November
14th, 2018 at 10:30 am
What is
the problem?
The
RSPB’s Birdcrime
2017 report highlights hen harrier persecution (other birds of prey
crimes are also included). Hen harriers live on moors and hunt for birds and
small mammals. Where they fly over moors that host grouse shooting, they also
take grouse chicks, putting them in conflict with gamekeepers. Satellite tags
that track the movements of birds of prey have collected irrefutable evidence
of their persecution: 68% of all hen harriers tagged by Natural
England have vanished on or near grouse moors. “The bird and
the tag just disappear and we can pinpoint exactly where that happens,” says
Mark Thomas of the RSPB’s investigations unit. Typically, the carcass will be
incinerated and the tag smashed with a mallet.
2017’s
recorded birdcrime incidents
The
report highlights incidents featuring the major raptor species in the UK.
“These are confirmed cases, accepted by the police as reliably recorded; in
some cases, police themselves have witnessed the crimes,” says Thomas. Some
gamekeepers have provided intelligence about estates where hen harriers have
been killed.
Shooting: A
first-hand account of a man shooting a hen harrier on a driven grouse moor in
South Lanarkshire was given to Police Scotland in 2017.
The same month on this estate, a witness heard a single gunshot. The next day,
the RSPB recovered
the body of a short-eared owl. Police investigated both incidents but no
prosecution has followed.
Poisoning: In
May 2017, two adult peregrine falcons were found poisoned at a quarry in
Shropshire. They had died after eating a pigeon illegally laced with diazinon.
The RSPB says the site has a history of poison being used to target birds of
prey. No one has been charged with the crime. More happily, a chick was rescued
and fledged.
Nest
disturbance:
A marsh
harrier nesting attempt was recorded at a grouse estate in North Yorkshire in
May 2017. RSPB officers installed a covert camera to monitor the nest. The
footage revealed armed men visiting the nest and removing eggs. Four other
uncategorised incidents of persecution were recorded in 2017.
Does
grouse-moor management help harriers?
The Game and Wildlife
Conservation Trust argues that the demise of grouse moors would
adversely affect hen harriers. “The irony is that gamekeepers actually protect
hen harriers,” says Dr Adam Smith, GWCT’s director for Scotland. Smith points
to Langholm Moor in Dumfries & Galloway, which has been monitored for
predator-prey interaction. “That showed that if raptor predation of grouse chicks
is too high then management is withdrawn, sheep graze the land, the heather
deteriorates, foxes and crows come in and predate on hen harrier chicks,”
he says. “This is not a simple story; so many people are not prepared to
listen.”
Smith
suggests legal measures, such as brood management, may help. This sees raptor
chicks removed from nests and raised in an aviary, then later released near to
where they were taken. “It is unpopular with some but it means raptors are not
taking grouse chicks to feed their own chicks.”
An RSPB
study in the Peak District National Park suggests strong associations between
intensive grouse-moor management in the Dark Peak and raptor persecution:
goshawks and peregrines declined significantly in the Dark Peak between 1995
and 2015 but increased five-fold and 20-fold respectively elsewhere in the
park.
“There’s
growing public knowledge and anger about what is going on,” said Martin Harper,
conservation director at the RSPB. “Unless the grouse industry changes, there
will come a point when that anger is focused less on the welfare of birds of
prey and more on shooting.”
What is
the shooting community doing about it?
Amanda
Anderson, director of the Moorland Association,
says the report, in contrast to the RSPB’s interpretation, contained positive
news. “This report demonstrates that progress is being made on the issue of
raptor persecution,” she says. “We are committed to a representative assemblage
of birds of prey across our uplands.” She added that she was encouraged by a
decrease in confirmed incidents of persecution of 15% from 2016. The RSPB’s
Mark Thomas responded: “Every year, the shooting community points to a hen
harrier that has fledged and that the corner has been turned. But we report the
same statistics year after year; it’s not changing. The defence is always that
it’s a rogue gamekeeper but this is not just a bloke down the road doing this;
this is industry-wide. We conduct our survey every year; you can’t dismiss this
as just one year’s statistics.”
What more
can be done?
Many
conservationists believe changes are needed. “Even if we get a conviction, it
doesn’t bring the bird back,” says the RSPB’s Mark Thomas. “We need to stop it
happening in the first place.”
Bird crime
has now been categorised a national priority by the police, but some senior
wildlife figures, such as former RSPB conservation director Mark Avery, are
calling for a complete ban on grouse shooting. The RSPB favours a licensing
system, whereby estates must apply for a licence in order to conduct shoots. If
a bird of prey is killed on the estate, or nearby, the licence would be
withdrawn. “That could be for up to five years,” says Thomas. “If an estate
costs £24m to buy and you charge £10,000 for a shoot, that would make them
think twice.”
Walkers,
bird lovers and other outdoor enthusiasts can help monitor birdcrime when
they’re in the countryside, says the RSPB. “The public are our eyes and ears,”
says Thomas. “If they see something that seems odd, they can call us.” The RSPB
and Natural England are keen to raise awareness of the issue.
What does
the law say?
The
prevailing view among conservationists is that the law in England and Wales is
inadequate. Alleged bird crimes are treated as summary offences, which means
they are heard in magistrates’ courts. “Cases can be hard to prove because the
defendants will often have top QCs, paid for by their employers,” says Thomas.
Of the 68 confirmed cases in 2017, only four prosecutions and one conviction
were secured. Also, film footage of gamekeepers killing birds has been
presented in court in England but can be deemed inadmissible if the defence
maintains it is not comfortable with surveillance. In Scotland, such footage
has a higher rate of convictions. Scotland has the additional charge of
vicarious liability, that can see a landowner charged if a bird is killed on
their property, even if they did not commit the act themselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment