The newly-formed Revive Coalition for grouse moor reform will be launched tomorrow evening in Edinburgh.
As a build up to the event, two coalition members have published opinion pieces today on why grouse moor reform is needed:
Robbie Marsland, Director of the League Against Cruel Sports Scotland has a guest blog on Mark Avery’s blog here
Bob Elliot, Director of animal welfare charity OneKind has an opinion piece in The Herald here
We’ll be blogging about the launch later this week….
A new scientific peer-reviewed paper, authored by a group of highly-respected award-winning ecologists, commends the “exemplary” and “thorough” scientific approach of the golden eagle satellite tag review.
The paper has just been accepted for publication but due to publishing restrictions we’re unable to publish it here (although we’ve read it in full). When it finally becomes available it’ll be a must-read for researchers involved in animal satellite-tracking projects where being able to distinguish between actual death and transmitter failure is important to understanding threats to that species.
Sergio, F., Tanferna, A., Blas, J., Blanco, G. and Hiraldo, F. (2018). Reliable methods for identifying animal deaths in GPS – and satellite-tracking data: review, testing and calibration. Journal of Applied Ecology. doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.13294.
The authors have devised a system, based on the interpretation of various tag data, which correctly distinguished between actual death and transmitter failure in their sample. They found this system worked perfectly for their GPS tags but was not so reliable for tags using only Doppler locations.
[Fig. 3 from the paper]
Using this system, the authors suggest that the highly suspicious disappearance of golden eagles in Scotland as identified in the Golden Eagle Satellite Tag Review “would be most likely confirmed as deaths by our method, thus strengthening the suspicion of illegal killings (Branch 3b, Fig 3)”.
For the reader with a limited understanding of different tag types and the quality of technical data associated with different tags, this paper probably won’t make much sense at all. However, we’ve highlighted it here for good reason.
A couple of weeks ago some extraordinary claims were made about the Golden Eagle Satellite Tag Review. Ronnie Clancy QC, a senior lawyer, claimed that the review contained “significant shortcomings” and that there was evidence of “unconcious bias“. His rationale for these comments is apparently contained in a report he was commissioned to write by the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA), although this report has not been released in the public domain and the story was only run on the BBC News website (here), so we’ve been unable to see the context of these selective quotes.
However, when you look at the quotes that were published by the BBC, it’s not difficult to tear them apart. On the allegation of supposed “unconcious bias”, the BBC reports that Mr Clancy QC said the report authors (Drs Whitfield and Fielding) looked like they had “manipulated” the study “to obtain a desirable result“. This opinion was further fuelled in the BBC report by the SGA’s Chairman Alex Hogg, who claimed that the report’s findings were initially insignificant “until the authors (Whitfield & Fielding) shifted the parameters and extended the boundaries of the moors by up to 4km“.
Dear oh dear. Had they paid attention to the Sat Tag Review they would have read the discussion about why the parameters were extended – which is a perfectly acceptable scientific method known as hypothesis testing – to 4km. Initially, Drs Whitfield & Fielding had used the presence of strip muirburn as a simple way of mapping the location of grouse moors. However, as they explained in the review, grouse moor management extends beyond the boundaries of strip muirburn, often to a considerable distance (e.g. predator control to benefit red grouse takes place in forestry and woodland beyond the actual moors) so to capture the full extent (and impact) of grouse moor management requires extending the search boundary beyond the actual moor. They illustrated this point with this map (we have added the yellow arrow for clarity) showing the last known locations of three satellite-tagged golden eagles. One of these (yellow arrow) ‘disappeared’ on land that wasn’t a grouse moor, per se, but was surrounded by grouse moor. Had they stuck rigidly to using strip muirburn as the grouse moor proxy, this eagle, and several others that ‘disappeared’ when roosting in forestry close to a grouse moor, would not have been classified even though it’s blindingly obvious that the location was associated with grouse moor management.
Quite why the SGA asked a lawyer to opine on a piece of scientific research is anyone’s guess. No doubt, Mr Clancy is a skilled lawyer – you don’t gain QC status without demonstrating legal excellence. But is Mr Clancy a scientist? Does he have experience and expertise in assessing scientific rigour? Is he familiar with satellite tag technology? Is he an expert in golden eagle ecology? Does he have a detailed understanding of the ~100 scientific references cited in the review? Has he authored any scientific papers himself? Why didn’t the SGA commission a review by a qualified scientist? Couldn’t they find one who’d say what they wanted to say? And why has this opinion piece only just emerged, some 17 months after the Golden Eagle Satellite Tag Review was published?
The more you think about this, the more intriguing it becomes. Our guess is that the SGA, realising how comprehensively damning were the findings of the Sat Tag Review, sought advice on making a legal challenge against the Scottish Government for accepting the review’s findings. Why else consult a lawyer? However, although the Cabinet Secretary commissioned the current grouse moor management (Werritty) review on the back of the Sat Tag Review’s findings, there have been no legislative changes based explicitly on the Sat Tag Review, which makes a legal challenge untenable. And even if legislative change (e.g. licensing) does occur after the Werritty Review, the Sat Tag Review will only have played a small role – it just happened to be the final straw in a giant haystack of evidence against the unsustainable and environmentally damaging aspects of grouse moor management.
If this is what happened, then rather than waste the money they spent seeking legal advice (unless Mr Clancy worked pro bono), perhaps the SGA thought they’d make the best of a bad job and simply present the advice as legal opinion in an attempt to undermine the evidence being presented to the ongoing Werritty Review.
Sadly, the SGA hasn’t published Mr Clancy QC’s report – and that is their perogative, as it is, after all, a privately-commissioned piece of work – but it’s a real shame because we would have been very interested in reading Mr Clancy’s opinion on the contemporaneous records of illegal raptor persecution associated with the various geographic clusters of ‘disappearing’ eagles on or close to grouse moors, and the ever-increasing pile of peer-reviewed scientific research that has linked grouse moor management to illegal raptor persecution, all documented and referenced in the Sat Tag Review. Oh, and not to mention the long list of golden eagles whose bodies have previously been found shot and poisoned on, er, grouse moors.
[Golden eagle ‘Fearnan’ found illegally poisoned on an Angus Glens grouse moor. Photo by RSPB]
We understand Mr Clancy’s report has been submitted to the Werritty Review as ‘evidence’. We welcome this. Professor Werritty, as a senior academic of some repute, will no doubt treat it with all the regard deserving of a non-scientific opinion commissioned by an organisation that has repeatedly sought to deny the link between grouse moor management and golden eagle persecution.
From the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation:
White-tailed Eagles were once widespread along the whole of the South Coast of England, from Cornwall to Kent, before being driven to extinction by relentless persecution that began in the Middle Ages. The last pair bred on Culver Cliff on the Isle of Wight in 1780. Many parts of southern England remain highly suitable for the species, and following the reintroduction of White-tailed Eagles to Scotland – where there are now over 130 breeding pairs – we believe that an English reintroduction would be equally successful and the best way to re-establish these magnificent birds in their former haunts. Restoring a population of White-Eagles on the South Coast would help to link populations in Scotland and Ireland with those in the Netherlands and France.
[White-tailed eagle by Ronnie Gilbert]
Together with the Forestry Commission we have identified the Isle of Wight as a potential location for a reintroduction, and are currently working on a feasibility report. It is the last known breeding site of the species in southern England, the Solent and surrounding estuaries will provide a rich food supply, there are numerous potential nesting sites in woods and cliffs, and also good loafing areas for young birds. It is also a highly strategic location that would enable the birds to spread east and west along the South Coast.
Evidence from the Netherlands, where there is a small but growing population of White-tailed Eagles, shows that the species will readily nest in densely populated areas, close to people. The species has a broad diet and tends to favour the most seasonally abundant prey: waterbirds are important, including in summer the young of Greylag and other geese as well as Coot; fish are taken when available as well as carrion such as dead and dying birds and fish. Dutch researchers studying White-tailed Eagles have found that any disturbance to wading birds by the eagles is similar to that of Peregrine, and species get used to their presence; while breeding colonies of gulls and terns are effective at mobbing and driving off the eagles.
In addition to the conservation benefits, we believe that the project would give a significant boost to the Isle of Wight economy, including in winter. In Scotland eagle tourism is extremely popular and recent reports have shown White-tailed Eagles generate up to £5 million to the economy of the Isle of Mull each year, and £2.4 million to the Isle of Skye.
The proposed project is a partnership between the Forestry Commission and Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, with potential for other local partners to join.
If the project was to go ahead juvenile White-tailed Eagles would be collected from nests in Scotland and translocated to the Isle of Wight in late June. They would be held in special cages in a quiet location for approximately three-four weeks before being released. Food would be provided close to the release site during the autumn and winter before the young eagles become independent. Up to 60 birds would be translocated in this way over a five year period. The project requires a special licence from Scottish Natural Heritage to collect eagle chicks from Scottish nests, and permission from Natural England to release them on the Isle of Wight.
Young White-tailed Eagles do not breed until they are four or five years of age. It is hoped that a small population would become established on the Isle of Wight, with birds spreading east and west along the South Coast thereafter.
We are keen to consult with the local community, landowners and other stakeholders to encourage support and involvement with the project, and to identify and resolve any concerns.
Three drop-in sessions will be held at three locations across the Isle of Wight to enable members of the public to learn more about the proposed project. These will be held as follows:
You can arrive at any time during the drop-in sessions, and the project team will be present to answer questions and to discuss the proposals. You can also provide feedback on the proposals via our online questionnaire.
For further information about the proposals check out our Frequently Asked Questions page.
ENDS
Earlier this month we blogged about the discovery of a dead peregrine in the Pentland Hills Regional Park just south of Edinburgh (see here). The dead adult male, part of a breeding pair, had been found in May and toxicology results confirmed he had been killed with a highly toxic banned poison, capable of killing a human.
[Photo of poisoned peregrine found dead next to footpath]
There was widespread concern that Police Scotland hadn’t bothered to mention this illegal poisoning incident for many months (not until prompted to do so by us). Given the toxicity of the posion and the frequency with which the public use the footpath where the poisoned bird was found, this silence was unacceptable.
The illegal killing of the peregrine is just the latest in a growing list of wildlife crime incidents uncovered close to grouse moors in the Pentland Hills. In addition to the poisoned peregrine and the subsequent disappearance of its mate and chicks in the nest, other incidents include a raven that was found shot dead on its nest, a merlin’s nest that had been shot out, and a satellite-tagged golden eagle (Fred) who had ‘disappeared‘ in highly suspicious circumstances.
It could be argued that there is political gain to be had from keeping quiet, especially at a time when the Scottish Government-supported South Scotland Golden Eagle Project is underway and project partners SNH are keen to pretend that raptor persecution “is no longer an issue” in the area, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
In addition to the incidents in the Pentland Hills, elsewhere in south Scotland there’s Raeshaw Estate, currently operating under a General Licence restriction and an Individual Licence restriction, due to evidence of alleged ongoing raptor persecution (here); there’s a forthcoming prosecution of a gamekeeper in the Borders for a long list of alleged wildlife crime (here); there’s the land managed for driven grouse shooting in South Lanarkshire (close to the golden eagle translocation area) where over 50 confirmed reported incidents of dead raptors and poisoned baits have been recorded since 2003, including a shot golden eagle in 2012 (it didn’t survive, here), the reported shooting of a short-eared owl in 2017 (here), the reported shooting of a hen harrier in 2017 (here), and the reported shooting of a buzzard in 2018 (here); and then there’s been at least four raptor poisonings in south Scotland this year alone (here), five if you include the Pentlands peregrine.
Fortunately not all MSPs are content to remain silent on this issue. Alison Johnstone MSP (Scottish Greens) spoke out earlier this month when news broke of the poisoned peregrine, stating that she would be asking questions of the Scottish Government’s failure to protect birds of prey (see here). She’s as good as her word. Alison has since lodged several Parliamentary questions as follows:
S5W-19574: To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported recent cases of illegal raptor persecution, what action it is taking to address wildlife crime in the Pentland Hills Regional Park.
S5W-19575: To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the risk to (a) the public and (b) wildlife of the use of banned poisons in the countryside, and what action it is taking to address this issue.
S5W-19576: To ask the Scottish Government, in light of it attracting an estimated 600,000 visitors annually, what its response is to reports that the public was not advised about the presence of a highly toxic banned poison in the Pentland Hills Regional Park
Expected answer date for all three questions is 7 November 2018.
Well done, Alison, and thank you.
Press statement from Hertfordshire Constabulary (25 Oct 2018):
Red kite shot in Ashwell
Officers from Hertfordshire Constabulary’s Rural Support Team are currently investigating the shooting of a Red Kite.
The injured bird was spotted by a local gamekeeper on a bridleway called Green Lane, just off Northfields Road in Ashwell, on Saturday September 29. However he was unable to catch it until October 3. He then took the bird to a local vet where x-rays indicated that it had been shot and had also sustained broken wings. Sadly, it was therefore put to sleep.
Officers are appealing for anyone who has any information about the bird and its injuries to contact them as soon as possible.
Detective Constable Amanda Matthews said: “The reintroduction of Red Kites has been a fantastic success story and the expansion of the population into Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire has allowed more people to see these amazing birds.
The persecution of birds of prey is a National Wildlife Crime Priority and we treat all incidents of this nature very seriously. We are therefore urging people to come forward with any information that could assist us to progress this matter.”
Anyone who has any information about the incident is asked to contact DC Amanda Matthews via the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference 41/47461/18. You can also report information online.
Alternatively, you can contact the independent crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or through their anonymous online form. No personal details are taken, information cannot be traced or recorded and you will never need to go to court.
ENDS
Full credit to the gamekeeper whose persistence enabled this critically-injured kite to be put out of its misery.
Today’s earlier blog post (here) on the hypocrisy of the Scottish Government’s reaction to #Goatgate took a bit of a side swipe at the length of time it’s taking the Scottish Government to introduce regulation, enforcement and accountability to the driven grouse shooting industry.
But here’s a bit of perspective on the matter. At least the Scottish Government is listening to concerns, even though it seems to perpetually cycle through reviews and consultations without actually doing very much.
But as for the Westminster Government – the following says it all:
Dr Therese Coffey MP is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA). She has special responsibility for the natural environment, including biodiversity.
Shameful wilful blindness, summed up in her one word response.
An opinion piece for the New Statesman today, discussing the Scottish Government’s quick reaction to the peverse trophy-hunting of goats and its less-than-quick reaction to the equally peverse trophy-hunting of driven red grouse.
Article available here
Once again, we’re having to report on the deliberate persecution of a protected bird of prey in the Moy area of Highland Scotland, a well-known raptor persecution hotspot.
RPUK map showing location of Moy:
Police Scotland has issued the following appeal for information this morning:
Appeal after buzzard reported trapped south of Inverness
Police Scotland can confirm that an investigation is ongoing following a report of a trapped buzzard near Moy south of Inverness.
The buzzard was discovered by a member of the public earlier in October. However, following a subsequent search of the area by police the bird has not been located.
The trap was close to a fence near to a rough, marshy grazing area close to the B9174 and the national cycle path between Moy and Craggie.
Inspector Mike Middlehurst said: “This unfortunately appears to be an example of deliberate unlawful use of a legal trap to cause suffering to a bird of prey.
A lot of good work has been done in the Highlands and this has been a good season for raptors locally, so any evidence of continued persecution is disappointing.
The location next to the national cycle network path will hopefully help us identify anyone seen acting in a suspicious manner in the area.
Anyone seen near the fence lines, walking up the fence lines, placing articles on the fence posts would be of great interest to us.
We are appealing for anybody who has information about this incident or any other wildlife persecution in the Highland area contact us on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
ENDS
The road number cited in the police press release appears to be inaccurate. The police say it is the B9174 but it looks like this should read the B9154 as this is the road that runs between Moy and Craggie.
Interestingly, Police Scotland has not published the pictures of the trapped buzzard, photographed by the member of the public who found the bird in distress. However, from the police press release, especially the penultimate sentence, it seems reasonable to conclude that this buzzard was caught in a pole trap. A pole trap is a spring trap that has been fixed to the top of a post. When a bird lands on it, the jaws of the trap smash the birds legs, often breaking them. As the trap is fixed to the post, the bird cannot fly away and it is left to dangle upside down, held by its legs, until it dies or until the trap operator comes along and kills it.
Here’s a photo from our archives of another buzzard that had been caught in a illegal pole trap. It didn’t survive its horrific injuries.
These are barbaric devices that cause immeasurable suffering and as such have been banned from use since 1904. However, pole traps are still routinely used as a weapon of choice on game-shooting estates as we see all too often (e.g. see here, here, here, here, here, here). Anyone caught using these traps deserves a lengthy custodial sentence. There is simply no excuse for such savagery in 21st Century Scotland.
We’ve blogged about raptor persecution in the Moy area many many times, including the illegal use of traps and reports of armed masked gunmen visiting the nest sites of protected species. Here are a few examples: here, here, here, here, here and just last year there was a report of another buzzard that had been caught in an illegally-set trap in this area (here).
[RPUK map showing the B9154 road between Moy and Craggie. The red dots are confirmed raptor persecution incidents in this area]
And of course, this grouse moor dominated area has also been identified as one of the hotspot areas where satellite-tagged golden eagles ‘disappear’:
Diversionary feeding of hen harriers (where alternative food is provided for breeding birds to reduce the number of red grouse chicks they might otherwise have taken) has long been an option for grouse moor managers who complain that hen harriers eat ‘too many’ grouse.
This practice has been studied in depth during the Langholm Moor Demonstration Project (phase 1 and phase 2).
[Photo of diversionary feeding in action at Langholm, by Laurie Campbell]
It’s been known for a while just how successful this technique can be. For example, during the Langholm 1 study the proportion of red grouse found in the diet of hen harriers where diversionary feeding was NOT in place was 12%. During the Langholm 2 study, the proportion of red grouse found in the diet of hen harriers where diversionary feeding WAS in place had dropped to between 0 – 4% (see here and here).
These findings have now been formally written up and published in the scientific journal Bird Study. Unfortunately due to publishing restrictions we’re not permitted to publish the entire paper but here’s the abstract:
It’s good to see this paper finally out and especially good to see that the lead author, as well as several co-authors, is employed by GWCT.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if, at the forthcoming High Court challenge against hen harrier brood meddling (a management option of which the GWCT is one of the biggest supporters), lawyers acting on behalf of challengers Mark Avery and the RSPB presented this paper as evidence that Natural England’s decision to licence brood meddling was unlawful because all other management options (i.e. diversionary feeding) hadn’t been exhausted?
The Scottish Government-commissioned review of grouse moor management continues, with the Review Group, chaired by Professor Alan Werritty, taking evidence from a variety of individuals and organisations.
For new blog readers, this review was ordered in May 2017 by Environment Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham after the publication of another review, ‘Analyses of the fates of satellite tracked golden eagles in Scotland‘, which showed clear evidence of deliberate and sustained illegal raptor persecution in some areas managed intensively for driven grouse shooting.
The Werritty Review is due to report next year.
[Golden eagle ‘Fearnan‘, found poisoned on an Angus Glens grouse moor. Nobody was ever prosecuted for killing this eagle. In fact nobody has ever been successfully prosecuted for killing a golden eagle in Scotland. Photo by RSPB]
A number of general updates about the Review Group’s activities have been published by Professor Werritty and we were especially pleased to read his comments about the evidence presented to the group on illegal raptor persecution. It’s not very detailed but there’s little ambiguity in his words:
“Whilst we noted that many raptor species in Britain have recovered in terms of their post-war population sizes and distributions (with some strikingly successful reintroduction/reinforcement conservation programmes for sea eagles, red kite and osprey) the evidence linking raptor persecution to some areas managed as grouse moors appears both compelling and shocking”.
Professor Werritty’s full report on that meeting, which also included evidence on legal predator control and mountain hare culls, can be read here.
There have been further evidence sessions, and also a ‘consultation’, of sorts, that took place over the summer. We’ll be blogging about that ‘consultation’ separately.
Raptor Persecution UK 