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Peak Malpractice Update 2007

Wendy Thomson

Early in 2006, the RSPB published a report Peak Malpractice drawing attention to the persecution of raptors in the Upper Derwent Valley and the North-East moors (Strines, Broomhead, etc.). They called for statutory bodies, voluntary groups and landowners to protect wild birds and to tackle "with vigour and determination any criminal activity against wildlife".

I summarised the report for the SBSG Bulletin September 2006, and also included some of the responses that followed its appearance. This report was published before the two Hen

Harrier nests in the Peak District - the success of fledging 5 chicks at each site being somewhat overshadowed by the unexplained disappearance of both males.

Now, in 2007, with raptor persecution continuing unabated during 2006, which was in fact the worst year on record, RSPB have produced a report of the 2006 breeding season by way of an update to their original report. The following is just a summary of this Update, but you can find more details in the full document on the RSPB website (its address is very long, so it is easier to find it by typing "peak malpractice" into the website's search engine).

The Peak Malpractice Update

The Update begins with a summary of what is happening in the Peak District, how the heather moors are valuable for ground nesting birds, and that grouse shooting has undoubtedly saved a significant amount of heather moorland from post-war tree planting and intensification of farming. This has benefited a number of moorland species, particularly waders, but the illegal persecution of raptors has continued. In particular, species such as Peregrines, Goshawks and Hen Harriers should be flourishing in this habitat, but are absent or much scarcer than they should be.

The Update looks at breeding success in three general areas, namely the North-East moors, the Derwent Valley area, and

the rest of the Peak District moors i.e. the White and South-West Peaks.

The breeding success of raptors on the North-East moors can be quickly summarised: no breeding Goshawk, no breeding Peregrine, and no breeding Raven in this area. As for Buzzard, a pair had built and lined a nest, but after gunshots were heard in the woods containing the nest, neither bird was seen again.

The following is a summary of breeding success in the Derwent Valley area, showing the number of sites at which each species attempted to breed, the number where young were successfully fledged, and the total number of young fledged.

Monitored Sites

Number of Successful Sites

Total Number of Young Fledged

Comments

Goshawk

There was evidence that one nest tree had recently been climbed. At one site, a nest was built but then the adults vanished

Peregrine

At the unsuccessful site, display and territorial behaviour were seen, then both birds vanished.

Hen Harrier

Both males vanished, but supplementary feeding enabled the success of both nests.

Buzzard

Raven

A nest was built at the unsuccessful site but the adults vanished

The following is a summary for elsewhere in the Peak District moorlands

	Monitored Sites	Number of Successful Sites	Total Number of Young Fledged	Comments
Goshawk	1	0	0	A first female vanished but was replaced by a second female who laid eggs; this female also then vanished.
Peregrine	5	2	6	Of the 3 failed nests: one pair hatched young but they failed to fledge; two territorial pairs just vanished - at one location a dead Peregrine had earlier in the year been found in a pole trap
Hen Harrier	0	0	0	A territorial pair were present in the South-West Peak but sightings ceased. The ground was subsequently found to be criss-crossed with fresh tracks from an all-terrain vehicle.

In addition to the incidents of persecution referred to above, the Update also details:

The unexplained disappearance of a nesting pair of Short-eared Owls in the Dark Peak.
A first-year Peregrine found dead from gunshot wounds, having apparently survived a previous shooting.
A gunshot heard, and a man subsequently seen carrying a dead Raven.
A Larsen trap illegally baited with pigeon. A Larsen trap may legally be used for some corvid species: it should be baited with an (unfortunate) individual of the same species as the target species to attract other birds to it; pigeons do not react to other pigeons in this way so are only ever used to trap raptors (illegally).
The confirmed poisoning of Raven and Jay (and badger).

The Update goes into some detail regarding Hen Harriers. Not only did the two Peak District males disappear, but Natural England reports that many Hen Harriers fail to rear young because adults go missing.

Since 2002, there have been 52 nesting attempts in the Forest of Bowland, and no instances of actively breeding adults just disappearing but, elsewhere on English grouse moors, nearly 60% of nesting attempts failed for this reason. The Report also quotes research showing breeding success on driven grouse moors to be lower than that on other moors in both Scotland and England.

The Update summarises all 17 cases of illegal persecution incidents in 2006 (the highest number on record), including those mentioned above. These comprised:

Unexplained nest failure (2, namely Goshawk and Raven)
Unexplained disappearance of adults (9, namely the Hen Harriers, Peregrine, Goshawk, Buzzard, and Short-eared Owl)
Shooting (2, namely Peregrine and Raven)
TraTrapping (2, namely raptors generally - i.e. the Larsen trap - and Peregrine)
Confirmed Poisoning (2, namely Raven, Jay)

Update to the Update

Following publication of the original report in 2006, Radio 4 ran a programme Peak Nestwatch, concerned with this issue. It included an interview with one Martin Gillibrand from the Moorland Association who claimed that there was no evidence for persecution, that there was no question of the Hen Harriers having been persecuted, and it was more likely that they had been scared off by crowds of birdwatchers, etc. etc. This year Radio 4 devoted an edition of Nature to the same topic, but in a much more balanced way, with Mick Taylor of the SPRSG and Mark Thomas of RSPB given a chance to summarise the reports in some detail. They also related a more recent case when a grey squirrel had been covered in a powerful adhesive, and tied to a stone wall with baler twine some 30 metres from an active Goshawk nest: the clear intention was to attract the Goshawk to the squirrel where it would be stuck fast, and thus meet an untimely end without leaving incriminating evidence. The programme did also acknowledge that illegal persecution takes place.

At tAt the time of writing, we have the incident in which Prince Harry and two others (a friend and a gamekeeper) were implicated in the shooting of two Hen Harriers on the Sandringham estate on 24th October. The official statement admitted that they were the only people present at the time but "unfortunately did not see the incident". Although the police sent details to the CPS, the two birds? bodies had disappeared, and the CPS dropped the case due to lack of evidence.

The concept that person or persons unknown could be present with shotguns in the vicinity of Prince Harry

without causing alarm was met with widespread derision, and further statements were issued by various parties suggesting that there had been no shooting, and even that Harry might have been set-up by the anti-shooting fraternity.

In pIn particular the website of the Sandringham Estate states that there was "... no evidence to prove that these birds were in fact shot down" which I suppose is true, but "no evidence" does not mean that it didn't happen. The National Gamekeepers Organisation went further in saying that "... it has emerged that the original story ... was based on nothing more than misidentification by someone who thought he saw two hen harriers being shot in poor evening light".

This statement is not true at all, and both Natural England and the CPS have reiterated that there was no doubt that the harriers had been shot. It is also worth considering that we have two undisputed facts: firstly, there was certainly a reported shooting on the Sandringham estate in the vicinity of Harry et al; secondly, the only official response was a bland denial. There can only be one explanation for the absence of any security alarm, and that is that officialdom knew exactly where the shots had come from. Furthermore, if there had been a (highly implausible) misidentification, they would have issued a very different initial statement from just saying that Harry et al "unfortunately did not see the incident". This latest episode gave the clearest possible illustration of the problems facing raptors and the people who try to protect them. Despite the matter receiving widespread publicity, it seems that nothing could be done and, once again, there are denials that any wrong-doing has occurred.