Raptor politics are running out of stories due to the fact that most Red Grouse moors have removed so much ‘vermin- birds of prey’ that they have nothing left to kill!
Everybody by now knows the story of the Hen Harrier and the reason why this iconic moorland raptor has now gone extinct in England, but the majority of people just sit there and say ‘What can we do?’ The Buzzard campaign was a test of our character as was the sell off of our the national forests the year before but still this government is intent on killing even more wildlife. Sparrowhawks, Peregrine Falcons, Cormorants, Goosander and even Otters are on their tips of their tongs and still you sit there and say ‘what can we do?’
Can we leave our wildlife heritage to the big conservation organisations to defend? NaturalEnglandand Scottish Natural Heritage no longer exist, having been weakened to the extent of just making do with ‘holding onto their jobs’. The RSPB sits on the fence making sure their patron does not have her feathers fluttered spending a fortune trying to keep their membership above 1 million. The National Trust is too tied up with land and stewardship therefore unlikely to ‘rock the boat’. The wildlife Trusts are too small to drag the others in and what about the Labour party? Lost their way trying to rid themselves of ‘New Labour’.
Which only leaves us and a few others screaming from the tops of our heads. The hardest thing is hitting the media with real stories for everybody to read. George Monbiot seemed to be an inspiration but where has he gone? Has he had his wings clipped!
Have we any support from any MPs out there? Have you tried writing to your local MP? Is this not the time to write regardless of what party so that you can at least get a response and then see what side of the fence he/she is sitting? Have you written to your local paper? Letter columns are often picked up by the bigger newspapers. Have you tried your local radio/TV? They are often looking for new stories. They would have to ask the question why is a member of the public getting so hot under the collar about this subject and then ask questions to the RSPB, Natural England etc why the public are asking such questions and what are they going to do about it.
If you have never popped your head above the parapet, this is the time to do it. Get stuck in. It only takes a short time of your life to make a difference and it is amazing how well it makes you feel. As they say inYorkshire’if you don’t try out, yoll not get nowt’!!
re – sea eagle – the decline in stocks of suitable fish led inevitably to the eagle’s extinction-the famous “persecution”
was not the main cause. Over 100 years later the conservationists(SNH and RSPBScotland)believed it was right to re-introduce sea eagles till there were 150 pairs, without even finding out if there was sufficient food in the habitat! Without fish, the eagle will concentrate on birds of sea and shore. Will RSPB admit to causing many further extinctios?
After reading this recent article on Prince Williams strong views on Rhino poaching and the threat of them becoming extinct in the next few decades it just made me think of one subject…Hen Harriers. The iconic bird is close to extinction as a breeding species in their native England but the royals always decide to turn their attention to threatened animals thousands of miles away instead and ignore Britains wildlife. Along with their track record with Toff Harry allegedly shooting Hen Harriers and Philip shooting a large number of iconic animals including Tigers before co-founding the WWF, they just completely embarrass themselves all the time regarding conservation. Stick to Horse Polo and Croquet…dear me.
Hi Jack, I’m interested in your claim that Prince Harry shot a hen harrier. Any proof or just speculation given the royals’ well documented predilection for killing things?
I also saw Prince William sounding off about rhinos and wrote the following to the Independent after John Swift of BASC claimed it was adversely affecting human livelihoods and welfare to have to live alongside buzzards. They didn’t publish it so I’m having another go here!
Dear Sir,
Prince William yesterday described rhino poachers in Africa as “ignorant, selfish and utterly wrong”, but he needn’t have looked abroad to observe such behaviour. Persecution of raptors by gamekeepers on England’s large estates continues to limit the numbers and distribution of many species. John Swift of BASC argued that the idea of living side by side with wildlife sounds terrific until you do it with tigers, wolves or (a bit of a leap) a bird of prey. It is a crass comparison he makes between a life threatening tiger (time for a cull?) and a bird of prey that may reduce the number of pheasants or grouse one can enjoy shooting. Furthermore, predators enjoy sanctuary in National Parks in other countries. Peregrines and red kites are now recolonising many of England’s towns and cities, but in our nominally protected National Parks the shooting community have quietly ensured the skies remain empty of these aerial splendours, witness the Peak District or North York Moors. If shooting is incompatible with native wildlife (his assertion, not mine), then which must we forsake?
Brenda,If you wish to post on this site, or indeed any other then at least get your facts right. Sea eagles were driven to extinction through persecution by man just as Ospreys were.
Rabbits and sea birds always figured in the sea eagles diet. You clearly know nothing about British birds of prey and the problems they have faced during the last 200 years.
This being the case I suggest you start reading and researching the facts before submitting any more nonsensical posts.
Hey Doug, my initial response to Brenda was similar to yours but it occurs to me that by dismissing her suggestions (or the thoughts of others like Brenda) we are missing a trick. Unless we engage people with a different point of view we will make little progress. Brenda probably has friends with a similar point of view to her own. Convince her and she may convince them and suddenly we are reaching a wider audience.
It seems to me at least theoretically possible that a decline in fish stocks could have adversely affected sea eagles, but this would only have contributed to their vulnerability to persecution, persecution which pushed them over the edge and that is evidenced by records kept at the time (can anyone suggest a source for this to point Brenda towards? I seem to recall seeing gamekeepers’ “bags” with large numbers of raptor species listed).
Similarly I’d like to challenge Brenda to provide some evidence that the sea eagles are causing extinctions. I am certain that they are not, as native top predators do not evolve through millennia by driving their prey to extinction, but rather co-evolve in an arms race that sees both predator and prey develop the spectacular adaptations we can marvel at today in their form and behaviour. In the absence of predators species become defenceless and vulnerable to the appearance of a novel introduced predator (see the case of island species wiped out by introduced rats, snakes and even pigs).
Keeping an ecosystem balanced with a predator at the top arguably provides some protection against such vulnerability, hence the lower extinction rate witnessed over the last 400 years on continental mainlands compared to oceanic islands…
Editor’s comment. Thanks Hugh for your well thought out comments, much appreciated.
Here here Jack, the royals make a mockery of conservation in this country when they play the rhino card when close to home species like the hen harrier in England are now gone.