Scientific report exposes RSPB failure in Wales ahead of grouse moor management debate in Parliament
A new scientific report has highlighted failures by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) to manage moorland habitats and improve biodiversity at one of its flagship nature reserves in Mid Wales. It comes ahead of a debate in Westminster Hall next week in which MPs will discuss whether to ban driven grouse shooting, which rural groups say is a key tool in conserving areas of heather moorland.
The report, ‘Conserving Birds and Nature in Wales; Land Management Regimes and Taxpayer Money’, was written by Professor Simon Denny and focuses on the Lake Vyrnwy Nature Reserve, which has been operated by the RSPB since 1996. The reserve, which was once managed moorland teeming with rare bird species, covers nearly 5,000 hectares and includes Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Special Protection Areas, and Special Areas of Conservation.
Professor Denny notes that in the time the RSPB has been in charge of the reserve, the breeding populations of important bird species – including hen harrier, merlin, black grouse, red grouse, curlew and peregrine falcons – have all dropped drastically. Furthermore, since 1946, 44% of the heather moorland on the Berwyn Mountains that surround Lake Vyrnwy has been lost.
The curlew population at Lake Vyrnwy has fallen from 32 breeding pairs in 1980 to just three single adult birds in 2023 and one ‘possible nest’. The RSPB’s target is a mean of five breeding pairs.
As the cost to the public purse continues to climb, Professor Denny says that the RSPB’s track record of mismanagement at the reserve calls into question how government looks after natural landscapes.
“The Welsh Government’s support to the RSPB to enable it to bid for funds must be questioned, given the outcomes achieved at Lake Vyrnwy, and the limited resources that the RSPB puts into managing the reserve,” says Professor Denny.
“Estate owners and farmers certainly put more of their own time and money into managing their moorland than the RSPB does at Lake Vyrnwy, while receiving much less funding from the Welsh Government and other bodies for habitat improvement works,” he adds.
On Monday 30 June, MPs will debate a petition by the campaign group ‘Wild Justice’ calling for a ban on the practice of driven grouse shooting. Rural communities, including the Regional Moorland Groups which commissioned Prof. Denny’s report, have long argued that grouse shooting and its associated management practices are beneficial for the protection of heather moorland and the rare bird species that nest there. The moors around Lake Vyrnwy were previously managed for grouse shooting before being taken over by the RSPB, which opposes the activity.
Professor Denny’s findings are set against high levels of public scrutiny for the work carried out by conservation charities. In a recent YouGov omnibus poll, 86% of respondents said that environmental conservation charities that receive public funding should be required to publish impact reports. At present no such requirement exists.
The aim of Professor Denny’s report was to examine how different land management regimes operating in Wales can conserve and improve habitats to support biodiversity – particularly birdlife – and to assess the cost-effectiveness of these regimes.
The report offers a damning assessment of the RSPB’s stewardship of Lake Vyrnwy. In 2021, the local stakeholders’ forum submitted a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund which predicted “in the next few years curlew, black grouse and merlin will cease to appear as breeding species in this area of Wales. It is likely that the same fate would befall red grouse and hen harrier within the next decade.”
One local resident, who has lived near Lake Vyrnwy since the 1970s and has worked in the reserve area since 1987, is quoted in the report as saying, “it’s an avian desert now, there’s nothing here,”
The RSPB’s own statistics bear this out: the curlew population at Lake Vyrnwy has fallen from 32 breeding pairs in 1980 to just three single adult birds in 2023 and one ‘possible nest’. The charity’s target is a mean of five breeding pairs.
Meanwhile, the number of lekking black grouse has plummeted from 20 in 2008 to two in 2021. Although the population recovered slightly to seven in 2024, it is still well below the RSPB’s aim of 15 lekking males.
N.B. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,281 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 8th - 9th June 2025. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+)