Published at 11:05, Friday, 30 May 2008

If Barry Robson and John Wright (Letters, May 16) wish to attack Ashley Boon and express views about grouse moors, then he least they can do is make sure they are correct.

In 2006 RSPB received 1,109 reports of potential offences against birds of prey in the UK, but only 13 per cent of these were actually confirmed and a very much smaller number actually resulted in any formal investigation or conviction.

With the exception of the kestrel, the raptor population in this country has risen steadily in recent years and The National Gamekeepers Organisation and The Scottish Gamekeepers Organisation have been unequivocal in their outright condemnation of any form of (illegal) persecution.

Nobody, let alone a moorland keeper, has been convicted of killing a hen harrier in England this century, and the hen harrier breeding population has been growing consistently from a very low base of just two successful breeding pairs in 2001 to 15 in 2007. There has been no successful hen harrier nesting on the RSPB’s own estate at Geltsdale in Cumbria since 2006.

The RSPB attributes the lack of hen harriers on grouse moors exclusively to persecution. So what do they attribute the lack of these birds on their own moors?

The red grouse is a wild bird which breeds and thrives on well-managed (by gamekeepers) heather moorland.

Even the RSPB has recognised the valuable contribution that gamekeepers make to the welfare of our moorland birds and their habitat.

Unlike other game birds such as pheasant and partridge, the red grouse is not reared, intensively or otherwise.

BARRY W LINNARD
Blackford
Carlisle

• A lifetime of monitoring birds of prey and ground-nesting birds of other kinds, and comparing upland populations across the north, means I cannot go along with blanket condemnation of gamekeepers.

Far from being a “no-go” area for harriers (Letters, May 16) the North Pennines have been, and remain, one of the landscapes where harriers can be seen at any time of year. Regrettably, yes, the birds attempting to breed here are only a fraction of those present and visiting at other times; but many factors apply.

I know of only a few nest attempts some years in the North Pennines by hen harriers but rarely have these been prevented by keepers.

Much more serious, often, have been disturbances caused or provoked by sightseers and especially photographers and those rogue egg collectors who still ply their illegal and profitable trade.

COLIN SIMMS
Independent naturalist
Cross Fell Cottage
Garrigill

Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk