I wonder who wrote the artical, I bet they have a anti shooting history behind them, no doubt with connections to Avery & Packham
until the data from these tags is delt with independently & made public, I take it with a pinch of salt.
I personally know a keeper who found rspb & police raking his hill, looking for a harrier that’s transmitter had stopped working, this was of course all made public. Nothing was found, about 2 months later, he was speaking to the local Bobby & happened to ask what the out come was, turns out it re appeared 80 miles away in another county, this as expected wasn’t made public, (nor the decency to let the guy know) I wonder why.
Do you have any idea of the independent stats on successful harrier nests, on rspb-un keepered ground vs keepered? I’m presuming not?
Like wise the Langholm moor project and the periods around it, show that on un managed land, vermin takes too high a toll on harrier eggs, chicks & fledglings, for the breed to even stay at level never mind increase.
Fact is, with out grouse moors, there would be very few, if any harriers left, despite what’s peddled about by some
Hares have been shot in big numbers year on year, this couldn’t happen if it was true that the keepers wipe the hills of every hare, it is benifical to tick control as well as protecting flora & fauna.
The counts are a joke, done by city folk fresh out of uni, they’ll count a northeasterly face on a warm still day & come back say a month later with a cold north easterly wind & expect to see the same numbers, they don’t think to go look on the lea side of the hill where the hares will be sitting happily out the wind