15/11/2018

RSPB object to using method in recovering hen harrier numbers: Our letter to the Times

North Yorkshire police should be congratulated for investigating the loss of a hen harrier (Police on the trail as wild bird vanishes, Nov 14). This is important but there is nothing unusual about losing large numbers of young harriers. On Orkney, where there are no grouse moors, 68% were lost in their first year.

In this case the evidence must be compelling, but it’s ironic that it has been provided by the RSPB, an organisation that is currently taking the government to court to try and prevent plans to recover the species. The RSPB is objecting to the trial of brood management, a conservation measure successfully used in France to remove the conflict that arises when lowland harriers nest in fields of corn. It involves removing harrier chicks from nests and looking after them until they are released back into the wild.

Andrew Gilruth
Director of communications at Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust

Related reading - Stoat control benefits threatened species: Our letter to The Times >

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Comments

Hen Harriers

at 12:36 on 20/11/2018 by Robert Shaw

The RSPB has lost its way and is now driven more by politics than by sound research

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