Police Keep Poachers Away from Rare Scottish Birds
© Environment News Service (ENS) 2000
August 31, 2000
EDINBURGH, United Kingdom, August 31, 2000 (ENS) - Dwindling populations of rare young hen harrier hawks and peregrine falcons are being revived thanks to secret nests on five estates in northeast Scotland.
The government funded Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) announced today that five such nests produced three hen harrier chicks and seven peregrine falcon chicks this year.
The birds are recovering from population crashes in the 1960s and 70s caused by the use of insecticides. Now they are threatened by criminals who steal and then sell the birds to European and Middle Eastern falconers.
Poaching has become so serious, the SNH must monitor nests with Scottish police, local gamekeepers and the North-East Raptor Study Group to ensure the birds' safety. The monitoring scheme, now in its second year, is playing a vital part in rebuilding the populations of these two rare and threatened species.
Nationally, hen harrier hawks number only 436 pairs, with almost none in northeast Scotland. Peregrine falcons in Scotland are in a slightly better position with 625 pairs.
"The number of chicks raised may seem small but the vital factor is that some have survived and none of the nests in the scheme were illegally disturbed," said Paul Timms, SNH's operations manager for the Grampian region, a mountainous area that divides the Scottish highlands from the lowlands.
"The numbers are slightly down on last year - eight hen harrier and seven peregrine falcons - but the appalling weather in the spring meant some nests failed. Birds are not keen to sit on nests that are several inches deep in snow and hen harriers, in particular, may desert."
Constable David McKinnon, Wildlife Liaison Officer with Grampian Police, said the weight of public opinion is heavily against people who commit wildlife crime.
"It is an offence to approach or disturb these birds without a licence from Scottish Natural Heritage," he said. "It is also illegal to take their eggs."
The scheme is expected to run next year with the aim being to increase the number of participating estates and add to this year's successes.
Meanwhile, SNH is fending off criticism that it is not doing enough to protect another rare bird. The European Commission, the executive arm of the 15 member European Union, questioned whether UK authorities such as SNH are doing all they could to protect the capercaillie, known as the tetrao urogallus.
Numbers of this bird have fallen to about 1,000, a small fraction of the 1970s population. The commission questioned whether conservation areas set aside for the bird are adequate and asked the UK to justify using high wire forest fences, which can kill the grouse like bird.
In an article in London's "New Scientist" magazine, Robert Moss, a former senior scientist at the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology in Banchory, Scotland, called for a ten fold expansion of the present six special protection zones, which now cover only a few thousand hectares.
He accused the SNH, which is responsible for the zones, of being "defensive and negligent".
The SNH told the "New Scientist" it is committed to protecting the capercaillie, saying that its work is based on sound scientific principles.