In 2016, only three pairs of hen harriers successfully nested in England. There should be more than three hundred.  One of the continuing threats facing hen harriers, is from persecution on upland used for driven grouse shooting. Hen harriers prey on young grouse and this puts them into conflict with gamekeepers and the owners and managers of some grouse moors. 

Driven grouse shooting is a traditional sport that dates back about 150 years. Today, much of the scenery in the uplands of Britain contains large tracts of heather moorland intensively managed solely for the purpose of rearing large numbers of grouse for people to shoot. This intensive management is detrimental to the environment. Burning the heather dries out peat bog, lowers its ability for carbon capture, decreases water quality, changes water flow which may be a factor in flooding downstream, and decreases biodiversity of bog habitats. There are some ground nesting bird species that benefit from managed grouse moors, but these too are in decline. 

One of the things we could do is to put aside more places where nature is allowed to flourish in all its glory (re-wilding). We need only look as far as some of our European neighbours to see what can be achieved. In Norway, forests have been allowed to return. Once bare hills and mountains (similar to the bare landscapes we have now in much of upland Britain) have become landscapes of mixed habitats of native woodland, bog and heath, resulting in greater biodiversity. There have been socio-economic benefits too for local communities. 

Imagine how different some of our hills and moors could be, if habitats were restored and left to their own devices, places where predators and prey were in balance, free from trapping, poisoning and shooting. The absence of large carnivores raises questions about how much, if any, human intervention there should be, but these questions should be encouraged and explored, debated and studied.   

Imagine if we dared to challenge the tradition and stagnation of the past, and envisage a better future for people and animals and a landscape of such rich biodiversity that we can only now dream. 

With growing scientific knowledge about the impact of intensive upland management, the successes of re-wilding in many countries, and the groundswell of support for hen harriers inspired by a campaign led by Mark Avery and Chris Packham, I hope that the dream of re-wilding our landscape and our own lives becomes a reality.  

Headline artwork copyright Gelrev Ongbico

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