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Grouse shooting industry in desperate attempt to greenwash its rampant criminality

While hundreds of extremist armchair conservationists (an oxymoron, surely?) turned out in force to support Hen Harrier Day events up and down the country last weekend, the grouse shooting industry was preparing to unleash a barrel of propagandist articles and ‘new research’ in a desperate attempt to greenwash the rampant criminality that threatens to take the shine off the opening of the grouse shooting season this coming weekend.

Much of the spin has focused on the ‘preliminary results of a new study’ that, according to the grouse shooting industry, shows that ‘rare birds thrive on game shoots’ and that grouse moors in North East Scotland and North Yorkshire are ‘the country’s best bird sanctuaries’ (e.g. see here and here).

Hmm. An interesting conclusion. Would these be the same grouse moor regions that consistently appear at the top of the national league table for illegal raptor killing, year after year after year? Surely not.

Unfortunately no actual details of the new study have been made available so it’s difficult to assess the validity of the ‘preliminary’ findings, and given the grouse shooting industry’s track record on falsely interpreting grouse moor bird survey data (see here) and falsely attributing grouse moor bird research to credible research organisations (funnily enough, published around this time last year, see here), we’d prefer to wait to see the actual peer-reviewed scientific paper before commenting further.

Jeff Knott (RSPB) has provided an excellent interim response to an article about this study. In The Times yesterday, he said:

“This grouse-moor-funded report tells us what we’ve known for some time. Grouse moors are good for grouse. Some other ground-nesting species benefit indirectly while others do not. Most notably, hen harriers, which are completely absent. The fact that the killing of predators reduces predation is hardly ground-breaking“.

Well known academic Ian Botham, Professor Emeritus of the University of Rural Mythology, has taken a break from his glittering scientific career to offer a few quotes in several papers in support of the ‘new research findings’ and, predictably, then moves on to slag off the RSPB and Chris Packham. Some might argue that he’s desperately trying to deflect attention from his car crash radio interview last week (still very funny, still worth a listen if you haven’t yet done so).

Meanwhile, another new research study has found that the best way to preserve wildlife is to shoot it in the face (see here).

Thanks to blog reader Mr Carbo for sending in this cartoon.

Cabinet Secretary at Moy Game Fair: what message for the raptor killers?

The Moy (Highland) Game Fair kicks off today, where the great & good of the game shooting world gather to celebrate their activities.

Fergus Ewing MSP, Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity, will be there again this year, especially as this is bang slap in the middle of his constituency and he’s a big supporter of the game shooting industry.

We’ve often puzzled over the choice of venue for this event. The area has quite a history. In fact this region of the Monadhliaths, to the north west of the Cairngorms National Park, is one of the well known raptor persecution hotspots in Scotland.

Last year, Fergus Ewing rocked up to the Fair as usual, but his first time as a Cabinet Secretary. Have a watch of this video and listen to the strong message he gave to any raptor killing criminals that might have been listening. Not quite the message we might have hoped for from a senior representative of a Government that’s supposed to be big on stamping out raptor persecution, and in sharp contrast to the message given by another Cabinet Secretary earlier this year:

Botham in tantrum over car crash radio interview

Hopefully by now you’ve all had a chance to listen to Ian Botham’s masterclass in how not to do a radio interview – the best car crash radio for some time (see here).

Now Botham’s having a tantrum, claiming he was “ambushed by an anti-shooting agenda” and has threatened to boycott the BBC “unless something significant comes of this complaint“. Here’s the article in today’s Times:

Here’s the text:

Sir Ian Botham has threatened never to speak to the BBC again over claims that it ambushed him on air with an “anti-shooting agenda” when he was trying to promote a charity.

The former England cricketer, 61, said he agreed to appear on Radio 5 Live’s breakfast show to talk about his plans to donate 10,000 pheasants and partridges that are shot on his estate to food banks.

The interview turned prickly when Rachel Burden, the presenter, asked him what would have happened to the birds if they were not donated to the Country Food Trust charity.

“The BBC lured me on to their show under false pretences and ambushed me with their anti-shooting agenda”, he told The Times yesterday.

Sir Ian, who was given the nickname Beefy during his playing career and works as a presenter for Sky Sports’ cricket coverage, said that he had been subjected to online abuse since the interview. He has been supported by the Countryside Alliance, which claimed that the BBC had an inherent bias “against the countryside and rural pursuits”.

“Incidents like this appalling treatment of Sir Ian Botham show why people feel this way. The BBC is singularly failing its rural audience”, said Tim Bonner, chief executive of the alliance, which backs bird shooting and has campaigned against the ban on fox hunting with hounds.

During the BBC interview on Monday Sir Ian said that the birds shot from his Sawley Hall estate in North Yorkshire, would have been exported to Europe where game meat is more popular than in England.

Animal rights groups have filmed gamekeepers burying large numbers of dead pheasants because of a lack of demand to eat them locally.

Ms Burden suggested that “a lot of people” had a problem with shooting birds for sport. “Millions of birds, up to 50 million birds, are bred each year to be shot”, she said.

“And how many chickens are shot every year?” Sir Ian retorted. “How many chickens are bred with a six-week life?”

Sir Ian appeared to swear at Ms Burden when she broadened the conversation to include grouse shooting, which has been vehemently opposed by the BBC wildlife presenter Chris Packham. The grouse shooting season starts on August 12. “You are f***ing wrong. You are wrong”, he said. “There’s nothing to do with grouse. This is about pheasant and partridge. Pheasant casserole and partridge curry, which we are giving. Now if you have a better solution I am willing to hear it”.

Nicky Campbell, Ms Burden’s co-host, attempted to soothe the conversation by praising Sir Ian’s food bank initiative and then discussed the ethics of hunting lions, which Sir Ian condemned.

Sir Ian told The Times the BBC had tried “to stir up every animal rights controversy they could think of and link it to my name”. He added: “It is now clear to me that the BBC’s approach was part of an anti-shooting agenda and there was never any intention of talking about creative ways to fight poverty.

“I will never be speaking to the BBC again in any capacity unless something significant comes out of this complaint. BBC 5 Live asked me to talk about a charity that is trying to do some good. I agreed in good faith, thinking everyone would want to support our efforts to help people in need”.

The BBC rejected Sir Ian’s complaints last night. “The interview was fair”, said a spokeswoman for the corporation, which is holding a four-day Countryfile Live event at Blenheim Palace today. “We asked a broad range of relevant questions and gave him the fullest opportunity to respond on air”.

The League Against Cruel Sports, an animal rights charity, said that bird shooting was “steeped in cruelty” and accused Sir Ian of trying to “whitewash the reality of shooting”. “The fact that Sir Ian Botham sees nothing wrong with blasting hundreds of game birds out of the sky for fun is a concept rejected by most people in the 21st century”, Philippa King, its chief operating officer, said.

ENDS

 

Police interview man re: shot red kite in Nidderdale

North Yorkshire Police have issued a further appeal for information about the shooting of a red kite in Nidderdale.

The kite was found near Greenhow in Nidderdale on Saturday 11th March 2017 (see here). Since then, a number of rewards have been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved. One of these rewards has been offered by local businesses in nearby Pateley Bridge (see here).

Last month North Yorkshire Police interviewed a local man in connection with the incident and now they are appealing again for more information.

PC David Mackay, a Wildlife Crime Officer from the North Yorkshire Police Rural Task Force said: “We have had a good response so far from the public to our appeal for information, and I am urging anyone who has not yet come forward to do so now. This lengthy investigation shows that we take bird of prey persecution extremely seriously“.

North Yorkshire Police is being supported in the investigation by the Yorkshire Red Kites group. Doug Simpson, the Yorkshire Red Kite Co-ordinator, said: “I am pleased to hear of the progress made in this case. I would encourage anyone with any information not yet reported to contact the police as soon as possible.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Police Wildlife Crime Officer David Mackay:  david.mackay@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk and quote reference number 12170047155. Alternatively, you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The grouse moor areas of Nidderdale and the neighbouring Yorkshire Dales National Park are well known raptor persecution hotspots. In the last ten years (2007-2017), twenty six red kites have been confirmed as victims of illegal persecution in North Yorkshire (18 poisoned, 8 shot). Twenty two of those red kites were killed in Nidderdale or the National Park. Earlier this year the RSPB wrote a blog about red kite persecution in this region and produced this shocking map:

Well done North Yorkshire Police for persistence with this latest investigation (see press release here).

Red kite photo by Richard Stonier

Peregrine shot in Ipswich – police investigation launched

Suffolk Police are investigating the shooting of a young male peregrine in Ipswich.

The bird, one of four to have fledged this year from the Mill Tower at Ipswich Waterfront, was found alive but in an emaciated condition at the weekend. He was taken to Riversbrook Veterinary Practice where an x-ray revealed he had been shot in the leg. Unfortunately he didn’t survive.

Further details in the Ipswich Star here

Photos by Riversbrook Veterinary Practice

Three successful hen harrier nests in England (none on driven grouse moors)

The RSPB has just announced the results of the 2017 hen harrier breeding season in England. There was a pathetic total of three successful nests (England has the capacity for ~330 pairs).

The three successful nests (with ten fledglings) were on land managed by the Forestry Commission in Northumberland.

Read the full, sorry details on the RSPB’s Skydancer blog here.

Well done to the Northumberland Hen Harrier Protection Partnership (Northumberland National Park Authority, Forestry Commission, RSPB, Natural England, Northumberland Wildlife Trust, Ministry of Defence, Northumbria Police, and the Northern England Raptor Forum).

There’s an interesting quote from Andrew Miller of the National Park who says, “We will continue to monitor our birds throughout the year….” This implies that the young birds have been satellite tagged, but according to our sources, only one fledgling was fitted with a tag because Natural England left it too late this year. This seems hard to believe, given NE’s experience of sat tagging hen harriers, but no doubt we’ll hear more about this in due course.

The real story, and what should be our focus of attention, is that for a second year in a row, there wasn’t a single successful breeding attempt on any driven grouse moor in England. This is despite the grouse shooting industry supposedly being signed up to DEFRA’s Hen Harrier InAction Plan.

[Drawing by Gerard Hobley]

If this year’s shameful breeding results don’t inspire you to attend a Hen Harrier Day event this coming weekend, nothing will.

Well done to the RSPB for publishing the details of this year’s breeding season in good time (presumably Natural England is still fiddling with its super computer, trying to count up to three and ‘analysing’ the data).

Ian Botham masterclass on how not to do a radio interview

You’ve got to listen to this. It’s the funniest nine minutes of car crash radio you’ll have heard for a long time.

It’s Ian Botham, being interviewed on BBC Five Live this morning, talking about how the public spirited game shooting industry is planning to donate thousands of lead-poisoned pheasants and partridges to the poor and needy.

First, here’s a bit of background (from yesterday’s Sunday Times) –

Whether you think donating thousands of lead-contaminated game birds to the poor is a great idea or whether you think it’s simply a PR opportunity to justify the killing of 50 million game birds a year for entertainment, this is fantastic radio.

Here’s the interview (starts at 2:39:12). Only available for 29 days.

UPDATE 27 January 2018: The interview has now been archived on YouTube. Listen to it in full here

Mountain hares slaughtered on Scottish grouse moors: new report published

On the eve of the open season (1st August) for killing mountain hares in Scotland, animal welfare charity OneKind has published a new report outlining concerns about the scale of this slaughter taking place on Scottish grouse moors.

The report can be downloaded here: mountain hares persecution report Onekind 2017

The report provides a good summary of what is known about mountain hare persecution (who’s killing them, why they’re killing them and which methods they’re using), but perhaps more importantly, the report emphasises how little is known about the impact of this apparently legal slaughter on the conservation status of the mountain hare population. The report also provides new information about 25 companies that offer mountain hare killing as a ‘sporting’ activity on grouse moors, some of which seems to be endorsed by Scottish Government agencies including the tourism agency Visit Scotland and the statutory conservation agency, Scottish Natural Heritage.

The report details recent calls from a range of conservation organisations asking for a moratorium on the culling until the impact on the hare population can be properly assessed, and the Scottish Government’s weak response that has mostly focused on making a plea for ‘voluntary restraint’ – a plea that has been comprehensively ignored by the grouse-shooting industry. It’s hardly a surprise, given the industry’s reputation for long-term criminality; if they won’t obey the law it’s quite unlikely they’ll adhere to any call for voluntary restraint.

On the publication of the new report, OneKind Director Harry Huyton said:

“Mountain hares are an iconic species in Scotland that should be protected. Our report shows that instead they are persecuted in enormous numbers for entertainment. This killing is unregulated, and there are no guarantees that it is not further driving the decline of these species or causing unacceptable suffering.

Today, the day before the open season begins, OneKind is calling on the Scottish Government to take urgent action and introduce a moratorium on large-scale hunts and culls before the season gets into full swing”.

On the apparent endorsement of large-scale recreational hare killing by Scottish Government agencies, Harry said:

“I hope that Visit Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage share our surprise and displeasure with what we have revealed in our report. It’s simply not appropriate for Government agencies to actively promote the large-scale recreational killing of native wildlife, and I am writing to both agencies today to ask them to remove their endorsement of the Scottish Country Sports Tourism Group and businesses that offer these services”.

The report makes a series of recommendations including the introduction of complete protection of mountain hares within Scotland’s national parks, prohibiting mountain hare killing except under licence all year round, and strengthening and bringing transparency to the licensing arrangements.

We know that mountain hare culling will be investigated as part of the Scottish Government’s forthcoming review on grouse moor management, but we don’t know when that review will begin.

Given the mountain hare’s protected status, the Government’s responsibility to maintain the population in favourable conservation status, the legitimate concerns about the population impact of large commercial hare shoots on grouse moors (e.g. see here), the grouse-shooting industry’s complete denial that there’s even a problem (sound familiar?), it doesn’t seem too much to ask for a temporary moratorium on all mountain hare killing until its effects are properly assessed. Does it?

UPDATE 13.30hrs:

From the OneKind website:

  • The Balavil Estate website has been taken down and the following comment was provided: “A website set up by the previous owners of the Balavil Estate does not present an accurate description of the estate as it is today. We are seeking to close this website which is not in our ownership. Since 2015, Balavil Estate has had a new owner who is investing in land and properties on the estate, particularly in relation to its farming activities. The estate has no plans for hare shooting.”
  • Viscount Sporting are no longer advertising mountain hare hunting. Their website now says that “hunting experiences will exclude Mountain Hare shooting as of the 2017 shooting season” and that they are “firmly in line with the current position of the Scottish Wildlife Trust”.
  • The Mirani Hunting entry on VisitScotland.org appears to have removed the image of a mountain hare hunt.

More evidence of mountain hares being used as bait on Peak District National Park grouse moors

A few days ago we wrote a blog about what appeared to be a bin full of dead mountain hares being used as bait in a stink pit bin on a grouse moor in the Peak District National Park (see here).

The blog stimulated a lot of comments about the identification of the species in the bin, whether or not the bin was being used as a stink pit, and whether the whole thing had been a set up by the Hunt Investigation Team.

A blog reader (independent of the Hunt Investigation Team) has sent in some more photographs that were taken on the same grouse moor, and on one other grouse moor also within the National Park, in years previous to the Hunt Investigation Team’s visit earlier this year.

This image (below) is particularly interesting – it’s the same stink pit bin, photographed in 2015, clearly showing a set snare on the lead in path, presumably set to catch any fox that might be attracted to the stench of rotting flesh in the bin:

On the same estate, a dead mountain hare with its belly slit open was photographed (1 March 2015) on a path where a snare had been set. The snare is quite difficult to see in this photo – it is to right of the path, adjacent to the fallen branch:

This photo (below) shows the same scene from the reverse angle, with the snare in the foreground:

This photo (below) shows another stink pit containing dead mountain hares (this time on a different grouse moor within the National Park) and the photographer says snares were seen surrounding the site but they were not set (photo taken Xmas Eve 2016).

It is clear from these photographs that mountain hares are being used as bait on these grouse moors to attract in predators that will be snared and killed. All of this is legal.

However, as we argued on the earlier blog, the mountain hare is listed as a UK Biodiversity Action Plan species (UKBAP), identified as threatened and requiring conservation action. The Peak District National Park Authority has the mountain hare listed as a priority species within the Park and say it is “a locally important species for which we’re taking action” (see here).

How does allowing them to be killed on a grouse moor within the National Park, and then used as bait to catch and kill other wildlife, constitute conservation action?

Emails to Sarah Fowler, Chief Executive of the Peak District National Park Authority:  sarah.fowler@peakdistrict.gov.uk

RSPB statement on hen harrier reintroduction to southern England

Last week we wrote a series of blogs updating what we know about the proposed controversial ‘reintroduction’ of hen harriers to southern England.

In one of those blogs (here) we included an email from Jeff Knott (RSPB) to Simon Lees (Hen Harrier Southern Reintroduction Project Manager, Natural England) that included the following muddled sentence:

“While we [RSPB] have said we don’t actively support the reintroduction project, nor are we opposed to it and of course we would want to see it be a success“.

We, and many others, didn’t have a clue what that meant. The RSPB has now published a clarification statement, posted on an RSPB community blog by Tony Whitehead, RSPB Public Affairs Manager, SW England region:

A consortium led by Natural England is currently looking at the feasibility of re-introducing hen harrier to southern England. The species is red listed, and has declined markedly over the past few decades with it’s continuing rarity due to ongoing illegal persecution on and around intensively managed grouse moors in northern England.

The current NE feasibility project aims to assess the opportunity of re-establishing a viable population away from the moors, and thus improve the bird’s prospects. Areas being looked at include Dartmoor, Exmoor and Wessex.

The RSPB has serious reservations about this approach to hen harrier conservation in England, and therefore is NOT supporting the project.

Firstly, the RSPB only advocates reintroduction in situations where natural re-colonisation is not possible through other measures. At present, we believe that this could be achieved if persecution in the uplands was stopped.

Secondly, the RSPB is concerned that if hen harriers were to be re-introduced to southern England, birds that disperse from their natal areas would be threatened by ongoing illegal persecution in the uplands. Therefore, again, persecution would need to stop entirely before any re-introduction would be viable.

However, the re-introduction project is still at the feasibility stage, and we have yet to see detailed proposals. Although we have serious doubts, to be fair, if the project can address these concerns, which we believe it would need to do in order to comply with IUCN re-introduction guidelines, then the RSPB would wish it every success.

Currently we don’t see how it can do this.

ENDS

This statement provides us with a much better understanding of the RSPB’s position (it DOESN’T support the project) but it’s not as unequivocal as it could/should be. The RSPB is suggesting that it is only ‘fair’ to wait and see a detailed proposal. Why? What possible detail could alleviate the legitimate concerns about ongoing illegal persecution? Why pretend that the grouse-shooting industry and Natural England might pull something out of the bag to change all our minds?

There’s a time for diplomacy, sure, but on the subject of the illegal killing of hen harriers, that time has long since passed. Drop the final paragraph, stop pandering to the criminals and stand up with the rest of us.