IN DEFENCE OF RSPB'S CROW-CULLING AT SENSITIVE WADER-BREEDING SITES

                                                                        

Curlew - nests are often predated by carrion or hooded crows

THE director of Norfolk-based charity Songbird Survival has spoken out  in defence of the RSPB’s policy of  culling crows on  reserves where they are predating the chicks and eggs of waders such as black-tailed godwits. The practice has upset some RSPB members, but Keith Cowieson defends it in a letter to The Daily Telegraph (August 13), below.
 
SIR – The RSPB is to be congratulated on its pragmatic and long overdue decision to carry out a five-year cull of crows on six of its reserves, where burgeoning corvid numbers pose an unacceptable threat to the rapidly dwindling population of Eurasian curlew.
The charity’s own recent research has revealed that Britain has the highest density of foxes and crows of any European country. Small wonder that the curlew (and other vulnerable species) are in dire straits away from well-managed land.
It is time for Natural England and other national agencies to reward farmers and land managers for controlling overabundant predators and scavengers on their land. The forthcoming Agriculture Bill from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs presents the ideal opportunity to do just that.

Keith Cowieson
Director, SongBird Survival
Diss, Norfolk