The RSPB is stunned by Defra’s plan to allow the destruction of buzzard nests and to permit buzzards to be taken into captivity to remove them from shooting estates. The Society believes this intervention against one of England’s best-loved birds of prey will set a terrible precedent and prove to be a costly and unnecessary exercise.
The move by Defra followed lobbying by the pheasant shooting industry. Buzzards usually scavenge on animals which have already died, but they will sometimes take young pheasants which are released for sports shooting.
The buzzard was eradicated from large swathes of Britain following decades of persecution. Legal protection and a general warming of attitudes towards buzzards and other birds of prey on the part of many lowland land managers, led to buzzards recovering across the UK: a fantastic conservation success story.
Martin Harper is the RSPB’s conservation director. Criticising Defra’s proposal, he said: “We are shocked by Defra’s plans to destroy buzzard nests and to take buzzards into captivity to protect a non-native game bird released in its millions. Buzzards play a minor role in pheasant losses, compared with other factors like collisions with vehicles.”
Pheasants are not native to the UK. Around 40 million birds are released every year for shooting. The impacts of this practice on wildlife have been poorly documented, but serious questions have been raised about the impact such a large injection of captive-reared birds might have on the predator-prey balance in our countryside.
Buzzards will take young pheasants from rearing pens, given the opportunity, but the RSPB believes the issue can be managed without destroying nests or moving buzzards. Measures include providing more cover for young pheasants in release pens, visual deterrents to discourage birds of prey and providing alternative food sources.
Mr Harper added: “There are options for addressing the relatively small number of pheasant poults lost to buzzards. Destroying nests is completely unjustified and catching and removing buzzards is unlikely to reduce predation levels, as another buzzard will quickly take its place. Both techniques would be illegal under current wildlife laws, and I think most people will agree with us that reaching for primitive measures, such as imprisoning buzzards or destroying their nests, when wildlife and economic interests collide is totally unacceptable.
“At a time when funding for vital conservation work is so tight, and with another bird of prey, the hen harrier, facing extinction as a breeding bird in England, I can think of better ways of spending £400,000 of public funds. This money could work harder for wildlife, and I hope the Government will therefore put a stop to this project.”
Mick Carroll, of the Northern England Raptor Forum, said: “Given that buzzards are still recovering from past persecution and there is no evidence they are a significant cause of loss, this is a scandalous waste of public money.”
Nigel Middleton, Hawk and Owl Trust Conservation Officer for the Eastern Region, said: “We are totally against persecution of any birds of prey, and destroying the nests of buzzards is tantamount to this. We believe that alternatives should always be sought to lethal control where the commercial interests of humans come into conflict with birds of prey.”
Additional Information
- An independent study carried out by ADAS (an independent consultant), commissioned by the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, found that on average, 1-2% of pheasant poults released were taken by birds of prey. It found 45% of poults released were shot, with the remainder dying as a result of other factors, such as road collision and disease, or surviving to join the feral population. The study therefore concluded that losses to birds of prey were negligible compared to other much greater causes of loss. It found the financial cost of “average” bird of prey predation to a shoot releasing 1,000 poults per year, would be just £30.2)
- According to a 2004 report by the Public and Corporate Economic Consultants (PACEC) The Economic and Environmental Impact of Sporting Shooting, more than 40 million non-native gamebirds are released into the UK each year. In 2009, over 37 million pheasant and 13.8 million partridges were registered on Defra’s Great Britain poultry register.
Raptor Politics statement.
- Defra should not get involved with game birds because as soon as they interfere game birds become live stock. Live stock is prohibited from breaking out onto any public road. With pheasants making up 3,000,000 casualties on public roads these new live stock (game birds) would make every shooting estate in Britain liable after allowing their released birds to wander unchecked on to the public roads of our country.
- The control of buzzards if allowed would not simply be restricted to this single species, certainly the goshawk, red kite and sparrowhawk would also be placed at risk by these measures with nests being misidentified leading to their destruction.
This proposal funded by the tax payer indicates where the loyalty of the current conservative government lies (in the shooting butt). It is totally unjustified, ill conceived and will ultimately set a very dangerous precedent which will effect other species of “protected” birds of prey as raptor politics have already indicated.
Another important consideration for the shooting estate, each of their none native species (pheasant and red legged partridge) would have to be tagged before being released, resulting in an added cost.
My initial reaction is that if game birds are being treated as livestock then surely there are a lot of welfare issues that need to be addressed, for example how they are treated and how they are slaughtered (is it humane to risk the possibility of the birds dying slowly after being injured?).
As for what effect it could have in this area, I would suggest very little, as they still use the illegal methods of lethal control all raptors which is the only explanation as to why despite the influx of new birds each spring and the building up of nests at the start of the breeding season, these birds are rarely successful in breeding on and in the areas adjacent to the moorland that are managed for game birds.
I am disgusted that inspite of the failure to put an end to the illegal persecution of birds of prey in the UK and in particular Hen Harrier, we are considering how we can further reduce raptor numbers.
In light of the report by Amir et al we should be pushing this money into protection of Peregrine Falcons in their natural habitat.
I am also concerned that it leaves a get out of jail free card in that how can it be ok to persecute the bird in one fashion but not in another? and how easy is it to claim to have mistaken a Goshawk nest for example?
My final thought is that birders should not allow this action to go ahead, but it is becoming fairly clear that whilst they like to complain about things, rarely do they seem to do anything about it.
Another thought is that is any such research is undertaken it should not be done by anyone with a history of or links links with anyone with a vested interest in the eradication of raptors.
It’s “the thin end of the wedge” alright, Terry. What we’ve come to expect from this scumbag government. I’m absolutely bloody furious!
I have sent DEFRA an e-mail response no doubt they will fill me with delight i will forward this on to Raptor Politics ASAP.
I cannot believe what I am reading..what a perfect excuse for trapping any raptor, totally UNBELIEVABLE .
The thin end of the wedge ?
This will be a serious mistake by the shooting industry and could lead to a massive backlash to a field sport that should really be keeping it’s head down given that the UK is one of the few countries left in the world where the practice of releasing huge quantities of captive bred game birds is still legal, particularly with the threat of H5N1 (bird flu).
With the tight control of farm animals these days and even horses requiring a passport does this industry not realise that releasing hundreds of thousands of intensively reared game birds into the British countryside could be seen as a potential threat to both human and animal health, and by bringing focus on this through a ridiculous buzzard control campaign they will open a can of worms. They are making a big mistake by going down this route and that’s coming from someone who has been involved with field sports for nearly 40 years……….BIG MISTAKE !
Pheasants have been deemed to be “livestock” by Scottish government two or three years ago.
Has there ever been any research done on the effects on the song bird population by releasing 40 million game birds into the British countryside given that game birds have a similar diet to many of our songbirds.
This is an absolute travesty!
Do they have the faintest idea? Clearly not! Buzzards clear up carrion and also prey on rodents, controlling the numbers. How much impact do buzzards have on pheasant farming? Perhaps we should be removed from the food chain!
Absolutely shocking! At the risk of being highly cynical, once again we see the kow-towing of the government and government bodies to those with money on the back of no evidence. Leave our native birds alone. Releasing 40 million non-native birds into the countryside should be seen as an act of environmental vandalism!
My thoughts have been echoed above so I won’t bother venting my anger/dismay at what our government has published. I have recently taken on some new land to monitor raptors on which is a large shooting estate, the gamekeeper is brilliant and even he says his poults soon get wise to Buzzards and it is a very small issue for only a 2 wk period and his land has plenty of birds.
What a waste of taxpayers money!
Paul Williams shared a link.
27 seconds ago
Myth Bust: Reports that Defra is proposing to cull buzzards « Defra News
http://www.defra.gov.uk
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Its politicians on the tax payers gravy train that needs culling.
Every day there’s bad news but for me there’s one thing that lifts the spirit and that’s the sight of a family of buzzards soaring in the sky above my house. Does Defra really want to deny me that pleasure?
Every day there’s bad news, but for me there’s one thing that lifts the spirit and that’s the sight of a family of buzzards soaring in the sky above my house. Does Defra really want to deny me that pleasure?
Defra – Don’t Spend Taxpayer’s Money on Harassing Buzzards – The Petition Site
http://www.thepetitionsite.com
To appease the shooting industry, the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs proposes…
In Scotland pheasants are only deemed livestock whilst penned. Once released from the pen they are deemed wild.
Plenty of research Falcoscot. Google pheasant research biodiversity and take your pick.
http://www.bio.bris.ac.uk/research/mammal/pheasants.html
http://www.gwct.org.uk/research__surveys/species_research/birds/pheasant/1180.asp
You can smell the impact of pheasant release pens! The constant shitting, pecking and scratching devestates the specialist woodland ground flora….leaving nettles, docks and cocks-foot…roll over the rain forest this is a real biodiversity hotspot!
I could not find any research….and the links above relate to the impact of agricultural grants.
Quite a few radio-tracking studies of common buzzards have taken place in the UK. The one below is available online, its worth reading it investigated buzzard behaviour at pheasant pens. The discussion section at the end is interesting: buzzards avoided areas where high numbers of pheasants had been released. Buzzards that had pheasant pens in their territories rarely visited these areas except 8% of the sampled buzz. population. This study also suggests how to mitigate against buzzard predation by altering the vegetation around pheasant pens or by placing them in different locations. The stats. quoted in this research
(e.g. buzz. predation on pheasants accounts for 4.5% of total losses when an estate only predicts to shoot only 50% of released birds)make defras decision to fund their new 400k study look very weak.
Its possible to download this as PDF document to read:
Kenward, R.E., Hall, D.G., Walls, S.S. and Hodder, K.H. (2001), Factors affecting predation by buzzards Buteo buteo on released pheasants Phasianus colchicus. Journal of Applied Ecology, 38: 813–822. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2664.2001.00636.x
web address: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2664.2001.00636.x/full
Thanks for this reference from a proper peer reviewed scientific journal. The others seem to from “spleen venters weekly”- its printed so it must be true.
If the RSPB can’t stop this it’s about time they packed up !
There’s been a mechanism in Scotland by which shooting estates can apply for a license to control raptors for 3 or 4 years now, once they were deemed to be livestock whilst being contained and fed, as you quite rightly point out DT, but when I enquired no licenses had been granted.
“If the RSPB can’t stop this it’s about time they packed up”.
The RSPB are the CAUSE of this due to their silly and stubborn refusal to accept sensible and sensitive management of Bird of Prey populations. The societies attitude, that BOP’s are untouchable is what causes so much anger and hostility amongst the shooting lobby and pigeon fanciers. Even many ordinary folk whom feed the birds in their gardens have been becoming louder in their complaints about sparrow hawk attacks, some having stopped filling their feeders. Groups such as Song Bird Survival are gaining more support.
The mechanism mentioned by “Falcoscot” has been tested a few times but has always resulted in refusal. However, with DEFRA seemingly on board things could be about to change.
Doug – the pigeon and shooting fraternity would want to get their own house in order as regards the widespread criminality in their ranks before they start doleing out advice to others.
PS: I’ve yet to see a study on pheasents and buzzards that suggests the latter take a significant number of the former around release pens
Yes Jimmy, but they would say that they have been driven to take direct illegal action because they feel that no one is listening to their side of the argument. If young eagles, hawks, falcons and buzzards could be taken from nests on the shooting estates as well as from eyries in urban area,s that annoy the pigeon fanciers, then the shooters and pigeon men would at least feel that their complaints are being taken seriously. Such a “take” would have no negative effect on raptor populations but would remove the “untouchable” label that causes all the problems.
100,000 Buzzards, if that, and 40 million alien parasites eating their way through the countryside, causing who knows what damage to our native wildlife? It’s the pheasants that ought to be controlled. And with only 15 out of 40 million shot every year, surely there are plenty to go round. Where is this plague of buzzards anyway? I’ve never seen as few as I have this year. All another big fat Tory lie. We couldn’t have anything spoiling the posh boys’ fun now couldn’t we? We need more buzzards, not less, to thin them out a bit.
I am fast beginning to believe that few on this site, or indeed anywhere,really understand the conflict between Birds of Prey and those that would welcome their destruction to protect their own interests. The shooting fraternity, the pigeon racers and those that keep fancy pigeons and doves, songbird survival and ordinary folk whom like to feed the birds in their gardens, all believe, indeed know, that even if impartial scientific studies proved conclusively that eagles kill large numbers of healthy lambs, that peregrines are a massive threat to racing and fancy pigeons alike, that sparrow hawks are wiping out songbirds populations, that merlins and harriers are taking large numbers of grouse chicks, that buzzards are consuming huge numbers of reared and released gamebirds, and eagles and harriers cause havoc on grouse drives, the protectionist lobby would dig their heels in, refuse to accept the findings, and remain entrenched in their selfish, stubborn and childish views that birds of prey are untouchable under any circumstances.
So long as this attitude remains their will be conflict, with claims and counter claims resulting in mis-trust and illegal activity. No amount of laws will change this but sensible compromise would at least show that that both sides are willing to be flexible.
It is undeniable fact that the buzzard numbers have exploded beyond the wildest dreams of raptor lovers. Eagles, peregrines, goshawks and and sparrow hawks are also doing very well in many areas despite continued persecution.
If this happy situation is to continue then we must start talking to the hawk haters rather than dismissing them out of hand. Failure to do this will result in the big money shooting lobby using their power and influence to by-pass the rest of us, and go straight to the government departments and ministers and get their wicked way.
Doug, exactly what I have been saying to people and have just finished my blogging on this topic, saying we need to work together somehow!
Doug – the vast majority of studies on these issues have shown that such claims about raptors are baseless. This fact is routienly ignored by the anti raptor brigade who appear to base all thier opinions on internet conspiracies and pub talk.