Countryside Alliance: RSPB must `stop persecuting gamekeepers`

Thursday, 3 March 2011 12:00 AM

The Countryside Alliance has told the RSPB to "stop persecuting gamekeepers" with regards to unsubstantiated allegations over hen harrier numbers in the UK.

The 2010 Hen Harrier Survey, a survey of the UK's hen harrier population, conducted in 2010 by RSPB, Government nature conservation agencies, and the Raptor Study Groups, has been published and reports a 20 per cent decline in the birds' UK and Isle of Man population in the last six years. The RSPB contends that "the species is still killed routinely and illegally by game managers on "driven" grouse moors."

The Countryside Alliance does not dispute the statistical findings but RSPB Director of Conservation Dr Mark Avery's comments that "gamekeepers are killing them illegally - under pressure from their land-owning masters" is not supported by any evidence.

Countryside Alliance Moorlands Director Adrian Blackmore commented: "According to the RSPB's own figures, there has only been one recorded incident of hen harrier persecution in the past six years. The decline in hen harriers cannot therefore be attributed to illegal persecution.

"It is clear to us that blaming gamekeepers for persecution fits with the RSPB's agenda but the charity needs to stop persecuting gamekeepers. The hen harrier population on the Isle of Man has halved, according to the survey, yet there are no driven grouse moors on the Isle of Man. The RSPB has kept quiet on this point because it doesn't fit with the "gamekeeper as villain" story.

"In fact the real story is very different. Grouse moor managers smashed the Government's 2010 conservation target by 170% with their regeneration work, 90% of which is privately funded. It is thanks to the passion and private investment of owners and their employees that 66% of England's upland Sites of Special Scientific Interest are managed as grouse moors with the attendant benefits for a spectacular array of wildlife, including birds of prey.

"The Countryside Alliance does not condone any act of illegal persecution, but nor can it stand by while unsubstantiated allegations of law breaking are levelled at landowners and their land managers in the absence of factual evidence to support such claims. The RSPB has been written to, asking for evidence or a withdrawal of their claims. We await the charity's response with interest."

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