'Waders on the fringe'

This is the final report from the nine years of work at Otterburn that everyone with an interest in upland management should read.  GWCT are to be applauded for this work and this report.

The report and the facts speak for themselves - the negative impact that predators have on upland breeding bird populations is very clear.

I suppose this leaves us with a choice.  What do we want for our upland areas?  Are we content to leave nature to itself when the evidence from this report is that this will lead to the decline or loss of upland birds species from vast tracts of the uplands?  Or do we want to apply some management, that is funded from private sources, to allow control of predator populations and let the other species survive.  No-one is talking about extermination of predators, management of their numbers is being recommended to give other species a chance.

One of the Trust's former Chairman was quoted as saying "In the world of conservation, it is necessary to manage the successes as well as the failures."  This still holds true.  To bury our heads in the sand and let nature run its own course in the uplands will result in a very different balance of habitat, bird and other species?  I do not believe that we are ready to accept the changes in our uplands and decline of important species and therefore I believe completely that predator management is an integral part of best practice upland management.

What do you think?