Call for birds of prey to be culled on grouse moors – RSPB offers alternatives

20/08/2009 14:32:48 RSPB outlines vision to resolve hen harrier - red grouse conflict
August 2009. The RSPB has challenged grouse moor managers to adopt techniques that could help resolve the conflict between grouse shooting and hen harrier conservation. In an article for the Journal of Applied Ecology, the Society lays out a vision for tackling the long-running conflict, in which hen harriers have paid the ultimate price. Hen harrier numbers have been kept low because of illegal killing and disturbance over decades, with problems particularly associated with areas where moors are managed for intensive, driven-grouse shooting.

Hen harrier diet
Hen harriers eat red grouse chicks, voles and meadow pipits, and the RSPB recognises that on some sites high densities of hen harriers can lead to driven-grouse shooting becoming economically unviable, as happened at one Scottish site, Langholm Moor.

Only 5 successful nests on grouse moors
Last year, only five successful nests were recorded on driven grouse moors in England and Scotland, despite there being enough suitable habitat to support nearly 500 pairs.

This year, fewer than 10 successful nests are expected across the whole of England, despite the English uplands having enough suitable habitat for many more than 200 pairs.

Law change to allow culling of birds of prey?
A controversial suggestion has been made by Tim Baynes, moorlands director of the Scottish Countryside Alliance, who thinks numbers of some raptors, especially buzzards and goshawks, are becoming unmanageable. He has suggested that the law should be changed to allow birds of prey to be killed by landowners when numbers grow out of control.

In response to suggestions that that the law should be changed to allow birds of prey to be culled on grouse moors, the RSPB questions whether a sporting activity that relies on protected birds of prey being disturbed and killed is a sustainable land-use. Instead, the Society is calling for management techniques, which reduce the impact of hen harriers on grouse numbers, to be trialled and encouraged by game managers.

The article says grouse moor managers are not trying techniques that could help solve the problem.

Alternative methods - Diversionary feeding
Diversionary feeding has been shown to reduce the number of grouse taken by hen harriers by 86%, yet has not been adopted by grouse moor managers, other than at Langholm Estate in Scotland. Here, the Langholm Moor Demonstration Project is seeking to re-establish driven grouse shooting alongside a thriving population of hen harriers and is showing encouraging signs of progress.
 

Male Hen harrier. Credit Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)

Golden eagles to deter Hen harriers?
Other more novel techniques should also be explored. One of these simply involves allowing golden eagles to settle and breed in the vicinity of grouse moors, where their presence may deter hen harriers from settling. Sadly, the killing of golden eagles persists, making their return to grouse moor areas in England and Scotland unlikely as things stand.

Hen harriers are on the verge of extinction as a breeding species in England
Lead author, Dr Pat Thompson, RSPB's Uplands Conservation Officer said: "Moorland managers and conservationists must work together to resolve this long-running conflict. Hen harriers are on the verge of extinction as a breeding species in England, and to lose such a magnificent bird because of continuing intolerance towards it would be a sad indictment of society's ability to protect wildlife.

"We understand that many people involved in shooting are as appalled by wildlife crime as we are. The next step is for grouse moor managers to adopt techniques such as diversionary feeding more widely, and demonstrate that driven grouse moor management is compatible with bird of prey conservation.

If this turns out to be impossible, then it may be time to consider other approaches to managing our uplands."