Protected birds (From The Northern Echo)

Protected birds

9:14am Tuesday 10th June 2008 in Letters

YOUR anonymous correspondent (HAS, June 4) cannot understand why gamekeepers kill crows and ends by asking that "wild bird crimes" be reported to the RSPB.

Presumably, the correspondent doesn't know that the RSPB itself kills crows (and foxes) on nature reserves.

A recent survey of the North Pennines carried out by Natural England showed that declining birds like curlew, lapwing and golden plover are today found in their highest numbers on moors managed by gamekeepers. Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust scientists have shown how this performance is in large part due to controlling abundant predators like crows and foxes.

As for birds of prey, there is some illegal persecution (which we condemn) but despite this, the RSPB's own figures show that virtually all our birds of prey are at or near their highest levels in living memory.

Our heather moorlands are a unique resource in terms of biodiversity thanks to gamekeepers. The next time you meet a gamekeeper on a moor, why not ask him to tell you about his work? (If nothing else, doing so might save the RSPB's switchboard from overload.) A Mitchell, National Gamekeepers' Organisation, Bishop Auckland.