Licencing of upland Grouse Moors.

[Jamie]

Signed. Sounds sensible to me. They can keep shooting all they like as long as they dont shoot the odd bird of prey that might take a small percentage of their birds which does not sound unreasonable

[Richard Green]

Seeing as we seem to be debating the matter and thankfully supporting the petition I am posting a link which briefly highlights the ongoing persecution of our wonderful Birds Of Prey. This shouldl be of some interest to most but ya can't please em all can you?

Thanks for all the support so far!

http://www.thisisscunthorpe.co.uk/Resources-bring-bird-prey-persecutors-justice/story-18266358-detail/story.html#axzz2MlQWG4kx

[Raven]

That's the whole dilemma with hunting Keith.  The gamekeepers maintain fantastic habitat, such as heather moorland for grouse, patchwork woodland for pheasants (and previously foxes) and even rich grassland for partridges.  As wildlife enthusiasts we all benefit greatly from their efforts, as does the entire ecosystem - an even more important factor.

Unfortunately, there still exists the philosophy of persecution of raptors and other 'menaces' in an effort to maximise hunting profits for their lords and masters.

What is needed, in my humble opinion, is education.  Until landowners and their gamekeepers accept the theory of a natural balance, where predator numbers are controlled purely by prey availability, we will continue to see the mindless persecution of our wonderful raptors - a very sad state indeed!

Things are improving with generational changes.  I know of 'land workers' who are very proud (and secretive) of their breeding Merlins on moors near to us and this will hopefully become the norm.

Trouble with taking punitive actions which make hunting a less profitable form of farming (for thats what keeping grouse moors is) is that the owners may look for alternatives, like upland sheep farming or endless fields of rape....

The whole thing saddens me!

I was under the impression that moorland is a poor habitat. Yes, we get certain birds of prey and "game" birds that benefit from this, but moorlands are man made, yes?. Where did these birds live before man destroyed the millions of acres of forests and created the moorland habitat? (Obviously excluding pheasants and partridge, being an introduced species!)
I am presuming that moorland did exist but only in remote, high areas, where trees and other plants found it hard to survive, and not in the massive expanses that are here today. Habitat loss is surely a massive factor, as well as persecution, and so is there not a link with the creation (and management) of expansive moorland and the decrease in raptor numbers?

Please correct me if I am wrong! I am always keen to learn these things.   

[Richard Green]

Sadly some unscrupulous moorland management includes protected Birds of Prey being shot and poisoned, hence we only had one breeding pair of Hen Harriers in the whole of England during 2012 also Hen Harriers do seem to like moorland habitat and in my opinion would thrive if it wasn't for relentless persecution.

A better question perhaps, is what can we do as bird clubs to bring about better awareness and a change in attitude towards Birds of prey and birds on the whole. I would think a small part of the answer would include protecting ever decreasing habitat and obviously where possible the creation of more.

[Dave Taylor]

One step forward, two steps back. Not grouse this time but pheasant shoots. I've just read that English Nature has issued a licence to a pheasant shoot in Northumberland allowing them to destroy four Buzzard nests. There will be plenty of birders like myself who will recall that not so long ago, seeing a Buzzard in Northumberland was a rare event.
What hope is there for birds of prey when this sort of authorised vandalism is allowed to continue to attack our wildlife?

[tim robinson]

lots of politisons love to go shooting,and if some buzards, are interfearing with there sport ,why not pass a bill to remove them,then they can shoot more phesants.god help us .more game birds are killd on the roads than by rapters take a trip to helmsly ,they are dead  birds , every few yards up the road.

[Richard Green]

When DEFRA headed by Richard Benyon announced the ill fated cull on Buzzards last year I believe that the initial application to do so was from Northumberland.

Fortunately many birders like me and organisations lobbied hard, successfully getting the decision overturned but it seems there still remains a determination in Northumberland to destroy Buzzards and I do wonder why?

I'm sure most of us know the biggest reason for Pheasant mortality other than shooting and believe me it ain't Buzzards.