SLE responds to RSPB Scotland claims regarding hen harrier survival rates

Press Release

Scottish Land & Estates has issued the following statement in response to a new report by RSPB Scotland regarding hen harrier survival rates.  

Mark Tennant, chairman of Scottish Land & Estates, said:

"The vast majority of the UK’s hen harrier population is found in Scotland, with more than 500 pairs recorded in a recent report by NatureScot. Estates play a vital role in encouraging raptors to flourish, including through the recent Heads Up for Harriers project which saw 28 estates participate and the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project where 90% of translocated chicks have come from grouse moors.  

"Any persecution of hen harriers – and any form of wildlife crime generally – is abhorrent and our members are committed to assisting government and police in this area. In this regard, we recognise the official statistics published by the Scottish Government in its annual wildlife crime report, with the most recent report released last month confirming that offences against birds of prey are at historically low levels with 12 offences recorded in 2020-2021. 

"RSPB Scotland has not provided the data it is using for this latest report to partners and this lack of cooperation undermines a collective effort to tackle raptor crime.  

"There have been long-held concerns regarding transparency around data collected by RSPB from satellite tags and how they interpret it. It is in stark contrast to organisations such as Natural England that provide a publicly available tracking update for hen harriers on a quarterly basis. Where a tag stops transmitting, Natural England takes great care to ensure conjecture does not form part of its analysis.  

"It is well established that there is a high natural mortality rate for hen harriers in their first year and other factors including weather, availability of prey and predation by foxes and other birds can all play a big role in their survival. Likewise, there are different reasons why tags stop transmitting, not only persecution, and police do examine the circumstances when tags no longer send signals. This is a complex issue and great care should be taken when drawing conclusions on data not publicly available. 

"Scottish Land & Estates is supporting a national survey of the hen harrier population and we hope by working alongside other partners that we can soon establish new and accurate data about the Scottish population."