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Controlling predators
To achieve our conservation objectives, the RSPB sees the killing of birds and mammals as a matter of last resort.
We aim to restore populations of wildlife principally through habitat management and any measures to control predators is considered carefully, case-by-case. Nevertheless, we recognise that ground-nesting birds are especially vulnerable to predation by both mammals and crows.
To understand the role of controlling predators better, the RSPB is undertaking a scientific trial control of foxes and carrion crows on some of its nature reserves where lapwings nest, in conjunction with positive land management.
We also control foxes and crows at Abernethy Forest in Strathspey, where poor weather and predation resulted in low productivity of the increasingly rare capercaillie during the 1990s.