Month: September 2022

Natural England utterly compromised on tackling hen harrier persecution

Hen harrier Asta, a young, satellite-tagged bird being monitored by Natural England, met a brutal and sickening end on a grouse moor in County Durham in March 2021 (see here).

Her wings were ripped off so that her satellite tag and harness could be fitted to a crow, presumably done in an attempt to deceive the authorities that Asta was alive and well, as the satellite tag continued to transmit data as the crow flew around the countryside.

It’s not known if Asta was alive or already dead when her wings were torn off.

The crow was found dead a couple of weeks later in a lowland area of North Yorkshire and a police investigation was launched when it became apparent the tag and harness it was carrying had originally been fitted to Asta, and could only have been removed from her, intact, if her wings had been pulled off.

Thanks to blog reader Alan Gregory (@Barneygregorawg) who has shared these photos of Asta, as he puts it, ‘enjoying her brief life patrolling the Durham moors‘:

The level of depraved brutality involved in this crime is quite shocking, even to those of us who have become hardened to the relentless illegal killing of birds of prey in the UK. It’s virtually impossible not to look at these images of Asta and imagine the horror she faced at the hands of her killer.

The calculated deviousness of whoever committed this crime deserves the full attention of the statutory regulator, Natural England, and widespread publicity about the lengths these criminals will go to hide their ongoing, appalling violence towards this species and other birds of prey.

What we have instead is, 18 months on, Natural England still refusing to draw attention to this crime even though the police investigation has closed. Natural England has been contacted by a number of journalists this week but is refusing to comment about Asta, let alone issue a statement of condemnation, but has quite happily permitted a staff member to appear in a propaganda video put out by the Moorland Association singing the praises of the grouse-shooting industry for its fake tolerance and acceptance of the hen harrier.

And it’s not just this crime that Natural England is shying away from talking about. Since 2018, at least 72 hen harriers have either been illegally killed or have ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances, most of them on or close to driven grouse moors (see here for the list). Many of these birds were tagged and monitored by Natural England. And yet I haven’t seen any statement from Natural England about this appalling figure. Instead, I’ve seen great media prominence given to the number of breeding harriers, the number of chicks fledged, the number of nests brood meddled, and statements from Natural England of ‘great progress‘ being made but no detail provided about how many privately-owned grouse moors have been involved.

Natural England is supposed to be the statutory conservation agency but it is utterly compromised by accepting financial bungs from the shooting industry with a contract clause preventing criticism from Natural England (see here).

It can’t expect to be taken seriously when it continues to avoid talking about the ongoing and illegal killing of this species on driven grouse moors.

‘Chris Packham should not be silenced by hunters’ – new petition launched

Although the BBC has already effectively told the Countryside Alliance where to shove its latest vindictive call for Chris Packham to be gagged or sacked (see here), someone has launched a counter petition to the one being promoted by the Countryside Alliance, just to ram home the message that ‘Chris Packham should not be silenced by hunters’.

If you’d like to sign this petition it can be found HERE

BBC gives short shrift to Countryside Alliance’s latest vindictive attack on Chris Packham

The perennially nasty Countryside Alliance (CA) has received a metaphorical two fingers from the BBC in response to the CA’s latest attack on Chris Packham, calling for him to be gagged or sacked.

Using The Telegraph to promote its ongoing hate campaign, last week we learned how the CA planned to complain to the BBC because on Twitter Chris had publicly applauded the hunt saboteurs whose peaceful protest had stopped a grouse shoot attended by Ian Botham in the Peak District National Park. Here’s the Telegraph‘s headline from 25th August 2022:

The Countryside Alliance was apparently upset that Chris was using his personal Twitter account to air his personal views. Shocking, I know.

Fast forward a week and yesterday The Telegraph published a second article, this time announcing that the CA had launched [another] petition to try and force the BBC to gag Chris or sack him. You’d think the Environment Correspondent at the Telegraph might have more pressing issues to address…

Here’s the second article’s headline:

We’ve been here before, of course.

In 2015 Tim Bonner, Chief Exec of the Countryside Alliance complained to the BBC about Chris Packham describing various ‘countryside’ organisations as “the nasty brigade” and Bonner accused Chris of other alleged breaches of the BBC’s editorial code. This complaint coincided with the beginnings of a concerted campaign by Chris & others against driven grouse shooting. It was pretty obvious to everyone why they wanted Chris silenced.

After long consideration, the BBC Trust dismissed the complaint and published a report that concluded Chris had not breached any BBC guidelines (see here).

The Countryside Alliance’s latest complaint to the BBC has been met with a wonderfully chiding response from a BBC spokesman, not unlike that of a tired adult trying to explain to a small child whose brain hasn’t yet fully developed why they can’t eat ice-cream for every meal:

“As we have said before, impartiality at the BBC is sacrosanct and we have established strong and clear guidelines for social media use.

“And as a piece of context, Chris is not exclusive to the BBC, isn’t a factual journalist and isn’t speaking as a BBC presenter.”

Nice one, BBC.

UPDATE 3rd August 2022:

A counter-petition to the BBC has been set up.

That petition, ‘Chris Packham should NOT be silenced by hunters‘ can be found here.

UPDATE 17th October 2022: Public support for Chris Packham overwhelms Countryside Alliance’s latest vindictive attack (see here)

Prominent falconer on trial for alleged mistreatment of 90 raptors

A prominent falconer and eagle breeder is being prosecuted for the alleged mistreatment of 90 raptors and other bird species at his breeding facility in Elvanfoot, South Lanarkshire.

Andrew Knowles-Brown, 67, and his associate Alan Rothery, 62, have been charged with a number of offences relating to the welfare of birds of prey at the Scottish Eagle Centre between June and December 2019 after an investigation led by the Scottish SPCA.

The alleged offences include keeping the birds in enclosures which were too small, failing to provide the birds with natural light, failing to provide them with adequate water, denying them the ability to exhibit natural behaviours such as flying and bathing, failing to protect the birds from injury, suffering and disease, and mistreating a Tawny owl.

Knowles-Brown and Rothery have denied the charges and a court case is ongoing. There has already been three days of evidence-giving and the case will continue on 20th October 2022 at Lanark Sheriff Court.

Media coverage so far can be found here, here and here.

Knowles-Brown is a prominent figure in the falconry world, having served as the Chair of the Scottish Hawk Board and Vice-Chair of the UK Hawk Board. The Hawk Board, which includes a representative from the Countryside Alliance, represents falconers, hawk-keepers and falconry clubs and provides welfare guidelines for those keeping raptors in captivity. It also engages in political lobbying (e.g. it was against the Scottish Government’s decision to afford the Mountain Hare full legal protection) and Knowles-Brown himself has provided evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs Committee when it was considering its draft Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Bill.

Some members of the Hawk Board have been lobbying for some time to be permitted to take some birds of prey from the wild (e.g. peregrines) and the Hawk Board routinely and persistently denies that peregrines are being stolen from the wild in the UK and being sold to buyers in the Middle East. I suspect an impending court case due next year will blow holes in that position.

As the Knowles-Brown and Rothery court case is live, comments won’t be accepted on this blog until proceedings have concluded. Thanks for your understanding.

UPDATE 14th March 2023: Prominent falconer cleared of welfare allegations relating to ten eagles but faces charges for another 90 eagles (here)

UPDATE 16th June 2023: Second trial underway for falconer charged with welfare offences relating to 90 eagles (here)

UPDATE 15 October 2024: Prominent falconer & eagle breeder Andrew Knowles-Brown guilty of welfare offences relating to approx 90 eagles in Scotland (here)

UPDATE 15 October 2025: Prominent falconer Andrew Knowles-Brown fined almost £14,000 for ‘shocking’ animal cruelty (here)