Forest of Bowland raptors being undermined by complacency and bad politics.

Описание: At the beginning of April on an unusually warm sunny morning two members of the North West Raptor Protection Group were watching a male Hen Harrier at a well known breeding territory in the Forest of Bowland on moorland owned by United Utilities. Conducting their meticulous observations from an elevated position overlooking a potential territory, the Harrier suddenly disappeared when a shepherd, calling loudly inducing his flock of sheep to follow, appeared on the scene driving a four wheeled quad bike onto the moor crossing the Hen Harrier's territory. As the male Hen Harrier had not started to breed the shepherds activity was not illegal, however his actions witness by an RSPB officer was perhaps irresponsible at such a critical location where Hen Harriers had in the recent past established their nests.

What happened next came as a surprise summing up graphically the bad politics at play in Bowland.

Making their way back down the established vehicle track over the heather covered hill located half a mile from where they had been observing the male Harrier, the two raptor workers were spoken to by the same RSPB official who earlier had witnessed the shepherd crossing the moor. The official was concerned that both NWRPG members had been sitting in heather where Hen Harriers may choose to breed. What this individual failed to appreciate before making his ridiculous observation, at least 40% of heather cover in Bowland offers suitable habitat for breeding Hen Harriers, however due to persecution there are very few Harriers left to occupy or breed upon such moorland habitat, suitable or not.

How can anyone with a responsibility for protecting raptors, object to where someone was sitting in heather watching a Harrier from a safe distance? Then curiously on the other hand completely ignore a man made situation indirectly preventing Peregrines from returning to a breeding territory as depicted in this video?

Watch the video attached, and ask yourself why no one made any objection to United Utilities about the installation of the water monitoring stations or the erection of a crow trap just 100 metres distance from a historic Peregrine nesting cliff ensuring no Peregrines would return to breed at this site in the future?

In October of 2007 the late Duke of Westminster hosted a Hen Hen Harrier meeting at his Forest of Bowland Abbeystead estate. During the meeting, the Duke and the then United Utilities estate manager had a disagreement on how best to manage the UU Bowland estate. In essence what the former Bowland estate manager told the Duke on the day was this. “As long as I am in charge I have no intention of returning gamekeepers onto the United Utilities estate in Bowland, because if this happened Hen Harrier would disappear within 6 – 12 months, as estate manager I have a statutory duty to ensure this does not happen.”

In hindsight Ian Grindy, the then UU estate manager was correct. However, what no one expected was that Peregrines nesting on the estate at that time would also begin to disappear after the company had over-ruled their estate manager, returning not only gamekeepers, but also syndicate shoots to all parts of their Bowland estates. As of this year we can stipulate with a reasonable degree of accuracy, ten former peregrine territories that existed on the United Utilities estates in the Forest of Bowland are now abandoned.

United Utilities have a clear statutory responsibility for the protection and well being of wildlife on the moorlands in Lancashire they own and manage. Resulting from the disappearance of both Hen Harriers and Peregrines from their Bowland estate demonstrates this legal responsibility is not being upheld.