Читать книгу Bowland Beth: The Life of an English Hen Harrier - David Cobham - Страница 11

Predator control of hen harriers by gamekeepers up until the Second World War was indiscriminate. The shotgun, the pole trap and poison were their weapons. It eased as gamekeepers joined up to fight in the war, and the hen harrier population recovered. The Protection of Birds Act 1954 gave full protection to the hen harrier and all other birds of prey – apart from the sparrowhawk. In 1962 the original Act was modified to include the sparrowhawk.

But the regime of heather burning revived the red grouse population and with it the popularity of driven grouse shooting. Persecution of all birds of prey, particularly the hen harrier, increased dramatically.

In 1981 the young at six hen harrier nests were wilfully destroyed, leading to a huge outcry. As a result the North West Water Authority and United Utilities joined forces to support an RSPB presence in Bowland, led by John Armitage.

‘The evidence was just left there,’ says Armitage. ‘It was quite blatant. Nowadays it would have been retrieved, covered up. Running alongside this persecution there was egg collecting. There were about forty breeding pairs of hen harriers in Bowland, which was very convenient for egg collectors based in England. I started a dialogue with the four main estates to gently remind them that we were looking over their shoulders and would take action if we had the necessary evidence. I found that several of the keepers hated hen harriers – they couldn’t even say the name and wouldn’t speak openly about them at all.’

During the period between 1981 and 2005 John Armitage correlated the successful nesting attempts on four of the Bowland grouse moors. It makes for very interesting reading: NWWA/United Utilities 153, Bleasdale 37, Abbeystead 34 and Clapham 15.

‘I was disappointed that the RSPB didn’t put its foot down and persuade United Utilities to give up grouse shooting on their land,’ he says. ‘As it stood then – and still does – it makes it easier for people to come in from elsewhere and clear hen harriers out.’

‘The traditional way of dealing with hen harriers was to have a coordinated strike on all the roosts throughout the Pennine chain of grouse moors,’ says Bill Hesketh. ‘Mist nets would be set up beforehand, concealed on the roost. At dusk they would watch the harriers settling in for the night. At a prearranged time the nets would be pulled upright, a shot fired, and the keepers would rush in. Any harriers caught would have their necks promptly wrung.’