A RESEARCH license has been granted that will permit a localised raven cull to relieve predation on waders such as curlew, lapwing and plover at breeding time.

Scottish Natural Heritage has granted the five-year research license to the Strathbraan Community Collaboration for Waders, in Perthshire, in response to curlew numbers crashing by 62% in only two decades.

The local community, representing farmers, gamekeepers and private interests, contacted SNH after participating in Scottish Government’s multi-party ‘Understanding Predation’ project which brought all rural stakeholders together and concluded that 'urgent and bold 'action was necessary if waders were to be saved.

After over a year of bird counts and other discussions, a research license has been drafted which will initially permit the cull of up to 69 ravens in a geographically defined control area to relieve predation pressure. The license, and any proposed raven management numbers, will be adapted each year depending on regular ground counts of both ravens and wading birds.

The Scottish Gamekeepers Association welcomed the move, saying that for many years local land managers in the area had witnessed flocks of juvenile ravens, sometimes numbering over 30, picking off wader chicks and eggs at breeding time.

SGA chairman Alex Hogg said: “The reality is no number of keyboard petitions will save the curlew. Only action will. The practical land managers, who have shared their land with these birds for decades know the time for talk is long over.

“Scottish Government’s Understanding Predation project brought together natural science and local knowledge with the common aim of saving these birds. Raptor workers, RSPB, farmers, gamekeepers and everyone with a stake in the countryside agreed in countless workshops that urgent and bold action was now necessary. Adaptive management was identified as one of the tools to save the curlew and other wading birds whose populations have crashed dramatically.

"There is no point in reaching those conclusions then failing to act," said Mr Hogg. "This licence is a positive action to address a known problem before it is too late. The combined field knowledge of farmers and gamekeepers, gleaned over centuries, is no less valid than other science on this issue."

Managed moorland and farmland in Strathbraan has been identified as a key site for many wader populations, where predation by ravens has been regularly observed by land managers, with large juvenile flocks reportedly 'hoovering up' wader chicks and eggs at breeding time.

“SNH deserve credit for working with the community to design a research license to ensure the conservation status of the raven is safeguarded while allowing an assessment of the level of enhanced protection waders could receive in the area by reducing the predation by ravens," said Mr Hogg.

A spokesperson for Strathbraan Community said: “Farmers and keepers in the community have for a number of years identified ravens as a predators of wading bird eggs and chicks, particularly at breeding time. The people here are proud of the number of waders they have locally and their contribution to the numbers nationally.

“By approaching SNH we have agreed a community licence which will help tell us about ways to protect the waders and conserve ravens. This licence will also allow us to limit the effects of ravens predating on sheep and lambs at this time of the year.”