There was a short piece on BBC Landward last Friday (12 June) about hen harriers nesting in a military training area in Garelochhead, Argyll.
Overlooking the controversial Faslane submarine base, this is one of the most heavily protected areas in the country.
Thanks to the hard work and expertise of Sgt. John Simpson (MOD Police) who monitors the wildlife at this site, hen harriers have been doing well here for a number of years.
Watch the video clip on BBCiPlayer here (starts at 05.38) – available for another 28 days.
Hen harrier photo by Laurie Campbell
Raptor Persecution UK 
Great news piece – they are sat tagging too. I wonder if they will join forces with Natural England, RSPB and others to combine all the sat tagging data into a comprehensive analysis to help us understand more about post fledging behaviour, dispersal and survival?
“Thanks to the hard work and expertise of Sgt. John Simpson (MOD Police) ” Thank you John, but -and don’t take this the wrong way- may you and your mates sod off soon. I’d trade every harrier in Scotland to be shot of the Faslane Naval Base, and I’d still call it a bargain.
Would like to second that..including the thanks to John!!
Nonsense and irrelevant
Perhaps irrelevant to the topic, but certainly not nonsense.
The mere fact that we have these WMDs, along with a succession of foreign policy disasters, makes us a target.
Commandos training around hen harriers that would “Put it up them (gamekeepers)”.
Wouldn’t it be great?
The gamekeepers would really need those brown moleskin trousers!
Commandos have been used to protect ospreys from egg thieves in the past – to great effect – would be nice if they could be used to protect harriers from those unknown persons who are killing them??
I could be wrong (rubbish memory at times!), but I seem to remember John telling a story about a Hen Harrier nest being watched over by commandos, and the nest was approached by someone, and that person did get the fright of their lives.
Of course, it would be a wonderful if armed forces personnel were to be used in this way, offering good training, and as you suggest, it would provide some valuable evidence.
However, can anyone see our pro-shooting, pro-wildlife persecution, right-wing government sanctioning such measures? Unless we can assure them that Hen Harriers follow Islam, then I can’t really see it happening!
Can’t we get Sgt. John Simpson down to the Forest of Bowland, along with a bunch of crackshot snippers!
That would be brill.