HSE has asked CRRU UK to fund and conduct a series of studies to monitor implementation and impacts of the regime:
Levels of anticoagulant residues in the livers of UK barn owls will be monitored annually. HSE will expect to see a significant decline in the proportion of barn owls carrying rodenticide residues and a reduction in the concentration of residues in the owls’ bodies as a result of stewardship implementation. Breeding success of selected barn owl populations will be studied to determine impacts, if any, of rodenticide use.
A periodic survey will be conducted on the knowledge, attitudes and practices of all professional rodenticide users in order to observe changes over time in these important criteria. A baseline survey has already been conducted in advance of regime implementation.
An annual appraisal will be published of incidents reported to by the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS).
The current status of the distribution and severity of anticoagulant resistance in Norway rats and house mice in the UK will be presented in the form of a CRRU report from the University of Reading.
Purpose:
Liaise with appointed contractors and/or agencies for all monitoring mechanisms, including SGAR residues in barn owls; barn owl breeding and population investigations; and knowledge, attitudes and practice (KAP) surveys among rodenticide buyers and users.
Establish contracts between funding agencies and contractors.
Ensure scientific and statistical veracity of monitoring projects.
Co-ordinate provision of reports at required intervals and oversee publication of monitoring data.
Work Group Members
Monitoring
Richard Moseley – Monitoring WG lead
Colin Prescott – University of Reading
Ton Abel – ZAPI
Alan Buckle – CRRU/University of Reading
Gareth Capel-Williams – PelGar
Matthew Davies – Killgerm
Alistair Leake – GWCT