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Supplementary written evidence from Dr Mark Avery (GRO0530) Summary: The situation in Wales does not support the contention that management for grouse shooting in Wales would be of great conservation value. The study cited is weak and has few data on species other than Red Grouse. Its findings with respect to Hen Harriers conflict with much better and more comprehensive data. The ecology of the uplands would be much improved by the banning of driven grouse shooting and the National Trust is moving strongly in that direction with its High Peak vision. Whatever might be the claimed econom ..read more

Gems from the written evidence 6 – the raptor workers (1) Mark ♦ October 25, 2016 ♦ 8 Comments Raptor workers give up their time voluntarily to monitor the numbers of these fabulous birds. Their evidence on raptor numbers and raptor persecution should carry considerable weight. Here are some extracts from the evidence that has appeared so far (more is to come I am sure) and from a professional academic too: North of England Raptor Forum: Hen Harrier – now almost extinct as a breeding species across northern England and satellite tagging has revealed additional vulnerability to persecution at ..read more

Heather burning, water quality and greenhouse gas emissions Mark ♦ October 4, 2016 ♦ 12 Comments Heather burning on commercial grouse moor. Glenfeshie. Scotland. April 2007. http://scotlandbigpicture.com/ The Committee on Climate Change made a written submission to the Environmental Audit Committee inquiry into soil health in January this year. In it they wrote: ‘The English uplands are dominated by blanket bog and heathland habitats, which tend to have highly organic and peaty soils. When in good condition, peat bogs actively soak up carbon, accumulating between 3 and 7 tonnes per hectare ..read more

Mark ♦ September 5, 2016 ♦ 8 Comments Here are two wildlife enthusiasts talking about driven grouse shooting. Please sign this e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting, alongside Brian May and Chris Packham ..read more

This is a letter I have sent to friends who I thought might be interested in the ‘Conflict in the Uplands‘. Please feel free to copy and paste and send to as many UK citizens as possible before 20th September. Without going into details: The UK petition to ban driven grouse moors can be signed here (UK citizens or residents only). It needs you to click on the e-mail you will then receive to confirm your ‘vote.’ Going into details: As I write the petition is approaching 75% of the 6 month time limit but only 70% of the necessary signatures to get a government debate, so it needs a boost. If t ..read more

Hen Harrier Day Peaceful Protest Sunday 7 August, 2016, Dunsop Bridge in the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire. Only 7 days to go, we need all the support we can muster next Sunday 7 August on the green at Dunsop Bridge in the heart of the Forest of Bowland. They have now killed all the nesting Hen Harriers and Peregrines in the Forest of Bowland, now the government’s wildlife advisor Natural England are helping to get rid of Buzzards as well. Make your voice heard or they will win. This year’s Hen Harrier Day, organised for a third consecutive year by the North West Raptor Group, wi ..read more

The real price of grouse: episode 2 By RaptorPersecutionUK.  In the run up to the Inglorious 12th (the opening of the grouse-shooting season on 12 August), you’ll be able to watch a series of videos hosted by Chris Packham about the #NotSoGlorious damaging management practices associated with the driven grouse shooting industry. Episode one (an introduction to driven grouse shooting) can be watched here. Here’s episode 2: Over 63,000 people have joined Chris and signed the e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting. You can too. We need 100,000 signatures to trigger a Westminster debate. Pl ..read more

Mark ♦ June 23, 2016 ♦ 6 Comments Photo: Gordon Yates Let’s just stick with Hen Harriers for a while – I’ll come back to wider environmental issues next week. And as far as Hen Harriers and driven grouse shooting go – you can’t have both, you have to choose. Ever since the results of the first Langholm study (see Chapter 3 of Inglorious and here) it has been clear that it would be very difficult to have protected birds of prey and driven grouse shooting. Driven grouse shooting depends on unnaturally very high densities of Red Grouse and to get those massive densities you have to declare war ..read more