Shooters urged to give harriers a lifeline

Published on Thursday 20 August 2009 22:01

BRITAIN'S leading bird conservation group yesterday called for an end to the age-old conflict between grouse shooting estates and the country's most persecuted bird of prey, the hen harrier.

In a bid to resolve tensions between conservationists and gamekeepers, the RSPB is urging grouse moor managers to reduce predation of their valuable red grouse stocks – by providing supplementary food to the birds of prey.

And, in an even more radical potential solution to the conflict, the charity is also advocating that golden eagles should be allowed to settle and breed in the vicinity of grouse moors where their presence may deter hen harriers from setting up home.

The society's blueprint for an end to the conflict has been outlined in an article in the latest edition of the Journal of Applied Ecology.

A spokesman for the RSPB said: "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.

He acknowledged that on some sites, hen harriers eating red grouse chicks had led to grouse shooting becoming "economically unviable", as had happened at Langholm Moor in Dumfriesshire.

But he added: "In response to suggestions 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. Diversionary feeding has been shown to reduce the number of grouse taken by hen harriers by 86 per cent, yet has not been adopted by grouse moor managers, other than at Langholm Estate in Scotland.

"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."

A spokeswoman representing the Scottish Rural Property & Business Association, the Scottish Countryside Alliance and the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, dismissed the RSPB proposals as an "ill-disguised attempt to discredit driven grouse moor management".

She added: "There is increasing confidence that solutions can be developed if the various stakeholders can work quietly together, rather than attacking in the media.

"Techniques such as using golden eagles to deter hen harriers have been discussed, but they raise other conservation issues and have not been scientifically tested."