In the current issue of British Birds there is a paper on a long-term study of Merlins on grouse moors in the Lammermuirs which makes an interesting read (as do many other pages in the journal).
Data were collected over a span of 31 seasons (with that break in data for the Foot-and-Mouth year of 2001 which interrupts so many graphs).
The Merlin is sometimes used by grouse moor managers as an example of a raptor that is doing well on grouse moors (Aww! Aren’t they great conservationists) but the data in this study suggest another story. Fewer Merlins nested as time went on through the study, particularly at the end, and fewer of them raised young too. Not such a good story.
Well, long-term though the study is, it is only one place so one can’t draw anything very conclusive from it alone but there are other interesting snippets included in this paper too. The authors remark on the noticeable increase in intensity of management of the site as time went on – in fact they describe the changes in land management as ‘dramatic’. Sheep grazing decreased, predator control increased, the number of gamekeepers increased, the provision of medicated grit increased and the intensity of burning increased – many of these are changes that have been documented on a wider scale and, interestingly, they were echoed by other raptor workers studying Merlins elsewhere in England and Scotland.
The authors also provide some interesting data on other moorland species. They ringed nestlings of other species they came across in the course of their study and although this is a somewhat quirky index of upland bird abundance it declines by about 50% during the study.
The authors state that Curlews and Ring Ousels, both always claimed as beneficiaries of moorland management for Red Grouse, declined during the study, perhaps because there was so little long heather for them, or Merlins, to use for nesting as moorland management for Red Grouse shooting increased. That can’t be the reason why Dippers decreased but that might be due to losses of aquatic biodiversity associated with burning or more simply that there were known losses to fenn traps set over streams. One Merlin recovery came from a bird unfortunately caught in a trap set in a dry stone wall.
I wouldn’t want to draw too much from a single study, even one spanning 30 years, but it is a counter-example to the ‘grouse moors are great for all birds’ message that comes from certain quarters. And it is a proper study. And it is a long-term study. And it is a published study. So it rather contrasts with the ‘the hills are awash with waders’ BTO study that wasn’t by the BTO, wasn’t a study and is still kept secret and is not available for public scrutiny despite being trumpetted on national radio by Ian Botham and in The Spectator by the not-so-talented Viscount Ridley last year.
It would be interesting to see what happens in the study area in future but vehicle access for the raptor workers was withdrawn by a couple of estates so the study has ended.
Maybe it’s time to repeat the Tharme et al. study, jointly funded by the RSPB and the GWCT and published in 2001, which surveyed grouse moors and non-grouse moors across northern England and eastern Scotland and see whether the positive results for some species (and negative for others) still remain?
But congratulations to the authors for this study. This was an amateur, unpaid study carried out in a professional way and written up properly. It’s a pity that the land managers essentially pulled the plug on it. Maybe the Merlin numbers would have bounced back this year but we’ll never know…
Many of these ‘upland’ waders are the last in a line of lowland waders due agricultural change. Curlew is a classic as modern farming methods wipe them out in the lowlands. A paper done by the RSPB back in the 1980s showed that when ‘green’ areas are added to moorland the waders breeding around these strips rear far more young than those on territory in pure moorland. When you see Golden Plover moving from the high ground to lower pasture to feed in the breeding season you know there is a problem. Bibby recorded Golden Plover moving up to 25 miles in Wales! Remember sheep have been filmed eating Lapwing eggs for the calcium!!
From the most recent BTO BBS regarding Curlew:
Declines in the uplands are highest in heather-dominated areas.”
Jeff P – v interesting, I’d missed that.
It does indeed sound a very interesting paper. Could you expand a little on “It’s a pity that the land managers essentially pulled the plug on it.”?
Martin – it sounds like the raptor workers voiced some of their views on the role of land management to the gamekeepers/land managers and that wasn’t taken very well. There is also mention of the possibility that the general increase in heat on the matter of moorland management might have played a part (that might be this blog!).
There is some info on RPUK
https://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/merlin-population-in-decline-on-lammermuir-grouse-moors/
Mark/Anand thanks for that.
Amazing really that the Estates don’t want folk on their land. As they are doing so much to help all birds (as they continually tell us) you would think they would welcome confirmation from fieldworkers who would be happy to spread the good news. Surprisingly also, I wasn’t welcome on one local ‘high profile’ Estate last year when surveying upland waders. Anyone would think they have something to hide?
Funny old world!
Yes pretty shocking – the more intense the management for grouse the more noticeable the decrease in other species. So all those top of the range grouse moors, for instance in the Angus Glens, are particularly crap for wildlife? How many grouse moors are actually any good for waders, I doubt all of them are? Particularly interesting dippers decreased that must mean streams are not as good for aquatic life as they once were, Angling Trust, Salmon and Trout Association, GWCT do your job and take note of that.
Les, do you have any first hand experience of walking and monitoring the ”wildlife” in the Angus Glens?
Not so far, I know the Forest of Bowland and Ilkely Moor, plus a little of moors near Pitlochry and in Lanarkshire – and they were crap for wildlife. I would like to know if the grouse moors in the Angus Glens which are very intensively managed have any value for anything beyond red grouse. Fair question, certainly know that Chris Townsend wrote a damming article about grouse moors in the eastern highlands doutdoors.com/2014/05/the-devastation-of-eastern-highlands.html which really rattled the cages of some. Funnily enough my cousin goes walking regularly in the Lammermuirs and when I asked him what wildlife he sees there he tells me ‘grouse and sheep’, that’s it. He sees far more (infinitely actually) more birds of prey when he goes home to Haddington. Incidentally are you by any chance the Michael Groves that appeared in the latest of Pace Production’s greenwashes for the grouse moors ‘Muirburn – the Untold Story’? If so you are presented as a member of Tayside Raptor Study Group – but weren’t you expelled from it? Hope you can clarify this Mike.
Les, I’d suggest to you that you should never always believe what you either read or are told. Some people tell lies all the time and there is always two sides to any story. Try and form your own opinions on any particular moorland region/matter through raptor fieldwork/monitoring and experience.
I’d like to ask you how would you feel after committing almost 20 years as a volunteer, thousands of hours monitoring Angus raptors, etc your so called own (group of 4) turned on you and made up a lot of childish lies and accusations? To add insult to injury unknown to me the Angus Merlin coordinator was falsifying my fledged merlin figures to S.N.H. What are your comments on this Les? If you are interested see link below and read some of the underhanded goings on:
http://davidadamsketchbook.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/raptor-rough-justice.html
Can’t you remember Les that ”expelled” was a word that we used to use at school when we were kids? The grown up version is terminated. But as the famous Holywood superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger often stated ”I’ll be Back”.
You are right about thinking for yourself Mike (or is it Arnie?) that’s why I have no time for the tripe coming out of Pace Productions, the SGA, Scottish Land and Estates, Moorland Association or those MPs who do and just regurgitated public relations pap from the grouse moors when they spoke against the motion to ban driven grouse shooting at Westminster last year. They spoke about biodiversity a lot, but I wonder how many of them could tell a lapwing from a curlew? As far as you being expelled you have just proved it was the appropriate term to use for you. By the way I read that link a long time ago and wasn’t impressed by it. David Adams gets a lot of commissions from the estates doesn’t he?
I have some connection with people in the Tayside Raptor Study Group (so you aren’t a member, but are presented as one in that video..tsk, tsk, naughty, naughty!) and have to say I’ve found them to be honest and impressive. And you didn’t fit in? I’m no Attenborough, but I’m not a bad natural historian either and my own experiences on grouse moors have backed up my gut instincts and knowledge of ecology that they are poor for wildlife, usually very poor. However, the fundamental issue re grouse moors that people need to know, is that it’s actually about human nature, a selfish personal desire creating lies and avoiding reality to justify itself. Rational, decent people can see through that as they can the inadequates who blame everyone else not themselves. Incidentally are you related to Giles Bradshaw by any chance?
Mike Groves was advocating giving the locations of raptor nests to landowners and gamekeepers in the Angus Glens as far back as 2002. Shortly before RSPB fieldworkers who were participating in the 1998 National Hen Harrier Survey were required to inform Estates about their survey visits and any subsequent survey results pertaining to their land, and in some cases were accompanied to those sites by the Estates’ gamekeepers. Is it just coincidence that many of the hen harrier nests that were recorded in NE Scotland during that survey year ‘mysteriously’ failed, and the number of sites found the following year dropped significantly from previous years? Disregarding this cautionary tale he has continued ever since to have had a very close relationship with the gamekeeping community in the Angus Glens. I smell a rodent.
That land managers ‘essentially’ pulled the plug on the merlin study speaks volumes? Perhaps platitudes about vehicle damage to site, whilst they carry on regardless with ‘intensification’ of exploitation of upland moor? One might ponder could the wind farm development not have been conditioned to include raptor monitoring?
Steady on Mark, GWCT & RSPB collaborating again, wow now there’s a challenge? GW[C]T have defra on their team now so why bother with collaborative research or science at all?
You know what they say, nobody commissions surveys, they just commission findings. The Merlin study was never going to have the findings the Land Owners wanted of it so it had to be nixed. Can’t have people pulling back the curtain, can they? Bastards so they are.
I don’t think that the vehicular access necessary for three field workers in their 60s to continue the study was stopped because of track damage or the results of the survey, it was the increase in criticism of the effects of management intensification. In Scotland at least ( and all English moors) they generally cannot keep you off but they can make life difficult deliberately hence the denial of vehicular access.
Many Merlin enthusiasts will remember that the 2008 National Survey showed a 13% decline from the previous study. This however through the manipulation of statistics deemed that this was not significant. Coverage by raptor fieldworkers was extremely poor and limited and much of this data was generated by extrapolated estimates, etc. Basically this wasn’t a very good raptor survey.
Rightly the author’s conclusions and recommendations for future Merlin surveys suggest a ”greater survey effort” and ”fully randomised survey” which would obviously require more funds. However surely this would be money well spent to actually have a more realistic and potentially accurate UK Merlin population figure?
Mike – You seem to misunderstand the rationale behind the Merlin survey (and most other surveys). Perhaps reading Inglorious, Chapter 1, pp 20-28 might help explain it. This wasn’t a poor survey at all. But more effort, particularly randomised surveys, would increase the power of the next survey to detect ever-smaller changes in numbers.
The paper also suggests that more raptor groups should publish their data – that’s what has happened with this Lammermuir study.
Here is the link to the survey http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00063657.2011.606497
This study seems pretty damning, although as Mark states it is only representative of one area.
My personal experience of Merlin is limited almost entirely to upper Speyside, on less intensively managed ground than the Lammermuirs. Up until five years ago there were,to me, good numbers, I have no recent knowledge.
I am aware that some populations in the south pennines have dwindled dramatically, this involves ground that by no means could be called managed Grouse moor, so clearly something else is involved there.
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