowing us a right of reply in this article published in The Scotsman this afternoon.

Sorry to ruin your pity party with a few home truths, SGA. Actually, we’re not sorry at all. The gratuitous slaughter of wildlife that takes place every day on game bird shooting estates throughout the UK is obscene. That predator-hating gamekeepers should ever be given a licence to kill even more wildlife, on the pretext of it being ‘scientific research’, in an area identified as a wildlife crime hotspot, is beyond comprehension.