Hen Harrier Questionnaire

The Defra Hen Harrier Recovery plans contains six Actions. One of these is to trial a brood management scheme (BMS). In this proposal if Hen Harrier nest densities go above a pre agreed density excess broods would be reared in captivity to avoid the period of highest predation on grouse. These birds would then be released at fledging and allowed to re-join the wild population.

The perceived advantage of brood management is that it may give grouse managers the confidence to co-exist with breeding hen harriers, in the understanding that harriers will be removed before they reach densities at which they become too damaging for driven grouse shooting. However as yet we do not have evidence that this is the case. A study is required to help further our understanding of this and which will, combined with the results of the Brood management trial, further our understanding of the ways in which grouse moor managers and other stakeholders respond to different management techniques available to them

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