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| Adults Curlew - eggs and chicks all too regularly fall victim to predators |
GAMEKEEPERS take immense flak for their activities on the great landholdings of Yorkshire, Scotland and elsewhere - particularly when it comes to safeguarding the eggs and chicks of 'game birds' such as grouse from predators.
Of particular controversy is the illegal killing - alleged to be widespread and sometimes persistent - of protected raptors such as Hen Harriers, Golden Eagle and Red Kites.
But when it comes to the culling of Carrion Crows and mammals such as foxes and stoats, the issue becomes more nuanced because these are creatures that prey not just on grouse and pheasants but also on other moorland-nesting species such as Curlews and Golden Plovers.
The spotlight fell on predator control at last month's parliamentary briefing on the Curlew Action Plan where one of the keynote speakers was former RSPB chairman and uplands birds expert Prof Ian Newton.
"We have to grasp the 'inconvenient truth' about predation," he declared.
"In my view, grouse moors have been greatly underrated in their crucial importance, not just for grouse, but for all ground-nesting birds.
"This is due both to their habitat management and to predation control.
"You may be surprised to learn that some single grouse moors with their neighbouring fields in northern England now hold more Curlew than the whole of Ireland."
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| Prof Newton: 'Predator control will need government support if it is to be effective' |
Prof Newton noted that as recently as in the 1980s, Curlew were widespread, "breeding abundantly in every county", and he attributed their decline not to loss of habitat or lack of food but to predation on eggs and chicks.
He continued: "Clearly, there are factors operating in modern Britain that have enabled certain predators, notably foxes and badgers, to increase far beyond previous levels, and achieve much higher densities than in any other European country for which we have information.
"Unless we can resolve the predation problem, we face the likelihood that most ground-nesting species will disappear in the coming years from most of Britain, surviving perhaps in game-rearing areas and offshore islands lacking the relevant mammalian predators. "
He concluded: "For restoring Curlew and other ground-nesting birds, we know what should be done, but it needs coordinated efforts by all relevant stakeholders at national level.
"Predator control will need government support if it is to be effective across landscapes."
