Don’t blame the birds

“Your correspondent Annie Simpson repeats the myth that raptors such as the sparrowhawk are responsible for the decline of songbirds and should lose their protected status,” emails Jon Cook of Broughty Ferry.

“Extensive research by the RSPB, British Trust for Ornithology, Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) and many others, on declining farmland songbirds has provided no evidence that predation by sparrowhawks has driven population declines.

“Songbird numbers are determined by a combination of the availability of different food resources and availability of suitable breeding habitat.

“The government’s Raptor Working Group, which included leading experts from the GWCT, British Association for Shooting and Conservation, the Royal Pigeon Racing Association, the Scottish Raptor Study Groups and the RSPB, concluded in 2000 that: ‘There is no scientific evidence that sparrowhawks or other birds of prey have had population effects on British songbirds. In our view, there is overwhelming evidence that changes in agricultural practice over recent decades have caused the substantial changes we have seen in farmland bird populations.’

“The continuing decline in numbers of many songbirds is of major concern. However, while predation may under some circumstances have a localised impact on prey numbers, there is little evidence that birds of prey have driven national declines in songbird populations.

“Licensing the control of sparrowhawks or other birds of prey