Dr. Andy Bleasdale:

Sure. Again, we have had some issues with the designation of hen harrier. It was received very negatively by much of the farming community in that it designated vast areas of upland landscape that might have been used for afforestation in times gone by. At that point in time, when that network of sites was designated, we sought to have a National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, farm plan scheme that would support farmers who wanted to farm for nature in those habitats. This was not necessarily to replace the premium they would have gotten for forestry, but to encourage them to farm and be supported for farming for biodiversity. That scheme fell on the rocks when there was no money back in the day during the crash, etc. However, we have worked very hard, again with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, to prepare a European innovation partnership, EIP, for hen harrier. That was led by Fergal Monaghan and his team and it was broadly successful and well received by the farming community-----