Killing of Raptors on Grouse moors Prof Netwon

This is a very rigorous and extremely clear and non-technical paper. If Grouse moors interest you, you should read it.

It has some uncomfortable messages for pro-grouse shooting people (like me)

1/6 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ibi.12886

I think the most important thing about it is that it acknowledges the complexity of the issue and does not propose simplistic solutions. "Although the banning of driven grouse shooting could remove the main current constraint on Hen Harrier and other raptor numbers in some" 2/6

regions, it might not translate into larger national populations in the longer term. If heather moors were no longer valued by their owners, they would most likely be converted to sheep pasture or forest plantation, the main alternative land‐uses in the British uplands. " 3/6

This would diminish their value for harriers and other large raptors by destroying habitat or reducing prey populations. It would also lessen their value for many other ground‐nesting birds besides grouse, including several wader species. For example, stopping routine grouse 4/6

moor management on Langholm Moor in south‐west Scotland was followed by a rapid rise in fox and crow numbers, and reduction in the numbers of nesting Hen Harriers and some other ground‐nesting species, trends that were reversed when management was reinstated 5/6

A different approach to resolving the raptor–grouse conflict involves attempts to achieve compromise, consensus and cooperation "

BRAVO!

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