Category: News

Grouse moor management bang out of order

There are lots of ways gamekeepers sorry, mysterious visiting fairies, can, and obviously do, get rid of pesky hen harriers from the grouse moors of upland England and Scotland.

Options available might include disturbing them with booming gas guns (here), or lying in wait with a decoy hen harrier (here), or setting illegal pole traps to catch them (here), or burning out their nests (here), or poisoning them (here), or catching them with baited spring traps on the ground (here), or stamping on their chicks (here), or shooting them (here), or removing their eggs/chicks as part of a government-sanctioned plan designed to appease grouse moor owners (here).

Here’s another method that can be included in the Mysterious Visiting Fairies’ Guide to Getting Rid of Hen Harriers on Grouse Moors. The following two photographs were taken on a grouse moor in the Angus Glens last week (thanks to the contributor who sent these):

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This is a bird-scaring banger rope, draped around a gatepost. These banger ropes are designed to mimic the intermittent sound of a shotgun and are used for scaring birds from agricultural crops. You set fire to one end of the rope and as it burns, it’ll cause loud explosions as the flame reaches the banger units. Some ropes are designed to burn for six hours, setting fire to the explosives at 15 or 30 minute intervals. Other ropes are designed to burn through the night for up to 12 hours.

Obviously, it’s a really good idea to deploy these explosive banger ropes in areas where the public are likely to access (say, like on a gatepost), on land that is susceptible to wild fire (say, like a heather moor), and in areas where nesting birds (including gamebirds, waders and ground-nesting raptors) are trying to breed (say, like a driven grouse moor).

It seems like the mysterious visiting fairies think June is an ace time to deploy them on grouse moors because here are some more photographs taken on a North Yorkshire grouse moor just four days ago. This time the banger rope had been deployed inside a (wooden!) grouse butt and the remains were quite evident on the ground. The smell of burning still hung in the air.

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Here’s a close up of the back and front of one of the tags found inside the butt, photographed when we got home. These were Portek banger ropes:

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Hands off our Hen Harriers! Picnic rally 25 June 2016, North Yorkshire

HowMany (2)

Are you holding the date of 25 June, midday, for a picnic/rally on a grouse moor in North Yorkshire? We are.

We’re looking forward to it.

Apparently this picnic will be in a constituency which has more than 100 signatures on the e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting, is in a National Park, and is approx 40 mins drive from the A1.

But do you turn right or left off the A1?

WATCH THIS SPACE

YDNP Henry

NYMNP Henry

National Trust pulls grouse shooting lease in Peak District National Park

The National Trust has just gone from zero to hero in a move that will send shock waves throughout the grouse-shooting industry and will draw wide acclaim from conservationists.

You may remember at the end of April this year we published a video of an armed man, sitting next to a decoy hen harrier, on a grouse moor in the Peak District National Park (see here). This grouse moor was one of three owned by the National Trust within the National Park, and was leased to a previously unnamed shooting tenant (but see below).

Fake Hen Harrier (1) - Copy

In our opinion, this video depicted somebody lying in wait for a passing hen harrier to come in and mob the decoy bird, bringing the live bird in to close enough range to be shot.

Blog readers from here and from Mark Avery’s website (here) were encouraged to contact the National Trust and ask them what they thought was going on in this video and what they intended to do about it. We know that many of you did just that. The National Trust responded (here) and said they were launching an investigation after the police investigation had failed to make progress.

A couple of weeks later we contacted the National Trust again and asked for an update. We speculated whether they’d be bold or whether they’d bottle it (here). To be honest, we fully expected them to bottle it, as so many other organisations have done when it comes to standing up against the grouse-shooting industry.

We were wrong, and have never been so happy to be wrong! The National Trust has just issued the following statement, and what a statement it is, in every sense of the word:

National Trust Public Statement:

The National Trust has today given notice that the current shooting leases at Hope Woodlands and Park Hall in Derbyshire will end in April 2018.

The charity said it had taken the decision to exercise a break clause in the lease to end the relationship four years early.

Andy Beer, National Trust’s Director for the Midlands, said: “We have a clear vision for land management and wildlife restoration on the High Peak Moors, which was developed in full consultation with our tenants and other key stakeholders.

All our tenants have signed up to deliver to the vision and understand their responsibilities. We work very closely with our tenants and support, consult and discuss any issues relating to the plan on a regular basis.

However, in this case we have decided, after a meeting with the tenant, that we should revoke the lease four years early as it became clear that we could no longer have confidence that they were committed to the delivery of our vision for the land.

We have given the tenant 22 months’ notice and will start the process of looking for a replacement in 2017, when we will be happy to receive applications from partners who can demonstrate how moorland management and shooting can deliver great nature conservation in a way that is compatible with public access.

We remain committed to the High Peak Moors Vision. As with all our conservation aims, we review and evaluate progress periodically. When considering renewals of individual shooting leases in future we will take into careful account the extent to which our objectives have been met, in particular relating to increasing raptor populations.”

Jon Stewart, General Manager, Peak District National Trust

END

This is a ground-breaking move from the National Trust. It’s a huge decision! Basically the NT is saying that it will no longer tolerate the illegal persecution of raptors, whether suspected or actual, on land that it leases to grouse-shooting tenants. It also won’t tolerate the environmentally-devastating impacts of intensively managed driven grouse moors. Let’s hope the next tenant is someone who prefers the far less damaging ‘walked-up’ style of grouse shooting instead.

So finally, after all these years, we now have an organisation that is prepared to be bold and stand up against the previously untouchable grouse-shooting industry! And not just on this grouse moor, which, incidentally, is currently-but-not-for-much-longer managed by Mark Osborne, a name that has often cropped up on this blog and in other media (try Google if you don’t know who he is), but also on other NT-leased grouse moors. Look at that final sentence of the NT statement; if raptor populations are not allowed to recover on these driven grouse moors, tenants can expect their leases to also be pulled.

The NT deserves every plaudit coming its way for this decision and we’d encourage as many of you as possible to contact Jon Stewart and congratulate him and the NT on such a courageously pioneering move. Emails please to: Jon.Stewart@nationaltrust.org.uk 

Not everyone is happy with the NT’s decision, not least the Moorland Association (the representative body of grouse moor owners in England). The Moorland Association has issued the following statement in response to the NT’s news:

STATEMENT from Moorland Association chairman, Robert Benson:

The  Moorland Association is very sad that the National Trust has taken the decision to terminate a sporting lease early. This is the result of a breakdown in confidence in the current tenant’s commitment to the delivery of NT’s Vision and will take effect in April 2018.

We are, however, delighted that the NT has recognised the importance of grouse shooting to help deliver its High Peak Vision and is putting in place a new shooting tenant in order to deliver this.

The MA will do all it can to help this process.

END

What’s hilarious about this statement, apart from them being “very sad”, (remember their anagram? ‘A Sad Morons’ Coalition’) is the headline they’ve used on their website to announce their statement. It reads:

“National Trust supports grouse shooting on its land”.

If ever you needed a perfect example of the lengths the grouse-shooting industry will go to to spread idiotic propaganda and spin, this has to be it!

It’s also amusing to note that they’ve quoted the National Trust’s statement, but have conveniently ‘forgotten’ to include the last paragraph about how NT leases are unlikely to be renewed in future if there’s no sign of a recovery of raptor populations on those grouse moors.

Unlike the Moorland Association, we are, of course, VERY HAPPY with the NT’s news, and not least because it’s a clear demonstration of the influence public pressure can have. Without doubt, the NT’s decision has been made as a direct result of the public’s response to that video nasty filmed on NT land. Hats off to the two birdwatchers who had the wit to film what they were seeing, to the person who sent us that video and asked us to publish it, and to all of you who responded and contacted the National Trust to let them know how strongly you felt. This is a massive result and you all played a big part.

Onwards.

The e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting can be signed HERE

Media coverage

BBC news here

Mark Avery blog here

The ‘secrets of the Angus Glens’ that Countryfile forgot to mention

On Sunday evening, Countryfile included a piece about the grouse moors of Invermark Estate in the Angus Glens and how it was “a haven for wildlife”.

It can be viewed on iPlayer here for the next 28 days (starts at 22 mins in).

Inane, vacuous and unquestioning, this piece was heralded in previews as ‘uncovering the secrets of the glen’.

Invermark is only one of several grouse moor estates in the Angus Glens. Here are some secrets of the wider Angus Glens that weren’t mentioned on Countryfile:

2004 May, near Edzell: long-eared owl and two short-eared owls starved to death in crow cage trap.  No prosecution.

2004 May, Invermark Estate: peregrine nest destroyed. No prosecution.

2006 March, Glenogil Estate: poisoned rabbit bait (Carbofuran). No prosecution.

2006 April, Easter Ogil: poisoned buzzard (Alphachloralose). No prosecution.

2006 April, Easter Ogil: poisoned tawny owl (Alphachloralose). No prosecution.

2006 May, Glenogil Estate: poisoned rabbit bait (Carbofuran). No prosecution.

2006 June, Glenogil Estate: poisoned woodpigeon bait (Carbofuran). No prosecution.

2006 June, Glenogil Estate: Traces of Carbofuran found in estate vehicles & on equipment during police search. No prosecution. Estate owner had £107k withdrawn from his farm subsidy payments. This was being appealed, but it is not known how this was resolved.

2006 July, Millden Estate; poisoned sheepdog (Lindane). No prosecution.

2007 November, Glenogil Estate: Disappearance of radio-tagged white-tailed eagle ‘Bird N’ coincides with tip off to police that bird allegedly been shot. No further transmissions or sightings of the bird.

2008 May, ‘Nr Noranside’: poisoned white-tailed eagle ‘White G’ (Carbofuran, Isophenfos, Bendiocarb). No prosecution.

2008 May, ‘Nr Noranside’: poisoned buzzard (Bendiocarb). No prosecution.

2008 May, ‘Nr Noranside’: poisoned mountain hare bait (Carbofuran, Isophenfos, Bendiocarb). No prosecution.

2008 May, Glenogil Estate: 32 x poisoned meat baits on fenceposts (Carbofuran, Isophenfos, Bendiocarb). No prosecution.

2008 October, ‘Glenogil Estate: poisoned meat bait on fencepost (Carbofuran). No prosecution.

2009 March, Glenogil Estate: poisoned buzzard (Carbofuran). No prosecution.

2009 March, Glenogil Estate: poisoned buzzard (Carbofuran). No prosecution.

2009 April, Millden Estate: poisoned buzzard (Alphachloralose). No prosecution.

2009 July, Millden Estate: poisoned golden eagle ‘Alma’ (Carbofuran). No prosecution.

2009 August, Glenogil Estate: poisoned white-tailed eagle “89” (Carbofuran). No prosecution.

2010 May, ‘Nr Noranside’: poisoned red kite (Carbofuran). No prosecution.

2010 September, Glenogil Estate: poisoned buzzard (Chloralose). No prosecution.

2010 October, Glenogil Estate: poisoned buzzard (Carbofuran). No prosecution.

2010 October, Glenogil Estate: poisoned pigeon bait (Carbofuran). No prosecution.

2010 October, Glenogil Estate: poisoned pigeon bait (Carbofuran). No prosecution.

2011 February, Airlie Estate: buzzard caught in illegal crow trap. (see below)

2011 March, Airlie Estate: 3 x buzzard caught in illegal crow trap. Prosecution (!) but dropped after statement from suspect given to SSPCA deemed inadmissible.

2011 April, Millden Estate: shot buzzard. No prosecution.

2012 April, ‘Nr Noranside’: Remains of buzzard found beside pheasant pen. Suspicious death.

2011 June, Rottal & Tarabuckle Estate: dead kestrel inside crow cage trap. No prosecution.

2012 February, ‘Nr Edzell’: spring-trapped buzzard. No prosecution.

2012 February, ‘Nr Bridgend’: remains of buzzard found under a rock. Suspicious death.

2012 May, Millden Estate: satellite-tagged golden eagle seemingly caught in spring trap, then apparently uplifted overnight and dumped on Deeside with two broken legs & left to die. No prosecution.

2012 May, Glen Esk: disappearance of sat-tagged red kite. No further transmissions or sightings of bird.

2013 January, Invermark Estate: white-tailed eagle nest tree felled. No prosecution.

2013 June, Glen Ogil: shot buzzard. No prosecution.

2013 July, Glen Moy: illegal hawk trap. No prosecution.

2013 September, nr Edzell: unset spring trap next to bait. No prosecution.

2013 November, Glen Lethnot: poisoned golden eagle ‘Fearnan’. No prosecution.

2014 August & September, Glenogil Estate: alleged snare offences. Prosecution of gamekeeper underway (currently ongoing).

2014 October, Nathro: shot buzzard. Prosecution? Unknown.

And some more secrets of the Angus Glens that weren’t mentioned:

No breeding hen harriers on the grouse moors of the Angus Glens since 2006 (see here).

Mountain hare massacre on the grouse moors of the Angus Glens (see here).

Angus Glens gamekeeper facing trial for alleged pole-trapping offences (see here).

Mark Avery has written an alternative and more accurate Countryfile script (see here) than the one that was aired on Sunday evening.

Plenty of people on social media have been asking when Countryfile will do a piece on illegal raptor persecution. To be fair, they did one in 2014 (we blogged about it here) and it was fairly well balanced, but this then begs the question why Countryfile researchers hadn’t done their homework for this latest episode.

Had they done so, here are some of the images they would have found from those ‘wildlife haven’ grouse moors of the Angus Glens. From the top down, an illegally poisoned golden eagle, another illegally poisoned golden eagle, an illegally poisoned white-tailed eagle, an illegally trapped golden eagle that was then dumped in a layby with two broken legs and left to die, the nest tree of a white-tailed eagle that was illegally chainsawed to the ground, and a pile of rotting shot mountain hares. The grouse moors of the Angus Glens a wildlife haven? Hardly. They’re notorious wildlife crime scenes.

Petition to ban driven grouse shooting here

Fearnan

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deeside eagle

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More raptor persecution at Moy

Moy chicksPolice Scotland has issued an appeal for information following the discovery of disturbed and abandoned buzzard and goshawk nests in the Moy Forest near Tomatin in the Scottish Highlands.

During May this year, one goshawk and four buzzard nests have been abandoned in suspicious circumstances, with some evidence of illegal disturbance. These nests were being monitored by staff from Forestry Enterprise Scotland.

Further details and an appeal for information here

This area is no stranger to illegal raptor persecution. In 2010, a 20-year old gamekeeper employed by Moy Estate was convicted for possession of a dead red kite that was found in the back of his vehicle. It had two broken legs and it’s head had been smashed in.

During the police raid on the grouse moors of Moy Estate, the following was also found:

  • The remains of a further two dead red kites.
  • A red kite’s severed leg, along with wing tags that had been fitted to a sateliite-tracked red kite, hidden in holes covered with moss.
  • Six baited spring traps illegally set in the open.
  • A trapped hen harrier (still alive) caught in an illegally set spring trap.
  • A poisoned bait.
  • Four leg rings previously fitted to golden eagle chicks found in the possession of a gamekeeper.

No charges were brought against anybody for these additional crimes.

Our previous blogs on Moy can be read here.

Moy is also home of the annual Highland Game Fair, regularly attended by certain MSPs, Scottish Land & Estates and the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association to ‘celebrate’ the activities of the game-shooting industry.

The petition to ban driven grouse shooting can be found here

Two million blog views

Yesterday, our blog passed the two million hits mark – a bit of a milestone for us.

Thank you to everyone who has read, contributed, commented, shared and supported it.

This is an opportune moment to pay tribute to two sets of people in particular:

  1. RSPB Investigations Teams (and in Scotland the SSPCA Special Investigations Team is also playing an increasingly important role). There aren’t that many of them but what they lack in quantity they more than make up for in quality. It is thanks to their skill, tenacity and ingenuity that many of the raptor persecution incidents that we report have come to light.
  2. Raptor Study Group Members. Again, there aren’t that many of them but it’s thanks to their expertise and effort (they all work in a voluntary capacity on their days/evenings off) that we are able to understand the wider impact of individual raptor persecution crimes. Without their hard-earned data, we wouldn’t know that illegal persecution is having population-level effects on several raptor species, notably golden eagle, hen harrier, red kite, goshawk and peregrine.

Here’s a reminder of why we do what we do. This is Fearnan, a young golden eagle who was found dead on a grouse moor in the Angus Glens. He’d been illegally poisoned. He’s one of many, many victims, illegally killed by the game-shooting industry.

Fearnan

Hands off our Hen Harriers

HandOffRed2Following this morning’s news (see here and here), Henry invites you to save this date:

Saturday 25 June

For a midday picnic and rally on a Yorkshire grouse moor.

Further details available towards the end of this week.

 

 

 

 

How many hen harriers breeding in England this year?

hh LAURIE CAMPBELLMartin Harper, the RSPB’s Conservation Director, has this morning published his promised mid-season update on the status of breeding hen harriers in England this year.

To be frank, and sorry about this Martin, but it’s the biggest pile of tosh we’ve read in a while.

Back in March, when we asked whether the RSPB was planning a ‘black-out’ on hen harrier news this year, Martin responded by saying there wouldn’t be a news black out and that “transparency is absolutely key“.

Have a read of Martin’s mid-season update (here) and think about that word ‘transparency’.

Martin tells us that this year, there is “only a tiny handful of nesting attempts to date”. Not just a handful, but “a tiny handful”. What does that actually mean? Why didn’t he provide the precise number of breeding attempts (at least of which the RSPB is aware), and also provide detail of whether those attempts had resulted in eggs/chicks?

It’s all quite furtive. Why is that?

We’ve heard, from several sources, that the number of breeding pairs of hen harriers in England so far this year ranges between 0 and 1.

How accurate is that? We don’t know, because the RSPB isn’t being transparent about it. And it seems we won’t know until September when Martin says he’ll next report on how the season has gone. Terrific. So, as we predicted back in March, the grouse-shooting industry gets a PR-disaster-free ride up to the opening of the grouse-shooting season on the Inglorious 12th.

Only they won’t, because we won’t let that happen. Unlike Martin, with his soothing words about a “positive partnership approach” and how “pleased” he was to see a statement from the Moorland Association condemning the use of illegal pole traps on a grouse moor, we’re not buying it.

Does he really think that the Moorland Association was sincere in its condemnation of illegal raptor persecution? Come off it, it was nothing more than a PR sound bite because if they had really meant to condemn illegal raptor persecution they’d have booted that grouse moor owner from within their ranks.

And what about that video of the armed man sitting next to a decoy hen harrier, on a grouse moor in the Peak District National Park? Martin mentions it – he describes it as “a worrying incident”. We would describe it as clear evidence of the blatant disregard the grouse-shooting industry pays to the law.

And what about the news of hen harrier ‘Highlander’, whose satellite tag ‘suddenly and unaccountably ceased transmission’ on 16 April this year? Martin describes this as a “huge cause for concern”. We don’t disagree with him on that but unlike Martin, we’re no longer prepared to give the grouse-shooting industry the benefit of doubt.

If, like us, and like Mark Avery (here), you’ve had enough of this pathetic charade that everything’s going to be ok, there will shortly be an opportunity for you to participate in a more direct action approach. WATCH THIS SPACE!

In the meantime, please join 40,000+ people who have definitely had enough and sign the e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting HERE

Media coverage

BBC news here

Statement from Northern England Raptor Forum here

Deafening silence in response to gas gun use in protected area of Peak District National Park

Remember that gas gun we blogged about at the end of May, positioned on the Broomhead Estate in the Peak District National Park, booming away across the grouse moor and undoubtedly disturbing birds in an area designated as a Special Protection Area (SPA), a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)?

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Guess what? It’s still there.

Here are some more recent pictures:

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Ironically, the response from the authorities (South Yorkshire Police, Peak District National Park Authority, Natural England) to this suspected wildlife crime has been a deafening silence.

 

Big decision for Hawk & Owl Trust

Most of you will be aware of the Hawk & Owl Trust’s terrible decision to support the brood meddling part of DEFRA’s doomed Hen Harrier Action Plan.

The Hawk & Owl Trust was on the receiving end of much criticism for that choice (e.g. see here, here, here) and it even resulted in the resignation of their President, Chris Packham (see here). The Hawk & Owl Trust attempted to defend their decision by saying there were “three immoveable provisos and conditions” for taking part. These were:

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We’ve highlighted one of those “immoveable provisos” in red.

Now, given today’s news that the criminal gamekeeper who was recently filmed setting illegal pole traps on a grouse moor, in the vicinity of a female hen harrier, is employed by a member of the Moorland Association (see here), can we now expect a statement from the Hawk & Owl Trust saying they’ve pulled out of supporting the brood meddling scheme because one of their “immoveable provisos” has been broken?

If not, why not?

Emails to: enquiries@hawkandowl.org