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New study links loss of gamekeepers and grouse to declines in waders and hen harriers Print E-mail
Friday, 14 November 2008
Moorland thrives due to the hard work of gamekeepers A new study by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust shows that the loss of gamekeepering on Langholm Moor not only caused red grouse stocks to plummet, but also led to both the demise of many important wader populations, and the Hen Harrier.

The study, ‘The direct and indirect effects of predation by Hen Harriers on trends in breeding  birds on a Scottish moor’, which has recently been published in the science journal IBIS, compared 10 species of breeding moorland birds both whilst the moor was managed by gamekeepers, and after gamekeeping ceased in 1999. It provides the most accurate and up to date monitoring of breeding birds at Langholm since the end of the Joint Raptor Study in 1997.

During the Joint Raptor Study, when gamekeepers were protecting grouse from generalist predators such as foxes and crows, and suitable habitats were being created through heather burning, hen harrier numbers rose from 2 to more than 20 breeding females. However their increased numbers led to a 50% decline in the number of breeding red grouse, and reduced shooting bags to the extent that grouse shooting was no longer viable, with the result that traditional moorland management could no longer be financed.

“ ....when gamekeepers were protecting grouse from generalist predators such as foxes and crows, and suitable habitats were being created through heather burning, hen harrier numbers rose from 2 to more than 20 breeding females”
This latest study shows that between 1999, when gamekeeping stopped, and 2006, the numbers of golden plover, curlew, red grouse and skylark were two to three times lower than when the moor had been managed for grouse shooting, and that lapwings had been virtually lost. Hen harrier numbers also went from their high of 20 breeding females to just 2, due to increasing fox predation and dwindling food supply. In contrast, the number of carrion crow, a common predator species culled on most grouse moors, increased four-fold following the end of keepering.

The Study concludes that the withdrawal of grouse moor management at Langholm following the high predation on grouse by hen harriers resulted in the high influx of generalist predators such as foxes and crows, and the subsequent reduction in the abundance of many threatened species of moorland birds. It highlights the important role played by gamekeepers in carrying out legal predator control and habitat management, and the range of vulnerable ground-nesting birds that depend on grouse management for survival.

A further research project that looks specifically at how reducing predators can affect ground nesting birds has also now been completed by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust at Otterburn. The purpose of the Upland Predation Experiment was to test whether predator removal by gamekeepers improved numbers or breeding success of moorland birds other than red grouse. Preliminary findings suggest that waders, meadow pipits and black grouse show a tendency for greater breeding success in the presence of predator removal.  The final report is to be published in 2009.