Tim Bonner: The RSPB's hen harrier hypocrisy

You may remember that in 2020 a Countryside Alliance investigation revealed that the RSPB had blocked the reintroduction of hen harriers into the South of England. Bizarrely, an organisation that has spent decades quite rightly lamenting the limited population of hen harriers, actively campaigned against reintroduction in the South of England. Not only did the RSPB not want hen harriers introduced but it also objected to chicks from nests in the North of England being reared and released as part of a government-backed brood management scheme. In fact, it seemed fairly clear that the RSPB objected to any project that might increase the hen harrier population.

It might seem ridiculous to suggest that a charity that exists for the benefit of birds should be so keen to restrict the numbers of one species, that is until you understand the role that the hen harrier plays in the politics of grouse shooting. As ground nesting birds, hen harriers are particularly vulnerable to persecution and as predators of both domestic poultry (hence the name) and game birds, hen harriers were historically not exactly a popular species. By 1900 the hen harrier was extinct as a breeding species on mainland Britain. As attitudes changed, however, the hen harrier started to recolonise with hundreds of pairs breeding in the uplands of Scotland and Wales by the end of the century. In England, however, the species remained a sporadic breeder and the suggestion was that grouse shooting interests continued to view hen harriers as an existential threat and discouraged breeding attempts on grouse moors.

Research carried out jointly by the RSPB and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust on Langholm Moor in Dumfriesshire seemed to confirm the worst fears of the shooting community as a growing population of hen harriers made the moor unviable for shooting. The Westminster government's reaction to the Langholm research - and the hen harrier issue in general - was to propose a recovery plan which included a scheme which would allow the removal of hen harrier chicks from nests close to existing pairs. Those chicks would then be reared in captivity and released. This 'brood management' plan removed the potential for colonial nesting of hen harriers and the destruction of grouse moors, and therefore reduced the motivation for any illegal persecution of the harriers. Brood management was opposed by the RSPB, which withdrew from the hen harrier recovery project, and in 2020 the RSPB persuaded its French and Spanish partners to withdraw from the project to introduce hen harriers from the continent which breed in lowland habitats into the UK.

There was only one reason that the RSPB took these actions and that was because it sees hen harriers not as a species to be conserved, but as a stick with which to beat grouse shooting and moorland management. There can be no other reason that a charity committed to protect birds could be so desperate to ensure that a rare and iconic species does not prosper. The good news is that despite the malign politics of the RSPB and thanks to the government, moorland managers and real conservationists, hen harriers are thriving. Natural England described 2022 as the most successful breeding season for English Hen Harriers in more than a century with at least 75% of the 119 chicks fledged coming from managed grouse moors. The cynicism of the RSPB has been defeated by the positivity of moorland managers and those who really love the countryside.