I am delighted to see that at last officials are listening and welcome today's announcement by the government that there will be no action taken against the population of EURASIAN EAGLE OWLS currently at large in the British countryside. Canvassing opinion and campaigning on their behalf certainly made people listen and the RSPB's Dr Mark Avery has concluded that there is no firm evidence to suggest that these birds are having a detrimental affect on any of our native birds of prey, including the endangered Hen Harrier.
Whilst on the subject and after becoming embroiled in a bitter feud with the RSPB over the destruction of an entire family of Eagle Owls in Cumbria, are the RSPB now in a position to be able to tell me just who was responsible for the deed, after I inadvertently accused them of it after receiving a so-called witness email? Six months down the line I have seen no announcement made.
Also, on the subject of breeding Hen Harriers in the UK, I was chastised for massively under-estimating the population - me claiming a paltry few hundred or so and officials stating that 700 or so pairs were nesting. As a result, I changed my statistics accordingly and re-published but lo and behold I am being chastised again and being given totally contradictory results. Those charged with monitoring this very endangered species are telling me that Hen Harriers have been virtually wiped out from the moors of Northern England, the Borders, Eastern Scotland and from north of Inverness - and that my figures are wholly over-estimated. They claim it is truly dire straits with this species. I am dumbfounded !