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Thursday, 24 April 2008 |
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 New research, commissioned by Natural England, into the status of breeding birds in the North Pennine Special Protection Area (SPA) between 2005 and 2007 has revealed that the RSPB’s Geltsdale reserve in Cumbria has some of the lowest densities of birds found anywhere in the region.
The status of “Special Protection Area” (SPA) is an EU Natura 2000 designation which requires measure to be taken to preserve certain at risk bird species. In the case of the North Pennines SPA (1470 sq km), it encompasses 17 smaller Sites of Special Scientific Interest, including the 7967 hectare Geltsdale and Glendue SSSI of which the RSPB manage over 5000 hectares. |
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Monday, 06 March 2006 |
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 The Countryside Alliance has branded “extraordinary” the RSPB claim in its report “Peak Malpractice” that birds of prey are disappearing in the Peak District, when raptor numbers are in fact at their highest levels in living memory.
The RSPB claim is contrary to the clear picture from a survey published last year by the Moors for the Future partnership (which includes English Nature and the Peak District National Park Authority) This survey charts the 286% increase in Peregrine falcons on the moorlands of the Peak District between 1990 and 2004. Ravens went up from nil to 18 pairs and buzzards from one to 18 pairs over the same period. Merlins showed a 50 % increase and short eared owls were up by 260%.
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Wednesday, 01 February 2006 |
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The Countryside Alliance has condemned the shooting of an Eagle Owl in North Yorkshire and asked anyone with information to pass it on to the police. The female which has been killed was one of the only known pair to be breeding in the wild in England. It had bred in North Yorkshire for nearly 10 years and produced 23 chicks. |
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Friday, 12 August 2005 |
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New research, published today by the Countryside Alliance and the National Gamekeepers Organisation on the opening day of the grouse shooting season, shows that threatened waders and black grouse thrive on moorland managed for shooting.
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Wednesday, 16 March 2005 |
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In July 2004 the Alliance's Moorlands Campaign published "Options for the sustainable land use of heather moorlands and moorland fringe in the UK", a report on the way forward for Britain's moorlands Click here to download the document |
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Tuesday, 08 March 2005 |
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Read "Breaking Covert - coming clean about moorland birdlife" by Tim Baynes of the Countryside Alliance Moorlands Campaign. This article first appeared in the January 2005 issue of The Field and is reproduced with the magazine's kind permission. To subscribe to The Field call 0845 676 7778 or visit http://www.thefield.co.uk/. Click here to download the document |
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Thursday, 09 December 2004 |
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The grouse shooting season closes today (10th December) with a bang! Several estates in the North Pennines have had a record year - continuing right up to the season's last day. A Moorland Association survey shows that moors in Upper Weardale/Teesdale in the North Pennines where the Cumbria, Northumberland and Co. Durham borders meet, have sustained 310 shooting days, showing a 150% increase in days let on a commercial basis compared to last year. As a result, £365,575 has been injected into the rural economy in terms of casual labour for beaters, pickers up and flankers creating work for over 10,400 local man-days. £1.9 million has been raised in revenue to plough back into management to safeguard the future of rare moorland habitat. |
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