We wholly endorse the RSPB’s announcement that they want both sustainable grouse moors and swift delivery of the Defra-led Hen Harrier Joint Recovery Plan. With the help of other bodies, both organisations have been working towards the Joint Recovery Plan for over six years. Pushing for this will ensure that driven grouse shooting, the best incentive to continue to invest in moorland conservation, is retained.
However it is, to say the least, challenging to have linked sustainability and recovery, even tangentially, to any possible future licensing of grouse moors. We will continue to work closely with RSPB, and others, to understand why they now feel the need for licensing; and to explore the complexities and issues that such a move could trigger.
Image © Laurie Campbell
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