Category: News

Desperate days as 5th male hen harrier ‘disappears’

Another male hen harrier has ‘disappeared’ from an active nest – the 5th this year.

Three males vanished from nesting territories in Bowland in late April/early May (see here).

Another male vanished from its nesting territory on Geltsdale last week (see here).

And now the 5th – last seen on the United Utilities Estate in Bowland on 29th May (see here).

Is it shocking news? Yes, but not because we didn’t expect it. It’s shocking because the persecution of this species is so, so brazen.

It should now be clear (as if it hasn’t been for decades) that the people responsible, and the grouse-shooting industry that shields them, need to be brought to their knees.

We can all do that.

We must do that.

We will find a way to do that.

Sea eagles bringing in £millions to local economies

Re-introduced white-tailed eagles (also known as sea eagles) are bringing in £millions of pounds to local rural economies in Scotland.

40 years after the start of the sea eagle reintroduction project in Scotland, a significant milestone has been reached with the 100th breeding pair (see here).

Sea eagle tourism on the Isle of Mull brings in an additional £5 million each year (see here). Now a new RSPB report shows that the sea eagles on the Isle of Skye are generating an additional £2.4 million (see here).

Over in the Irish Republic (where the sea eagle reintroduction project only started in 2007), the small but growing eagle population is also attracting thousands of tourists (see here).

It’s heartening to see that despite the efforts of some (e.g. see here, here, here, here), these eagles are fighting back and, in a world where nature seems to be judged on its monetary value, they’re giving back, too.

Photo by Mike Watson

Henry’s Tour day 37: meeting a revolutionist

Weds 3rd June Copy

Andy Wightman is a class act. He’s an agitator, a truth-seeker and a fearless revolutionist, but achieves this with a charm and courteousness not often associated with anarchists. Combine that with his capacity for meticulous research and analysis and the result is devastating.

If you want to broaden your understanding of the framework within which illegal raptor persecution takes place in Scotland, reading Andy’s blog is the obvious starting point. If you want to know who owns Scotland you should subscribe to this. If you want to know how they got Scotland, you should read this.

Head keeper on Glenogil Estate rescues red kite

Glenogil RK rescuedThe head gamekeeper on Glenogil Estate has reportedly helped rescue an injured red kite that was hanging upside down in a tree after becoming entangled in string.

Danny Lawson was apparently able to shoot off the branch so the kite fell to the ground. He disentangled the bird and took it to Thrums Veterinary Group in Kirriemuir. The vets say the bird is recovering well and is now being cared for by the SSPCA.

News article here.

Photo by Thrums Veterinary Group

Henry’s tour day 36: visiting his friends at the SOC

Thurs 4th June Copy

Henry called in to the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club HQ to talk about their efforts in the fight against illegal raptor persecution in Scotland.

Last year, the SOC joined the other increasing number of voices who are standing up to say enough is enough (see here and here).

This year they will play a prominent role in the support and planning of Hen Harrier Day events in Scotland. More news about those plans soon……save the date (Sunday 9th August 2015).

Henry’s tour day 35: visiting SLE

2nd June 2015 Copy

Henry paid a visit to the HQ of Scottish Land & Estates.

The lights weren’t on and nobody was in.

SLE is a representative body of 1,351 landowners who own 2.27 million hectares of Scotland (figures from Andy Wightman).

Here’s what SLE’s CEO, Doug McAdam, tweeted when he learned Henry had called by:

‘Over 500 pairs of hen harriers on Scottish moorland at last count’.

Here’s what he didn’t mention (see here for source) –

  • The potential national hen harrier population in Scotland is estimated (conservatively) to be within the range 1467-1790 pairs.
  • The current national hen harrier population in Scotland as recorded during the most recent (2010) national survey is 505 pairs, more than a 20% decline from the numbers recorded during the 2004 national survey.
  • In Scotland, the hen harrier has a favourable conservation status in only five of 20 regions.
  • Two main constraints on population growth have been identified: illegal persecution, and in one region, prey shortages.
  • The species is particularly unsuccessful in the Central Highlands, Cairngorm Massif, Northeast Glens, Western Southern Uplands and the Border Hills. There is strong evidence in these grouse moor regions that illegal persecution is causing the failure of a majority of breeding attempts.

Has Doug McAdam been taking spinning lessons from an ex-England cricketer?

Henry’s Tour Day 34: Hello Scotland

1st June 2015 - Copy

Henry has arrived in Scotland. Where will he visit in the next few days? So many choices, so little time….

Gas-gun bird scarers deployed on Leadhills Estate grouse moor

These photographs were taken a couple of days ago on the Leadhills (Hopetoun) Estate in South Lanarkshire. They show three propane gas guns set out on the grouse moor (one inside a grouse butt).

These gas guns are routinely used for bird scaring on agricultural fields – they are set up to produce a periodic booming noise to scare pigeons, geese etc away from crops. The audible bang can reach volumes in excess of 150 decibels.

Can’t imagine why they’d be deployed on a driven grouse moor during the critical stages of the hen harrier’s breeding season, can you?

Bird scarer 1 - Copy

bird scarer 2a

bird scarer 3 - Copy

Illegal tampering with traps – results of BASC Scotland ‘study’ shows not widespread

Earlier this month we read a fascinating article published in Fife Today about the alleged illegal tampering of traps (see here).

Landowner Sir Robert Spencer-Nairn (Rankielour Estate) was talking about how he’d installed CCTV cameras ‘following a spate of incidents’ where ‘vicious’ crows had been released from traps to ‘wreak damage in the countryside’ (yep, you get the idea – he has links with GCT so what do you expect?). The article also suggested that Police Scotland  ‘is reporting a rise in the number of traps being tampered with’.

Is that right? Well, how about we look at the evidence.

Regular blog readers may recall former Environment Minister Paul Wheelhouse telling the RACCE Committee in November 2013 that there wasn’t any evidence to support or refute claims from the game-shooting industry of widespread trap interference/damage, but that a study (funded by Scottish Government – i.e. tax payers) was about to begin to try and assess those claims (see here).

That year-long study began in April 2014 and finished at the end of March 2015. BASC (Scotland) issued a press release in February 2014 to announce the start of the study, and it’s really worth a read (see here) – especially the comments attributed to Mike Holliday (BASC Scotland), Tim (Kim) Baynes (Scottish Land & Estates Moorland Group) and Alex Hogg (SGA), who all claimed that trap interference was widespread (ooh, is that the old victim card being played once more?). As well as BASC, the study was reportedly widely supported by SLE, SGA, GWCT (Scotland), Scottish Countryside Alliance, Scottish Assoc for Country Sports and NFU Scotland. Pretty good coverage then.

So how did the study go? What were the findings? An FoI has revealed all. See here:

FoI April 2015_ Illegal interference with traps and snares BASC – Copy

It turns out that this alleged problem isn’t widespread after all.

Let’s just ignore the fact that none of the data were independently verified, and assume that the gamekeepers who submitted the data were honest (because gamekeepers never lie, right?). In which case, there were 19 alleged trap interference/damage incidents throughout the year-long ‘study’. BASC has actually submitted 25 alleged incidents, but 6 of these can be immediately discounted because they allegedly took place before the study had begun and one of them didn’t even involve alleged disturbance or vandalism: “Snares being used with tag number belonging to another person”.

Of the 19 which apparently took place during the official study period, only 11 were reported to the police. Interesting then, that the article in Fife Today states ‘Police Scotland is reporting a rise in the number of traps being tampered with‘. On what evidence is Police Scotland making this claim?

If you look closely at the details of the 19 alleged incidents, you’ll notice that over one third of them took place on a single estate in Crieff. If those alleged incidents did actually take place, it suggests that there is a localised problem in that particular area; the claim of the problem being ‘widespread’ simply isn’t supported by these figures.

And what about Fife, home to Sir Robert Spencer-Nairn, who claimed in Fife Today that there had been ‘a spate of incidents’? According to the BASC data, there were only two reported incidents in Fife during this year-long study. Do two incidents (one of which didn’t even involve the release of ‘vicious’ crows from a trap) constitute ‘a spate of incidents’ or is this indicative of wildly exaggerated claims?

According to the FoI, BASC Scotland will be analysing the data and submitting a report to the Scottish Government. We look forward to reading it, especially to find out how the data were independently verified, how they assessed whether a trap/snare had been deliberately interfered with as opposed to accidentally damaged (e.g. see here) and how they justify the claim that trap interference is ‘widespread’.