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Michael Gove accused of letting grouse moor owners off the hook

There’s a fascinating article in The Guardian today about how the UK Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, appears to have held a secret meeting with wealthy grouse moor owners to encourage them to voluntarily end controversial heather burning to head off a threat of a compulsory ban by the European Commission.

Have a read of the Guardian article (here) and then have a look at this blog on the website Who Owns England, written by environmental campaigner Guy Shrubsole, whose painstaking research is revealing quite a lot about grouse moor ownership in England, including the detail behind today’s headline story.

Aside from the newsworthiness of Michael Gove’s apparent interest in protecting grouse moor owners from the potential constraints of European environmental protection regulation, there’s something else very interesting about this story, as referenced by Mark Avery this morning.

Earlier this year (March), Mark submitted several FoIs to DEFRA to ask whether Michael Gove had met with Teresa Dent (GWCT), Ian Coghill (GWCT), Nick Downshire (Jervaulx Moor) and Amanda Anderson (Moorland Association). DEFRA’s response was a bit odd – agreeing that a meeting had taken place with Teresa Dent but apparently not with the other three (see Mark’s blog here for details).

Now, have a look at the redacted list of attendees at this meeting with Michael Gove to discuss a voluntary end to heather burning, which took place on 1 February 2018 (i.e. BEFORE Mark submitted his FoI):

It’s not very helpful, is it? What is helpful though, is that whoever undertook this redaction exercise didn’t do a very good job because if you cut and paste the text in to a WORD doc, the redacted names can be seen:

Ian Coghill’s name isn’t on the list of attendees, but Nick Downshire’s name is there, as is Amanda Anderson’s. Imagine that! Mark Avery says he’s going back to DEFRA to ask for an explanation about their ‘forgetfulness’.

Another interesting angle to today’s headline story is this notion of ‘voluntary’ action. This is becoming quite a theme for grouse moor management, isn’t it? We’ve seen the so-called ‘voluntary restraint’ on the mass slaughter of mountain hares on grouse moors in Scotland (not working), the so-called voluntary regulation of game shoot management in the form of the British Game Alliance (not fit for purpose, see here and here), the recent ‘voluntary suspension’ by Strathbraan gamekeepers on killing ravens (pointless, as the waders whose chicks they were supposedly protecting have finished breeding for this year anyway), and now a ‘voluntary end’ to environmentally damaging heather burning on grouse moors.

The common demoninator in all this ‘voluntary’ action is that none of it is legally binding. So if any of these practices were to continue (and we know some of them are), the enforcement authorities wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it. Meanwhile, the grouse shooting industry and the Westminster & Scottish Governments can all pretend that grouse moor managers are truly responsible curators of the countryside, as evidenced by their ‘voluntary self-regulation’, so there’s no need to bring in any legislation to control their clearly unsustainable practices.

Great, isn’t it?

A Hen Harrier Day poem

This poem was delivered at the Hen Harrier Day event at the RSPB’s superb Rainham Marshes reserve yesterday and a number of people have suggested it should be posted on this blog.

[Photo by Alan Shearman from his blog about Rainham Hen Harrier Day 2018]

HEN HARRIER DAY

by Ruth Tingay

2014 is when it all began

Amidst Hurricane Bertha at the Derwent Dam

There was a bloke called Avery and a bloke called Packham

And the Sodden 570, united in passion.

 

We arrived as strangers but left as friends

Determined to bring the killing to end

To protect our skydancer from the guns and the traps

And the murderous intent of the men in tweed caps

 

There were only four nests in England that year

The grouse shooters toasting success with a sneer

But to underestimate us was their biggest mistake

We are defiant and strong and we’ll do what it takes

 

These rallies and banners are just the beginning

There’s a long way to go but we know about winning

They can hurl their abuse and call us all liars

We don’t give a damn ‘cos our bellies have fire

 

We’ve come a long way since that very first rally

Westminster, the papers, all over the telly

We’ve changed the narrative and people are listening

Grouse shooting no longer all shiny and glistening

 

We’re exposing their fiction, their greed and their crimes

Their friends in high places all wilfully blind

Nine nests this year and we’re supposed to be pleased

Our hen harrier population, brought to its knees

 

You can keep your fake partnerships and your grouse-shooting peers

Your Gilruths, Amandas and your crocodile tears

Stuff your brood meddling right up your arse

We know what you’re up to and we know it’s a farce

 

There’s progress in Scotland and the grousers are fearful

That’s reason enough for us to be cheerful

So raise up your banners, keep singing our song

By standing together we won’t go wrong

 

END

The event was superbly organised by Lisa Mobley and her team of volunteers. Other speakers included Mark Avery, Natalie Bennett, Martin Harper, Chris Packham and Barry Gardiner MP. The presentations were filmed by PJS Films and can be viewed HERE.

Other Hen Harrier Day events took place on Saturday and there are more being held today, the Inglorious 12th. Find the one closest to you HERE.

[Photo from Hen Harrier Day 2018 at RSPB Rainham Marshes by @RSPBUrban]

Case against grouse moor gamekeeper Timothy Cowin: part 4

Criminal proceedings continued last Monday (6 August 2018) against grouse moor gamekeeper Timothy Cowin, who is accused of a series of alleged wildlife crimes, including the shooting of two short-eared owls in April 2017 at Whernside, Cumbria in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It is further alleged he was in possession of items (a shotgun and an electronic calling device) capable of being used to kill wild birds.

Since court proceedings against Mr Cowin began six months ago, this case has been dragged around a number of magistrates courts in the NW of England. It’s been quite astonishing:

The first court hearing took place at Lancaster Magistrates Court on 27 February 2018.

[Lancaster Magistrates Court, photo by Ruth Tingay]

Mr Cowin’s solicitor, Michael Kenyon, requested an adjournment and no plea was entered. The defence also requested that the case be heard by a District Judge instead of a panel of magistrates (a District Judge is legally-qualified, usually a former solicitor or barrister, whereas magistrates are non-legally qualified volunteers who depend on a qualified legal advisor in the court to direct them on the relevant law). The defence’s request was granted.

The next court hearing took place at Preston Magistrates Court on 16 March 2018 for a case management hearing in front of District Judge Goodwin (the same judge who presided over the Bleasdale peregrine case).

[Preston Magistrates Court, photo by Ruth Tingay]

This was a farcical hearing that we blogged about at the time (see here). No plea was entered by the defendant and his solicitor argued that the case should be thrown out on legal technicalities because he claimed some of the witness statements were incorrectly dated and some of the procedural paperwork was “defective in its wording”.

The case was adjourned and District Judge Goodwin suggested the case be moved to Blackpool to be heard by another District Judge (DJ Chalk) as DJ Goodwin thought she might be away and didn’t want to delay future proceedings.

The case duly moved to Blackpool Magistrates Court and was due to be heard there on 11 May 2018. However, the case was adjourned again.

[Blackpool Magistrates Court, photo by Ruth Tingay]

The case was scheduled to continue at Blackpool Magistrates Court on 16 July 2018. However, the DJ was unwell so the hearing was cancelled a few days earlier. The court admin managed to get this information to the defence team in time but failed to notify the prosecution team, who all duly turned up in Blackpool only to be told the case wasn’t running that day after all!

Later in July, according to a court clerk, District Judge Chalk appears to have reviewed the legal arguments in private chambers at Carlisle Magistrates Court.

A further case hearing was scheduled for 6 August 2018, this time at Barrow-in-Furness Magistrates Court. This hearing did go ahead and legal argument was finally heard. District Judge Chalk apparently ruled in favour of the Crown Prosecution Service.

After the District Judge’s ruling in favour of the CPS, the defendant entered a not guilty plea. The next court hearing is expected to take place later this month, possibly back in Blackpool.

Police investigate suspicious death of breeding peregrine pair

Irish police, in conjunction with the National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS) are appealing for information following the discovery of two dead adult peregrines found on their nest ledge in Co Louth in the Irish Republic.

Staff from the NPWS recovered the two dead peregrines, along with three eggs, from a remote nest site in the Cooley Mountains.

The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht said the adult falcons were killed while trying to incubate their eggs and that ‘forensic and other evidence was being gathered in the expectation that a successful prosecution will take place’.

‘In the expectation that a successful prosecution will take place‘? That’s a strange and optimistic claim but perhaps they already know more than they’re letting on – the cause of death, if it’s been established, has not been revealed in any media reports about this case.

Anyone with information can contact gardaí (police) in Dundalk on 042-9388400 or the local conservation ranger on 076-1002637.

The appeal for information appeared in the Irish Times on Wednesday 8 August 2018 (see here)

Moorland Association’s response to peregrine persecution on Bleasdale grouse moor

The Moorland Association’s response to the RSPB video published on Wednesday is an interesting read.

For new blog readers, the Moorland Association is a lobby group representing the interests of grouse moor owners in England.

Here’s the video again, for those who might have missed it, showing an unidentified individual attending a peregrine nest site where an adult male peregrine had been caught in a spring trap on the nest ledge, and where it thrashed around for over ten hours in a desperate attempt to escape before finally being removed by the unidentified individual. We believe this nest site to have been located on a grouse moor on the Bleasdale Estate in Bowland in April 2016 and that the video footage published by the RSPB related to the prosecution of a Bleasdale Estate gamekeeper – a case that collapsed in April this year due to a series of legal technicalities.

Here’s the Moorland Association’s statement in response to the publication of this video nasty:

The opening line is astonishing: “The suffering of the Peregrine in the RSPB blog is barbaric and abhorrent“.

The peregrine didn’t suffer “in the RSPB blog”, it suffered at its nest site on a driven grouse moor.

A more sincere and accurate Moorland Association statement might have looked like this: “The suffering of the Peregrine in the illegally-set trap that was positioned at the Peregrine’s nest site on a grouse moor on the Bleasdale Estate, a Moorland Association member, is barbaric and abhorrent“.

The rest of the Moorland Association’s statement deflects attention away from the peregrine’s suffering as a result of this crime and instead focuses on trying to undermine the integrity and credibility of the RSPB, as we’ve come to expect.

Not only did the Moorland Association ignore the fact this peregrine suffered on a driven grouse moor (the words ‘grouse moor’ don’t appear anywhere in the MA’s statement!), but it also carefully sidestepped the fact that the grouse moor in question was, at least at the time this footage (and the peregrine) was captured, a Moorland Association member.

How do we know that? Well, as we blogged back in April 2018 when the court case collapsed (see here), in April 2016 when the alleged offences took place, the owner of the Bleasdale Estate was one Jeremy Duckworth, who also happened to be a Director and Regional Representative of the Moorland Association. Here’s a screengrab from the Moorland Association website in 2016:

Strangely, according to documents lodged at Companies House, Mr Duckworth resigned his Directorship of the Moorland Association in September 2016. There are many different reasons why people resign from Directorships but it’s interesting to note that the timing of Jeremy Duckworth’s resignation coincided with the early stages of the police investigation in to the alleged offences on his grouse moor – obviously nothing to do with damage limitation and purely and simply coincidental, of course:

We wonder whether the Bleasdale Estate is a still a member of the Moorland Association?

We wonder whether the Moorland Association is concerned that an unidentified camouflaged individual was able to repeatedly visit this peregrine nest site on the grouse moor of a Moorland Association member and inflict what looks like unimaginable cruelty to this peregrine?

We wonder whether the Moorland Association is concerned that an unidentified armed individual was able to visit this peregrine nest site and fire four shots as another adult peregrine flew from the nest?

We wonder whether the Moorland Association is concerned about the widespread, systematic persecution of peregrines on driven grouse moors in England, as evidenced by an increasing number of scientific papers (here, here, here)? Incidentally, this last paper, ‘Raptor Persecution in the Peak District National Park’ by Melling et al was published by British Birds in May 2018 but the full paper was only available to BB subscribers. British Birds has now kindly published this paper in full so everyone can read it – see here).

We wonder whether the Moorland Association still expects to be considered a genuine partner in the fight against the illegal persecution of raptors on driven grouse moors when it seems to take every opportunity to attack the RSPB’s Investigations Team instead of those responsible for enabling and carrying out these barbaric crimes?

[Photo of an illegally-killed peregrine found next to a driven grouse moor, photo by RSPB]

Peregrine persecution on a grouse moor: Bleasdale video footage finally released

In April this year, a high profile prosecution case for alleged raptor persecution collapsed after covertly-filmed video evidence was deemed inadmissible.

The prosecution was being brought against a gamekeeper from the Bleasdale Estate in Bowland, who had been charged with a string of wildlife offences including the alleged killing of two peregrines in April 2016.

We had followed this case since September 2017, attended each court hearing, and blogged in detail after the case collapsed on a series of technicalities earlier this year (e.g. see here, here, here, here).

The details, as described in court, of what had happened to those two peregrines, were horrific. It was alleged that the adult female peregrine had been shot whilst leaving her nest and the adult male had been caught by the leg in a spring trap that had been set on the nest ledge, where he struggled to escape, in vain, for over ten hours, before being shoved in a bag by an unidentified man and removed from the site.

We’ve been waiting for the RSPB to publish this video footage ever since the case collapsed and the accused walked free. We understand there have been some legal issues about publishing the video and although we don’t know the details, it’s probably a safe bet to guess that some influential people from the grouse shooting industry have probably been working hard to ensure this footage never sees the light of day.

Today the RSPB has released video footage of peregrine persecution in Bowland and although the Bleasdale Estate is carefully not mentioned, it’s quite obvious from the dates cited and the video images that what is being shown in this footage fits the description of what allegedly happened to those two Bleasdale peregrines as desribed to the court earlier this spring.

The RSPB has published a blog describing the circumstances of this footage (here).

Watch the video here but beware, it contains graphic content:

Ater you’ve watched it, think about why nobody has been successfully prosecuted for these crimes.

And then think about why nobody will ever be prosecuted for these crimes.

And then think about why these crimes continue to be committed on grouse moors in 21st Century Britain.

And then think about what you can do to help bring it to an end.

Change must come, but it will only come if people stand up and demand it.

See you at a Hen Harrier Day event this weekend.

UPDATE 10 August 2018: Moorland Association’s response to peregrine persecution on Bleasdale grouse moor (here)

“Not what you’d call a bumper harvest” – accurate reporting on hen harrier breeding season by BBC

Well done to BBC Look North for an honest and accurate report on the hen harrier breeding season in Northumberland.

“Not what you’d call a bumper harvest“, says the presenter in his introduction, and then from the reporter, “The hen harrier is illegally persecuted by gamekeepers on driven grouse moors who believe the birds cause too much damage to the shooting business“.

What, no lame-brained tra-la-la-ing from Amanda Anderson (Moorland Association) about the number of hen harriers that have popped in through her kitchen window for a coffee and a chat? And no Andrew Gilruth, the GWCT’s very own Stepford Wife, droning on about whatever it is he’s been told to repeat that day?

No, not a word from any of the great pretenders.

There are good contributions from Dr Cathleen Thomas (RSPB Skydancer Project) and Tom Dearnley (Forestry Commission), although Tom was probably a bit optimistic when he said “The birds that fledged this year will go in to the breeding population….”. We doubt that very much; they’ll be lucky to be still alive by Xmas.

Anyway, have a watch of this refreshingly uncontaminated report but you’ll need to be quick as the programme expires at 1.45hrs today (Weds 8th).

You’ll find it on BBC iPlayer (here), starts at 2.32min and runs until 4.22 min.

Drugged grouse

The following is a letter to The Courier, submitted by David Mitchell:

DRUGGED GROUSE

Sir,

It will soon be the “Glorious 12th” when thousands of grouse will fall to the guns of the rich and powerful to satisfy their unsporting bloodlust.

Prior to this medicated grit pans that are dotted all over driven grouse moors will be removed. This grit, essential for their digestion, is coated with a powerful drug, usually Flubendazole, which purges the grouse of debilitating worms.

And to make doubly sure of this, on some estates the birds are dosed with Levamisole Hydrochloride, a drug used in chemotherapy.

Add to this cocktail Respiratory Cryptosporidiosis, a didease normally associated with factory farmed poultry. It has now crossed over to estates with artificially high densities of grouse and affects their sinuses and causes painful, swollen eyes.

In Nature, grouse numbers crash every few years to keep a natural balance favouring healthy birds but perhaps these worming agents and an artifically safe environment some less robust grouse are preserved and are more susceptible to disease.

My concern turned to what food safety measures were in place before they were in shops and restaurants. Who checks the meat for the presence of these drugs?

Food Standards Scotland? No.

Animal and Plant Health Agency? No.

Local Authorities? No.

Veterinary Medicines Directorate? Yes!

Phew! That’s a relief! Until you realise that out of the hundreds of thousands of grouse that will be killed shortly, throughout Britain, the number of grouse designated to be tested for these substances is ten.

That’s right. Only ten birds will be examined for any indication of these powerful purging agents being present in the meat.

Well, I for one, will not be eating glow in the dark grouse, anytime soon.

David Mitchell, Kirriemuir.

Well done, David, a blog reader who regularly submits letters to The Courier on the subject of unsustainable grouse moor management. An excellent example of how anyone can help spread the word.

For those who want some background reading on the unregulated use of medicated grit on grouse moors and the rapid spread of disease resulting from it, see here, here and here.

We’ll be posting another blog shortly that appears to demonstrate an appalling abuse of so-called ‘best practice’ in relation to the use of presumed medicated grit on one particular grouse moor.

Meanwhile, here’s Mr Carbo’s interpretation of a drug-crazed grouse:

#Justice4Ravens: judicial review update

As many of you already know, last week the scientific justification for Scottish Natural Heritage’s (SNH) Strathbraan raven cull licence was ripped to shreds by SNH’s own Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) – see here.

The SAC’s utterly damning report included statements such as “completely inadequate“, “seriously flawed” and “will fail to provide any meaningful scientific evidence“.

In response to the SAC’s report, the Strathbraan Community Collaboration for Waders (otherwise known as local grouse moor gamekeepers) has ‘voluntarily suspended’ the licence, presumably until it expires on 31 Dec 2018 although this detail remains uncertain, and SNH has committed to reviewing the scientific study design prior to any further licences being granted beyond 2018.

A report published by SNH in response to the SAC’s damning review outlines some of the measures SNH intends to put in place before any further licences are granted. Read it here:

SNH response to Scientific Advisory Committee review of Strathbraan raven cull

The suspension of the raven cull licence (albeit only voluntary and temporary) is a significant victory for all of us who supported the Scottish Raptor Study Group’s crowdfunder to take legal action against SNH in the form of a judicial review, although it comes too late for the 39 ravens already killed during this unscientific and unjustified cull. (We’re told that 39 have been killed but of course there’s no way of verifying this).

However, the voluntary and temporary suspension of the licence, whilst welcome news, does not necessarily indicate the end of the judicial review, as serious concerns still remain.

Tomorrow (Weds 8th August) the Scottish Raptor Study Group will meet with its legal team to discuss how to proceed. There are various options on the table and each one requires careful consideration and expert advice from the lawyers.

An update on this will come in due course.

In the meantime, let’s enjoy the fact that no more ravens will be (legally) killed in Strathbraan this year under a licence that should never have been issued in the first place, had SNH been competent.

To read all our previous blogs on the raven cull fiasco, please see here (and scroll to foot of page).

Hen harrier breeding results demonstrate this species still suppressed by illegal persecution

According to an article in The Times today, the English hen harrier population has been ‘saved’ following a ‘record number’ of successfully fledged birds.

Good grief!

Nine successful nests in a country that has the habitat to support over 300 pairs is NOT, in any way, shape or form, evidence of a species being ‘saved’. What it actually is is a clear indication that the English hen harrier breeding population is still being suppressed as a result of illegal persecution. We blogged a bit about this last week (here) when the 2018 HH breeding results were published and we pointed out that, yet again, there wasn’t one single successful nest on a privately-owned grouse moor.

Here’s the article from today’s Times in full:

We could spend some time dissecting this article but we don’t have time. It is worth highlighting the quote from Philip Merricks though, who says,

“Wildlife will only thrive if conservationists work with those who manage the land“.

No, Philip, wildlife (in this case, hen harriers) will only thrive if gamekeepers on grouse moors stop bloody killing them, and if so-called conservationists (Hawk & Owl Trust) stop enabling them to keep getting away with it.

It’s worth looking at the 2018 hen harrier breeding season in context with previous years, just to put things in perspective. Successful hen harrier nests haven’t reached double figures for ten years, and yet we’re expected to believe this is a ‘success’?

We’ve been here many times before – a handful of successful hen harrier nests and along come the persecution apologists to claim it’s a ‘turning point’ and everything’s going to be alright. Here’s something we wrote in 2015 after the so-called ‘good news’ that six nests had been successful. The results from the next two years suggest it was anything but a ‘turning point’.

It’s just pitiful, both the continued poor breeding results and the ridiculous cries of ‘success’ from the grouse shooting industry.

For an alternative view of this year’s hen harrier breeding results, have a read of this article from the Northern England Raptor Forum (NERF). It’s much more honest than anything you’ll see from the persecution deniers.

If you’re as sick to the back teeth as we are of the continued pretence that hen harriers are being ‘saved’ by grouse moor gamekeepers, then come along to a Hen Harrier Day event this weekend and ensure your voice is heard. You’ll find details here.