Is the RSPB Claiming Credit for Others’ Conservation Work? Our Letter to The Times
- Andrew Gilruth
- 7 hours ago
- 1 min read
Sir, The RSPB’s claim that its moorland rewetting programme is boosting bird numbers, including curlew, at its Dove Stone reserve may reflect optimism bias ('The grouse moors fighting for the right to set their own land ablaze', Aug 10).
At its other major moorland reserve, Lake Vyrnwy, an independent report found that despite £3.24 million being spent on rewetting over 15 years, the curlew population there has vanished. The charity also seems to have overlooked its own 2018 scientific study showing that curlew breed five times more successfully on driven grouse moors - a finding unrelated to rewetting.
Could it be that any apparent success at Dove Stone is simply because, unlike Lake Vyrnwy, it is surrounded by grouse moors and visiting birds stray across the boundary? Perhaps it is time for the RSPB to be transparent and publish its reserve bird counts - something it quietly stopped doing more than a decade ago.
Andrew Gilruth
Chief Executive
Moorland Association
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