Shooting put on hold after scientists found evidence to back the cull was “inadequate”
Controversial permission to slaughter hundreds of ravens in Perthsire has been suspended.
Experts said the decision by Sottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to allow the destruction of the birds was not scientifically robust.
Now the shooting has been put on hold after members of SNH’s own Scientific Advisory Committee found that evidence to back the cull was “inadequate”.
As TFN reported at the time, there was a massive row when SNH issued a licence authorising the slaughter of hundreds of birds over a large area of Perthshire.
The five-year experiment was supposedly to see what impact the ravens’ removal has on declining populations of wading birds.
A cull licence was granted to an entity called Strathbraan Community Collaboration for Waders (SCCW), a group made up of gamekeeping and farming interests.
The area where the killing was to be carried out also happens to cover several grouse shooting estates, taking in an area which is notorious as a “black hole” for wildlife crime, most especially the destruction of endangered birds of prey.
Grouse shooting interests have been put in the frame for the killings, something they deny.
Environmentalists suspected that the cull was more to do with protecting grouse on shooting estates than protecting upland wader populations, and questioned the science behind the project.
To meet concerns, SNH asked its Scientific Advisory Committee to look into the decision and this week it found that “scientific rigour” needed to be improved.
SCCW has agreed to voluntarily suspend its cull, which had not yet taken place, and SNH said “a specific Scientific Advisory Group will now be created to assist the project and will include members from the SNH Scientific Advisory Committee, the British Trust for Ornithology and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust.”
Professor Des Thompson, principal scientific adviser on science and biodiversity at SNH, said: “We need to learn from this trial, and the experience and knowledge gained, and move on to develop advice and support for action on the ground to benefit waders. Having a Scientific Advisory Group will be a huge help in developing the work.
“SNH welcomes the decision by the Strathbraan Community Group to suspend the cull for the rest of this year.”
The decision to suspend the cull was welcomed by RSPB Scotland.
A spokesperson said “We welcome the decision by SNH to suspend the research licence for the contentious Strathbraan raven and wading bird project, following the input and advice from its Scientific Advisory Committee.
"We also appreciate the promise to involve a wider stakeholder group in developing next steps, including a properly constructed research trial, which considers the full range of factors that may be having positive or negative impacts on wading bird populations in the Strathbraan area.
“Improving the conservation prospects for our declining and internationally important wading bird populations is a high priority for the work of RSPB Scotland.
"However, in our view this challenge needs to be met on the basis of sound science, which is then tested on the ground to identify and improve practical and lawful land management techniques.”
