You bird brains!
Rare species fares worse on RSPB land
BRITAIN’S most endangered bird of prey is struggling to survive on land managed by the RSPB – fuelling the fire of critics who say the charity has lost its way.
The number of hen harrier chicks per nest on RSPB reserves is as low as 1.1 – below the 1.2 needed to maintain the population.
Between 2013 and 2017 there were ten nests with 11 chicks surviving on land belonging to the charity, which receives almost £20million a year of public cash.
Non-RSPB areas had an average 2.2 chicks per nest over the same period, Defra figures show.
Scotland is home to 80 per cent of the UK’s hen harriers, with 460 breeding pairs – of these, 175 pairs, are in the West Highlands.
Orkney and the Hebrides even noted a slight increase in the species’ number this year.
Critics of the RSPB say the disparity is explained by the charity’s reluctance to kill foxes and other predators.
But the RSPB said the poor numbers are down to illegal killing and trapping of hen harriers by gamekeepers on grouse moors.
Game And Wildlife Conservation Trust spokesman Andrew Gilruth said: ‘The RSPB should be doing a lot better. They’re not shooting as many predators as they should.
‘They’re more focused on politics and trying to send gamekeepers to prison than conserving hen harriers.’
Jeff Knott, head of the RSPB’s nature policy, said: ‘The reason so many nests are failing and so few chicks are reaching adulthood is primarily down to illegal killing and trapping.’