The “brood management” scheme that is to be trialled on hen harriers nesting on grouse moors is not a serious conservation action but a measure to appease the people responsible for the hen harriers’ plight (Trial to take hen harrier chicks from nests splits bird experts, 7 June). The parlous state of the hen harrier population in England is entirely due to illegal persecution by grouse moor managers, and changing the species’ fortunes simply requires this persecution to stop.
I would take serious issue with the suggestion that what is being proposed is in any way equivalent to the captive rearing of curlew chicks from nests established next to runways on Ministry of Defence airfields. While the curlew chicks are at risk from lawful activities of the MoD, the only threat the hen harrier chicks are being protected from is criminal acts by gamekeepers.
Jonathan Wallace
Newcastle upon Tyne
Your report is wrong to say the management of hen harrier broods is “to placate grouse moor owners”. When the matter came before the high court last year, Mrs Justice Lang DBE was unequivocal that “it is abundantly clear from the evidence that Natural England’s purpose in licensing the brood management scheme was to seek to further the conservation of hen harriers through research, not to protect grouse chicks or the grouse moor industry”. Those who wish to see more hen harriers should welcome all aspects of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ recovery plan.
Andrew Gilruth
Director of communications, Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust
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