Shooting UK is your complete shooting resource. From gun reviews to shotgun licence and firearms certificate information, to clay pigeon shooting, game shooting, shooting lessons and gundog training.
By Joe Dimbleby
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Feathers fly in the High Court as the RSPB is sued for criticising research into the effect of predators on blackgame
Conservationists Mr and Mrs Bowker, from Wildboarclough, in Cheshire, are suing the RSPB for defamation after the organisation told them their research on blackgrouse was unsound and could have contributed to the species’ decline.
The couple were commissioned by the Forestry Commission and Severn Trent Water to undertake a four-year study into a blackgrouse breeding site near Lake Vyrnwy, in Wales, close to the RSPB’s reserve. After charting a severe decline in numbers, they published a paper, with co-author Dr David Baines, warning that attacks by predators such as falcons and foxes could lead to the extinction of blackgrouse in the British Isles.
But after painstakingly monitoring the falling survival rates and breeding patterns of the highly endangered blackgrouse, the couple were told by the RSPB that, rather than helping the species, their research could have actually damaged the birds. Scientists from the organisation suggested that the radio-tagging they carried out on blackgrouse chicks might have caused them to be more vulnerable to predators.
An internal email and two letters sent by the RSPB to the Forestry Commission and Severn Trent Water criticised the couple’s methods, claiming they were untried and untested.
The rest of this article appears in 17th November issue of Shooting Times.
In the 2 November session of the Home Affairs Comm...
Subsonic .22LR ammunition review: The .22 rimfire is a great vermin ri... Read more
I have an adolescent spanador with an abundance of energy. However, of... Read more
The Countryside Alliance has made the shortlist of Channel 4's mo... Read more
Don't miss this week's issue (on sale Wednesday 16th May). FREE PRIZE DRAW: Win a Browning T-bolt.22 and Winchester ammo. Graham Downing gives his tips on where to find the best foreign sport! For all this and a whole lot more buy your copy today!
Save up to 31% on a subscription to Shooting Times & Country Magazine, subscribe today and perfect gift this Christmas.
Comments