Grouse moors
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What could we do with the 3 million acres of grouse moors in the UK? (2.5 in Scotland, 0.5m in England on the 'uplands'). Who owns England's grouse moors?
2021 Partial ban on burning comes into effect New laws aimed at protecting some of the nation’s most sensitive peatland sites from being damaged for grouse shooting has comes into force.
2020 Sheffield Council to ban burning of 80sqk Yorkshire Moors.
Heather burning on Northern Moors is now banned on more than 30 major tracts of land in northern England. Three large landowners have confirmed that their tenants are no longer allowed to burn heather routinely.
Conservative government 'started to draw up a compulsory ban after unsuccessfully attempting to persuade the landowners to end the practice voluntarily'. But landowners threaten them with legal action.
Yorkshire Water tighten up grouse shooting rules. "A zero-tolerance approach will be taken to wildlife crime where grouse shooting leases can be ended if protected wildlife is interfered with...Routine burning will be ended in line with scientific evidence demonstrating the practice degrades peatland, contributes to flooding, pollutes catchment water and drives out sensitive breeding birds."
The Spectator (yes that right wing mag) says 'rewilding would leave the landowners and public better off' and that 'These are economic deserts without parallel.'
2018 Where our CAP money goes to subsidise grouse shooting
Grouse shooting banned on Ilkley moor
Natural Resources Wales is to outlaw shooting on all the land it owns. It will stop leasing out land for game shoots from 2019, when the current licences expire.
Hen Harriers
Hen Harriers
2023 Scientific Report shows that more tagged hen harriers lost on grouse moors, where "analysed data from 148 individuals tracked across Britain between 2014 and 2021. Using remotely sensed land-use data and continuous-time survival methods, we quantified survival rates ...with illegal killing accounting for 27–43 % and 75 % of mortality in first-year and subadult (1-2 years) harriers respectively "
2020 Hen Harriers return to Wharfedale Estate (Dec), after owners banned grouse shooting.
2019 Latest Bowland AONB Management Plan recognises as an issue 'Continued persecution and disturbance affecting birds of prey populations' but doesnt say how they will be addressed.
Natural England to introduce French harrier chicks to Southern England, at the cost of about £1 million. (I hope these are not French migrants now we have voted for Brexit). What about our Northern Moors? Why isn't Natural England spending a £1m on them to protect the harriers???
2017 Government propose 'Brood Management' of Grouse
While the single most effective way of preventing Hen Harriers from being wiped out in England, is to enforce the wildlife crime laws, the Government has decided to licence the removal, from Grouse Moors, of Hen Harrier chicks. They will then be reared in captivity, before being released somewhere else, presumably where they are less likely to be shot, snared or poisoned – like an RSPB nature reserve.
Except the RSPB has condemned the proposal. Natural England, the Government’s wildlife experts, who suggest that Brood Management is good because it will “reduce hen harrier predation of grouse chicks on driven grouse moors, leading to an improvement in the conservation status of hen harrier.” In other words, “if they don’t eat the grouse, they won’t be killed.” The EU has started legal action against Natural England for not carrying out the requirements of the Habitats Directive to protect vast ares of moors on Northern England.
Is it realistic to take eggs and rear them? Yes according to GWCT. Latest GWCT More
2016 November Commons 'debate' Beaten Grouse Petition.
January Game & Wildlife Trust letter to Times
2014 Langholm Moor 7-year Review of jointly managed moors has maintained raptor numbers.
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