Natural England praises moorland estates

Mark 14 Comments
Decomposed body of Hen Harrier, River, being recovered from a Yorkshire grouse shooting estate see here for details.

One can almost forgive the Moorland Association’s over-the-top spin – that’s all they have left to give. There are a few pairs of Hen Harriers on English grouse moors this year. Not as many, I think we will find, as are nesting in other places but the Moorland Association had to jump the gun (apt phrase) and claim the credit that should really go to others. Let’s wait for the season’s round up before being too fulsome in our praise.

And, remember, there should be over 300 pairs of Hen Harrier nesting in the north of England and the reason that there aren’t that number, according to the science published only this year, is that Hen Harriers are killed on grouse moors.

The Moorland Association is bathing in its cosy relationship with Natural England and says ‘We have been working closely with Natural England to help restore Hen Harrier numbers and they have been very supportive of our efforts.‘ and that appears to be true despite the grouse shooting industry being the source of wildlife crime which keeps Hen Harrier numbers at critically low levels as an English breeding species.

Rob Cooke of Natural England is quoted as saying ‘We are pleased to see moorland estates playing their full part in the Hen Harrier Action Plan.‘ which is gobsmacking in its wilful blindness of Natural England’s own study which shows the full part that moorland estates play in the parlous state of the Hen Harrier.

If grouse moor interests weren’t killing Hen Harriers then there wouldn’t be a conservation problem with this bird.

Natural England, or is it just Rob Cooke?, is completely under the thumb of the moorland owners. No sign of a new broom from Marian Spain and Tony Juniper on this subject – seems like business as usual and as it was under the Cross/Sells regime. Step up Tony Juniper and say something tough about wildlife crime? Or not?

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14 Replies to “Natural England praises moorland estates”

  3. Give me strength! The DEFRA Hen Harrier plan includes those things that were being done by raptor workers anyway, monitoring of breeding and roosting birds. The supplementary feeding clause seems to be dying a death unless on the QT unNatural England are licensing estates to do it, in that case they should not be allowing such nests to be brood meddled, as feeding negates the need to reduce HH breeding density as it reduces grouse chick take by about 85%. However, we have no idea whether any nests have been fed or not or where nests have been brood meddled ( under a licence from NE ( bloody scandalous, granting such a licence when so few nest on grouse moors). Of course in both the case of SF and BM we the tax payer are paying for these schemes not the benefitting estates although the Moorland Association is apparently paying for the satellite tags for brood meddled youngsters, hopefully without priority access to the data. Let us not forget that it is entirely down to the grouse shooting cabal, nearly all members of the Moorland Association that Hen Harriers are in the sorry plight they are because these people and their employees have allegedly been killing adults at nests, at roosts and destroying nesting attempts. In the Nidderdale AONB we have a sorry catalogue of failed nesting attempts between 2003 to 2007 and in 2012, Bowland Betty, River and several other satellite and radio tagged harriers have been “disappeared” in the area, quite possibly on the very estate that has hosted this years successful nest and possibly another nest that has been brood managed ( meddled/vandalised take your pick!) and a man was filmed with gun and dogs in a harrier roost there in the last year!
    The nests in Lancashire I assume are those on United Utilities land, yes with low intensity grouse shooting but hardly the grouse moors, Amanda Anderson thinks they are, the Peak District nest may well also be on UU or NT land with a tenancy at stake if the nests are “helped” to fail. So forgive me if I don’t think these estates should be enthusiastically thanked for obeying the law in an apparent change of heart, I cannot remember ever being thanked for obeying the law myself.
    Perhaps when the harrier population is well on the way to a carrying capacity of 330 pairs I might change my mind but for now no bloody chance these folk have killed far too many Hen Harriers and other raptors to be forgiven that easily.
    As to NE well its about par for the course, for me they need to man up, grow some and show which side they are truly on because currently I don’t feel they are on mine!

    1. Absolutely Paul. Although isn’t “Amanda Anderson” and “thinks” a contradiction in terms?

      1. Indeed Giles perhaps I should have used a different word such believes or says. Personally cannot stand the woman, two faced and fork tongued to paraphrase several who know her better than I. It never ceases to surprise me that people believe her, even on her own side, but then Gilruth, Thomas, Baynes and Blackmore are all the same sort of two faced apologist for the grouse shooting cabal.

    2. Perhaps Look and learn from my post or are you only listening to idiots ???

    1. Whilst yes it is probably going to be a better year than last year, which was better than the year before, however the Hen Harrier population is still less than it was ten or even twenty years ago and but a tiny fraction of what it really should and could be. That this is the case is entirely down to persecution on grouse moors so why should they be congratulated because a few of them have actually obeyed the law for a change, perhaps if the population continues to grow and winter persecution declines significantly, so these new youngsters themselves become parents as Pete Etheridge suggests that is the real measure of success, we can start to believe grouse shooting. It will be hard to forgive and forgetting their criminality is not on the agenda until all raptors on grouse moors are unmolested and breed successfully, even then it will be difficult. That is the agenda!

  6. “We are pleased to see moorland estates playing their full part in the Hen Harrier Action Plan.”

    Which, I assume, basically translates as: “they’ve signed up for brood meddling”.

    And surely the measure of success shouldn’t be how many successful nests there are on grouse moors, but how many of those birds go on to rear young themselves?

  7. A reason according to science published this year. Your use of the definite article is unscientific.

    1. Should it not be “a definite article” rather than “the definite article”?Do you not mean ungrammatical rather than unscientific? Does anyone really care?

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