Imposing a “ceiling” on the numbers of hen harriers on grouse moors could prevent illegal killing of the protected birds of prey, researchers suggested today.
As the grouse shooting season begins, scientists writing in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology suggested field trials limiting harrier numbers could end the long-running conflict between shoot managers and conservationists.
Because the hen harriers eat red grouse, moors with high densities of the bird of prey are incompatible with grouse management – leading gamekeepers to kill the birds illegally.
According to the researchers from the Aberdeen Centre for Environmental Sustainability (Aces), a five-year study at Langholm in the Borders found that rising numbers of hen harriers limited the amount of grouse and reduced shooting bags.
They suggest a large-scale trial in which conservationists and grouse managers could agree on a limit to numbers of hen harriers on the moor and move additional birds elsewhere.
The researchers believe it could provide a win-win situation – boosting numbers of the bird of prey without damaging the shooting industry.
Study author Professor Steve Redpath said: “All moors can cope with some harriers, but few gamekeepers allow any of these predators to breed.
“A ceiling scheme is a way of encouraging grouse managers to put an end to illegal killing of harriers, safe in the knowledge that numbers will not reach densities where they can threaten the viability of their grouse moors.
“If successful, this could prove to be a way to both minimise the local impact of predation on grouse moors and increase the national population of harriers – providing a win-win situation for harrier conservation and grouse management.”
The fate of birds of prey on moors managed for shooting has long been a source of conflict between conservationists and landowners and managers.
The RSPB, which recently launched a campaign against the illegal killing of birds of prey, said there were some 800 pairs of hen harriers in the UK, but populations were below natural levels due to persecution.
There were just 12 successful nesting pairs in England in 2006.
Today, a spokesman for the RSPB said the charity acknowledged there had to be compromise in order to find a solution – but that the first step had to be an end to killing the protected birds.
Other methods such as feeding the hen harriers with “diversionary” food, or management of the land to increase numbers of meadow pipits – the main source of food for the birds – should be tried before such a drastic approach.
But the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) welcomed the study, which was released on the “Glorious 12th” – the first day of the grouse shooting season.
Phil Pugh, north of England director for the BASC, said: “I think the idea is probably the most important thing that’s happened in the last decade. We have an independent conservation body saying the way forward for the hen harrier is to have a solution which makes it economically viable to shoot grouse on moorland and also ensure a number of hen harriers exist on those moorlands.”
He said the BASC condemned without reservation any illegal activity or persecution of birds of prey.