Birds of Prey Are in a Golden Era - So Why Are Some So Desperate to Talk It Down?

Britain’s birds of prey are thriving. Red kite, buzzards and sea-eagles are all doing well. Golden eagle numbers are up. And, in England, hen harrier numbers are at a 200-year high following the great success of partnership between Defra and the Moorland Association.

Gamekeepers are playing their role. Natural England’s own figures show 80% of their nests are on driven grouse moors, despite those moors containing only half the available habitat.

England has two Special Protection Areas for hen harriers, and both have hit their favourable conservation targets. Other ground nesting birds like curlew and lapwing are also thriving under the very special protection that gamekeepers offer them from foxes and stoats.

So there is an enormous amount to celebrate given the pressures on bird habitat from climate change and human population growth. Our crowded nation is finding space for nature.

Success isn't welcome news to everyone

Yet for some organisations, success creates a problem. For example, a certain charity which earns its £170 million a year income by persuading us that things are getting worse. The growing abundance of bird life is not something it wants to shout about. Indeed the RSPB has endlessly moaned about Defra’s hen harrier scheme - even after its own scientists had found that it had led to an astonishing 1,100% increase.

Welcome to the war of words that is bird of prey conservation. The RSPB knows that it cannot credibly attack grouse moors on bird numbers because for the last 14 years it has refused to publish its own bird counts. If it had a good story to tell about birdlife on its 220 reserves it would be shouting it from the rooftops.

Adding to the RSPB’s problem is the stream of scientific papers which indicate that its competition (or mortal enemy!) - the grouse moors - have become Britain’s best bird reserves.

That leaves one line of attack on grouse moors - the illegal killing of birds of prey. Every time a bird goes missing the RSPB blames gamekeepers. Yet again the charity in collision with the data. Long term data shows that only 3% of bird crime is committed by gamekeepers. Last year there were convictions for falconers and egg thieves – but not one gamekeeper.

The RSPB’s so-called “Bird Crime Report” is nothing more than missing bird reports from its activists. There is no independent verification of it. Vast numbers of birds of prey die from predation, starvation and disease. Goshawks wipe out lots of hen harriers – a species where juvenile mortality is 40%.

The RSPB argues that most birds go missing “on or near” grouse moors. A gotcha moment? No, that is where the birds live, and that is where some will therefore die every year. But what about satellite tags going silent? Surely that shows foul play. It could be, or it could be that the tag is not facing the sunlight. It is for reasons like these that the RSPB gets embarrassed by, having proclaimed a particular bird illegally killed, sheepishly admitting that it has then turned up alive.

The real-world consequences of false accusations

There are, however, less amusing consequences of the RSPB’s constant invective against gamekeepers. Unwise people decide to have a go at gamekeepers. Research by Professor Simon Denny found a physical attack on a gamekeeper takes place on average every 12 days in England. Their children get bullied at school simply because of their parent’s work.

Which leads me to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority. It has decided to join in the RSPB’s smears against gamekeepers arguing that “all the initiatives to tackle birds of prey crimes have been unsuccessful”. This sweeping statement was made in a press release without any official evidence to back it up.

If the Authority can justify its accusations with hard evidence of systematic wrongdoing, then we are willing to discuss tough action. If it is just an empty smear, then it should find a better press officer. 

Careless or loaded language from public bodies isn’t just sloppy - it’s dangerous.

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This article first appeared in The Yorkshire Post.