An advantage of being in Scotland is that the Torygraph up here didn’t have this non-story in it. The disadvantage was that it had some quotes by the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association instead.
I didn’t seem to have missed much. Apparently being an ex England captain is now an ecological qualification.
At least Botham is described as a ‘self-proclaimed country boy’ – was that a calculated insult from the Telegraph I wonder.
Hen Harriers, it seems, now eat lots of Pheasants which is a new allegation.
Botham is right about one thing, the RSPB should consider ditching the ‘R’.
Given that the YFTB ‘campaign’ is funded by the British grouse industry, I keep wondering whether that is every grouse moor, every game dealer and every restaurant selling grouse or most of them or just a couple with more money than sense?
i assume that the GWCT’s Andrew Gilruth is misquoted as saying no upland keeper has been prosecuted for a Hen Harrier offence. Things are different up here in Scitland.
But it’s interesting, and rather sad, that the GWCT continues to appear to want to align itself, rather than distance itself, from this attack on the RSPB. It’s not very charitable of them, is it?
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Aye, things are very different here in Scotland. But there again, Henry, other raptors, hares and Pine Martins are as in great danger here, but luckily we have territories other than grouse moors for Henry to inhabit, so the keepers up here have a more demanding job.
The owners up here though, are getting twitchy. They are probably not too worried about their keepers serving at her majesty’s pleasure, but they want to keep out of jail themselves, and that is far more likely here.
Possibly to that end, Raptor Persecution Scotland reports that gas gun bird scarers are being deployed on a grouse moor. How many one would need to deter Hen Harriers on a large moor goodness only knows, but as the Henry likes displaying, he is foolishly attracting a land rover with gas bottles and a bird scarer rather than a keeper with a balaclava and gun.
It’s more than likely illegal, but I don’t see anyone going to jail.
Is this an improvement?
I’m not 100% sure, but if these gas guns were being deployed within an SPA (are they?), then I’d assume the member state (I.e UK government) would need to look at Article 6(2) of the Habitats Directive, which requires the member state to take ‘appropriate steps’ to avoid ‘disturbance and deterioration’ of an SPA. It doesn’t really matter if the guns are not being set to deter hen harriers – if that’s the effect, it appears to be a problem. An appropriate step might be for the government to discourage use of these devices. Even if the moor is not SPA, hen harriers are a European protected species, so, again, such disturbance might be problematic, even if the intent is simply to shoo harriers away. It would be nice to hear from someone better informed as to the legislative regime to tell us what the situation actually is.
I do hope the RSPB holds its nerve over this because Ian Botham and the people he fronts may just be driving themselves into their very own Sepp Blatter moment – think of the parallels – everyone has known what is going on for years and years and the absolute proof is out there, in world football some very ‘interesting’ decisions, in the uplands of England a noticeable absence of Hen Harriers. When the facts – that there should be 300 pairs of Hen Harrier in the English uplands – are so strongly stacked against you, disinformation and confusion, using a pliant media, has to be the right way to go. Absolutely the last place you want to end up is in court, with your carefully selected ‘facts’ shredded by steely, fact focussed barristers. Who will make the best witness, Martin Harper or Ian Botham ? And what will witnesses say under oath about the employer/gamekeeper relationship in the uplands ?
How often did he serve ‘spin’?
From the article: “Every grouse lost to a hen harrier will have cost £100 to raise,” highlights Ian Gregory. “If a nesting pair have four or five chicks to feed, they can quickly get through 100 grouse and that’s the cost of a gamekeeper’s job.”
i.e. a gamekeepers salary is £10kpa. Thats less than the national minimum wage, even with the tithed accommodation, according to the National Minimum Wage Calculator:
https://www.gov.uk/am-i-getting-minimum-wage
Maybe there’s a bonus payment for every p……r killed (sorry, Henry).
It should be a matter of concern to everyone that some of our national newspapers are so happy to publish inaccurate and biased information supplied by vested interests. The RSPB is far from perfect, (what organisation is?), but the current material being published, attacking its integrity, is disgraceful.
Newspapers / media have agendas and motives and anyone believing without question etc. etc.
Akin to none peer reviewed ‘science’ from the likes of the GW(C)T, CA etc.?
Conversely there are some ‘spin bowlers’ who assert some wildlife charities are biased in their membership and media material?
Pipers playing tunes? One would hope folk are not gullible, mmmhhh ….
I stopped having the energy of reading the article about three quarters of the way through. The RSPB is of course going to prioritise the safety of falcons over domestic pigeons.