Book reviews

Inglorious: Conflict in the Uplands. Mark Avery, Bloomsbury £16.99

Mark Avery was Conservation Director of the RSPB for thirteen years, and now writes, blogs and speaks on conservation matters. One of his favourite birds has always been the Hen Harrier, a beautiful bird of prey that we here on Arran are privileged to have as a breeding resident. In 2014 over seventy young fledged on the island. However the situation in England is very different, with the Hen Harrier on the verge of extinction as a breeding species. This book charts Avery’s growing realisation that illegal killing of Hen Harriers on driven grouse shooting estates was reaching catastrophic levels, and his increasingly successful attempts to publicise this scandal. Avery reviews the scientific data on all this and also discusses how other aspects of driven grouse moor management, such as heather burning, deforestation, and peat bog draining, have caused carbon to be released into the atmosphere and have led to increased rainwater run-off, directly contributing to the devastating floods just experienced in Northern England over the Christmas period. His conclusion is stark; driven grouse shooting gives pleasure to a tiny number of well-heeled folk whilst having a seriously detrimental effect on the lives of the vast majority of the population, through the damage caused to the natural environment, and should be banned.

Avery writes with passion but also with some humour and a light touch. The result is essential reading for anyone interested in wildlife and conservation in the U.K.

Alan Bellamy