Controlling vermin to spare rare species

This includes predation management to protect vulnerable species of livestock and wildlife, an approach routinely used by conservation organisations on nature reserves across the country.

However, during lockdown, there has been an increase in people visiting the countryside for exercise. Unfortunately this has also resulted in a marked increase in vandalism to legal traps and snares which have been set during a period when certain species are particularly vulnerable, such as newborn lambs and breeding birds such as lapwing, skylark, blackbirds and song thrush to name just a few, and for endangered species such as the brown hare and curlew.

The main targets of legal predation control are vermin, including fox, stoat, weasel, brown rat, crow, jackdaw, rooks, magpie and grey squirrel, the latter causing untold damage to woodland. They are all successful species, most at the top of their predation chain with numbers on the increase.

To save red listed species and others that are endangered we have to reduce vermin which will never become rare. The outcome will be aided by those visiting the countryside.

Charlotte Marrison is chairman of the Shropshire branch of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust