– We have asked that the cases be seen in context, says Rolf Jørn Karlsen in BirdLife Gjøvik, Toten og Land. news recently wrote about a similar case from Toten, where Glommen Mjøsen forest had destroyed a goshawk nest by felling. This time it is a nest in Gjøvik that has been destroyed. Rolf Jørn Karlsen was supposed to check the nest in the first week of July. – It was lying outside on a felling area. It was cut. In both cases, the nest lies piecemeal and divided on a felling area, driven down by a felling machine. REPORTER: Ornithologist Even Dehli (th) and Rolf Jørn Karlsen from BirdLife Norway in the forest where the previous nest was cut down. Photo: Reidar Gregersen Karlsen says the forest owner received a letter from the State Administrator in the summer of 2022 about where the nest was and which protection rules apply. – There were three or four young in the nest, says Karlsen. CHARACTERISTIC BIRD OF PREY: There are 4,000–5,400 goshawks in Norway. Photo: The police Apologize again The forestry company apologized for the felling at Toten. They do that now too. – We have carried out our own investigations and have been aware that a goshawk nest in Gjøvik has been damaged. We have therefore sent a report to the State Administrator and to the timber buyers about it, says business policy manager Yngve Holth. SORRY AGAIN: Yngve Holth in Glommen Mjøsen Skog. Photo: Private The reasoning for why they were not aware of the goshawk nest is the same now as last time. – Until now, we have gathered information about nests from many different sources. The state has had its own database for sensitive data for a long time, but we have not been given permission to connect to it, he says. Holth says that this is an extensive database with more than 12,000 observations in the interior alone, and that they only got access last summer. – When we got the link up and running in our system, we checked whether any damage might have occurred in the intervening period. Then this nest in Gjøvik appeared. This is a very regrettable incident, but now we have a link to the base that works, he says. He says that they also did not receive a copy of the letter the forest owner received from the State Administrator last year. Holth emphasizes that the goshawk is a species they attach great importance to protecting. – Has access to Rovbase BirdLife Oppland, which has reported the felling, believes the forest company should and could have known about the nest, but that they have not prioritized using resources to search the system to check. – The state administrator has received a message from BirdLife Oppland about the nest location and he has entered it into the Rovbase database. Glommen Mjøsen Forest has access there, says Rolf Jørn Karlsen. About the goshawk The goshawk is a large bird of prey in the hawk family. It is considerably larger than its relative the sparrow hawk. In Norway, it lives in dense forest over most of the country. The species prefers old forests of pine and spruce, but is also found in some places in old deciduous forests and in other forest types. The diet consists mainly of medium-sized mammals and birds. Adult goshawks are usually resident birds, while the young birds tend to migrate towards the coast or southeast to Sweden. Source: Store norske lexikon and the species data bank. Assessment in the red list The species is assessed as vulnerable VU for the Norwegian red list of species 2021. The category comes from a small population size and ongoing decline. Previously, it was classified as near threatened. Case of fundamental importance The case in Gjøvik was reported to the police this week. Police Superintendent Kjetil Hansen confirms that they have received the report. Holth says that they only know about the report via the media. – We have not seen the content of the report and have not heard anything from the police, he says. It is now up to the police to investigate the case and assess the question of due diligence. – This is a case of fundamental importance and a type of case that our environmental section must prioritize, said police prosecutor Einar Gauslaa Bergem in the Innlandet police district to Oppland Arbeiderblad, after the first report. The felling at the two places where goshawk nests have been destroyed took place in roughly the same time period, last winter.
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Another goshawk nest destroyed by logging
