Illegal killing threathen rare English Bird of Prey
Sometimes conflict between man and animals make some of the species disappear…In this news, it is a good example that sometimes people will take action if their interest is at bargain…
Hope this species will able to survive dispite lots of challenging that they have to face…
****
Conservationists are warning that the illegal killing of hen harriers is threatening one of England’s rarest birds of prey.
Numbers of the birds remain at dangerously low levels despite a record number of fledglings this year.
English Nature claim the hen harrier is still threatened by persecution and the population was a “pale shadow” of what it could be.
It said 46 chicks hatched this year in 12 nests – the highest number since monitoring began in 2002.
But the organisation warned that breeding was limited to one area and birds continued to disappear from their nests in suspected attacks.
About 60% of nesting attempts had failed away from the area monitored by English Nature and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) in the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire.
A major cause for concern is that the hen harrier is disliked by many estate owners because it eats red grouse chicks, affecting the number of grouse available to shoot during the autumn.
Richard Saunders, the manager of English Nature’s Hen Harrier Recovery Project, said the conflict posed a “tricky dilemma” because grouse shooting had contributed to the protection of some of the country’s rarest habitats and funded their management.
He said: “Monitoring such a beautiful and fascinating bird over the last five years has provided me with many wonderful experiences. At times though witnessing the effects of persecution has also been thoroughly depressing.
“There is evidence of illegal persecution every year and we cannot tolerate or ignore this happening to such a rare species.”
He called for gamekeepers and land managers who were not already involved in the project to join conservationists in their efforts to build up the population.
He added: “This would be an excellent way to demonstrate that bird of prey conservation can work alongside grouse moor management and would help show the public the positive conservation benefits that shooting can bring.”
Dr Mark Avery, the RSPB’s director of conservation said: “This beautiful bird remains far rarer than it should be in England.
“English Nature says that on grouse moors away from Bowland, 60% of nesting attempts fail because adults disappear during the nesting season. That’s a damning statistic and the hen harrier’s status is, frankly, an embarrassment for a country that is so proud of its natural heritage.”
He said Natural England, the new conservation organisation which is due to take over from the Countryside Agency in the autumn, would need to put effort and money into stopping the illegal killing of hen harriers “if this bird is to get back where it belongs, on the nation’s moors”.
Copyright – Press Association 2006
Â