In April this year, a blog reader (who wishes to remain anonymous) was watching a pair of hen harriers showing great interest in a moorland hillside in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The harriers’ behaviour, as well as the time of year, was indicative that this pair was nest prospecting. Our harrier-watcher also noted that someone else was watching the hillside from inside a white pick-up truck.
The blog reader returned to the moorland a few days ago to check on the status of the harriers and found that ‘somebody’ has installed a mannequin on the same hillside:
It’s not even subtle.
Stand by for claims from the grouse shooting industry that this is a welcoming committee, rather than yet another tactic for deliberately disturbing hen harriers and preventing them from breeding, in a so-called National Park.
Meanwhile, Natural England has extended the insane hen harrier brood meddling trial while it pretends it doesn’t have sufficient evidence to ‘test attitudes’ towards hen harriers amongst members of the grouse shooting industry that aren’t yet participating in the trial (i.e. most of them).
Apparently, the 94 illegally killed / ‘missing’ hen harriers since the trial began don’t count.
UPDATE 31st May 2023: 8 more mannequins & a gas gun on another grouse moor in Yorkshire Dales National Park (here)
UPDATE 19th June 2013: Another mannequin (hen harrier scarer), this time on a grouse moor in Peak District National Park (here)
UPDATE 19th June 2013: More gas guns positioned on another grouse moor in Yorkshire Dales National Park (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 
I saw the GWCT’s newsletter this morning promoting misleading statistics about what is happening with English Hen Harriers and the brood meddling scheme: bigging up the “boost” in numbers whilst hiding the stats about those gone missing.
You got a link to that please Simon, I’ve not seen it.
The cheery little elves who remove equipment for killing badgers seem to be needed on this moor.
It’s a fact that hen harriers do better on managed moors .its something you lot cant and wont admit too.just like the RSPB wont admit too vermin control and deer culling on some of there reserves. Double standard lieing dick heads
Are you really so dozy as to think you can con the people here with such unmitigated nincompoopery?
It’s blindingly obvious the you can’t differentiate your Gluteus maximus and your humerous.
Sorry Coop, you’ve lost me (and most of the other followers of this story).
Absolutely outrageous!
Why are you bothering with brood meddling into this area when you know they are going to be murdered by the grouse shooting industry? I’d have thought 94 dead and missing birds is quite enough. How heartbreaking for the people who raised these only for them to be killed. Enough is enough !
yes enough is enough pass a law to ban grouse moore shooting cose we all know and the authorities all know and everybody else knows its the grouse moor shooters that are killing hen harriers ..im sick of there lies get then all off our moors for good hand them over to be managed by the wildlife trusts and rspb thats the answer then hen harriers will flourish
These people who raised these hen harriers how did they teach the hen harriers to hunt and catch their own food? Please
Trouble is you believe every thing the RSPB tell you.most gatekeepers I know are for ALL types of Raptors. Stop believing the bull shit figures that the rspb spew out.managed grouse moors are wild life heavens.if it wasn’t for keepers the grouse would be long gone and the know it
And the uneducated comment of the year so far award goes to Mr Stephen curry.
“Trouble is”, people like you don’t even know which bodies produce the figures. You just whine “rspb” as a cover all for your own stunning ignorance.
Sorry to disagree Mr Curry, the grouse and pheasants would still be out there but not in the numbers that they are bred to keep the Whoray Henry brigade of shooters entertained.
What’s natural about “Natural England” its entirely unnatural to support the persecution of raptors, even when its done covertly. Natural England is a completely sham organisation.
Yep its a big worry.
Would the National Park management like to comment on whether this is appropriate in such a location?
Anyone with a laptop can access the efforts being made by countries wishing to prevent the extinctions of their wildlife species along with those of plants. Australia is on the cusp of losing almost 2000 species of terrestrial and marine animal species, and many areas of botanical interest. That country has produced a generation that is focused on conservation, but still has, as we have in the UK, a “mob” that wants to retain an inane and regressive way of using the natural environment for “countryside sports”, and for industrial expansion without considering the environmental pollution and destruction. In our present instance of the mannequin on a grouse moor, supposedly emplaced to deter a pair of site-for-nesting Hen Harriers, we have the risible together with a statement that any ploy, whether fatal for such birds or a deterrent,t will be employed. Natural England is obviously a stooge in such matters of facing the facts about the legal conservation of endangered species in England, and being open to the influence of a powerful behind-the-scenes class of blood sports cadres. There is a uniformity of such determined regressive groups world-wide, and it is on such a front they must be challenged, and that may have to call on military intervention, as in some South American states and in Africa. While here in the UK, it is obvious we require a special force to protection of wildlife species, and the environment, with ultra-judicial powers to remove those who sneer at the rule of law in our countryside, and replace some of the muffins who pass weak sentences in our courts. That may sound like “wild” talk, but the days are looming when climate change and extreme loss of biodiversity will arrive with a vengeance with famine, drought, disease and extreme temperatures, to be four Horsemen of the Apocalypse of humanity. By the looks of things, WAR may intercede and remove our species from tenancy of the Earth. Those birds looking for a nest site and the mannequin add a surrealism to this matter. God bless those with the courage, ethics and determination who devote their lives to bringing compassion into this world, to protect Life.
I wonder how these xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx would like it, if we started removing grouse young, and eggs. That would make them think, if they had no birds to shoot..
I agree,for two years ban grouse breeding on the moors.Then maybe there might be respect…Both ways..If it’s a National park then they must abide by the rules…..
Grouse breed naturally on the moors where they live no intervention by man ie no incubators for eggs to hatch and be released like other game birds.
Many estates if they have a cold wet spring and red grouse chicks dont thrive shooting is curtailed to allow the numbers to increase to breed next year,is that not conservation?
Any keeper would of spotted and removed the manaquin hence why isnt it weathered?
Hi Sean, I accept you were clarifying that grouse are not ‘bred’ by man on the moors and of course, yes – they are not farmed like poultry (the way pheasants & red-legs are). But this in no way equates to “no intervention by man”. The whole point of moorland management is to intervene very radically and quite brutally with what would occur naturally to the short and medium term grouse population – whether that be regards vegetation, ecology, or diseases & parasites. Owners & Agents don’t employ something in the region of 1 to 1.5 keepers per 2,500acres of decent grouse moor (my own figures, N England) to NOT intervene and just stand idly by.
They are there to control every factor that is humanly possible that could improve grouse breeding success by any margin worth the effort (and often the risk) and to permit big bags to be shot year in year out i.e. to enable thousands of pairs of Mr & Mrs L. L. Scoticus to have fantastic, carefree & idyllic family lives and rear big families without any real worries except the weather…until the convoys of 4×4’s start appearing in August.
And what would harriers live on then?
On their main prey – meadow pipits and voles. Hen Harriers are not dependent on grouse, but ridiculously high “surplus” grouse numbers are dependent on not having any breeding Hen Harriers in the vicinity…or come to think of it, on also not having any breeding Peregrine’s, breeding Foxes, breeding Badgers, breeding Goshawks, breeding Sparrowhawks, breeding Stoats, breeding Crows, breeding Polecats, breeding Red Kites, breeding SEO’s, breeding Buzzards, breeding Eagles, breeding Ravens, etc, etc either…
Name the estate! Most grouse moors in the YDNP are SSSIs and this is probably illegal. If I still lived in the Dales I would remove this. Scandalous and outrageous but my guess is nobody will be held accountable for this contemptible act.
Would of thought placing a mannequin there is flytipping, therefore illegal.
I’ve had a look at the list of Operations Requiring NEs Consent (ORNEC) for three of the moorland SSSIs in the Dales, and this doesn’t appear to be covered… In fact, I was shocked how few operations actually required NEs consent. There were only about 13 ORNECS for the Dales SSSIs, whilst those in Bowland, South Pennines and West Pennines typically have double that number and, crucially, one that seems to fit the bill for this situation: “Recreational or other activities likely to damage the flora and fauna”.
Why not name and shame the estate rather than just saying in the Yorkshire dales
Good idea,Then withdraw their licence for 2 years and fine them..
When money is involved, ie, guns out, then you can be sure of varying levels of corruption……..even from Govt. departments or quangos.
Surely this is deliberate disturbance of nesting….ie a crime. Habve the police been informed.? They should get some nice prints of the plastic…..
Whilst two sides over protect their interests,a balance of thought should prevail.
Grouse are only part of a managed equation.
In comparison to RSPB managed protected reserves,keepered Estates finance the Best for all species by managing their ground in a better manner that produces an environment that all waders, songbirds etc flourish.
Why is sensible management a dirty word.
So many idly sit on the sidelines and comment,whilst other dig deep in their pockets to try and counter balance the increased vermin problems facing our wildlife.
The point is,if grouse benefit so does all else also.
Let’s be rational and see the true picture…..management is a core requirement…..let’s all work together to achieve the Best for All without so much antagonism.
If grouse are protected by killing all raptors it is not a case of “if grouse benefits so does everything else.”
We have also all seen the crows, pine martens, fox and even owls taken down in our moors for this sport.
Clearly wrong and one word gives away the lie ” vermin” there is no such thing just wildlife you don’t like. Having spent half a lifetime birding on moors I know what I say is true and you are clueless.
Hi Rob, I think what you are alluding to is what I gave up believing or trying to believe in about 15yrs ago. I agree with you that there is a model of management that represents a “sweet spot” or balance of interests, and that killing foxes and crows requires money and manpower. The problem is that the trend in moor management has been (since the nineties) to intensify activities that benefit grouse only, and to push and push to constantly increase bag averages to inflate the value and status of the moor, and often the ego of the owner too. Taken as a whole (and there are still exceptions to be found I grant you), concern for general ecology is very low on most grouse moors as it is all about the grouse, and most Estates are doing serious long term damage in their pursuit of records. If they would all dial it (on the scale of intensity of management) down from 11 to about 4 then I would support what you said, but as things stand (and the industry won’t budge, they are having too much fun & making too much money) everyone who genuinely cares for our uplands and moors should rightly be calling out every single shitty deed they find, as in this case.
More hate towords country eastate do you not think that the missing hen harriers doed of there own accord as 50 percent are known to die in the first year instead of attacking why not do some consevation work your selves
In English, please. And why not try throwing a few of these in. , . ; :
Whereas about 75% seem to expire on and around Grouse Moors. Would you suggest this is an ‘Elephants’ Graveyard’ effect?
I already do conservation work for a county Wildlife Trust, thanks. One place is a Chalk Down reserve, where winged pheasants from a nearby shoot expire, bringing their burden of lead shot.
No, if they died of natural courses then the tags would continue to function and the corpses found or at least the tags. The fact that both birds and tags disappear would suggest your claim is nonsense. As to your conservation work claim that is just nonsense too.
Does the YDNP authorities have any jurisdiction over anything at all that happens on the grouse moors? Paul Irving might know!
Simply no and they have little stomach IMO for a fight against this sort of thing, which is of course illegal if the harrier pair were prospecting a nest site as it is an attempt to stop a breeding attempt.
Most of the dummies I have seen on the moors have been wearing tweeds and flat caps….
Seriously though, if this is an attempt to disturb breeding hen harriers, then why doesn’t someone just remove the mannequin. Apart from anything else, it is an eyesore.
Hmmm, that looks far too clean and un-weathered to have been on a moor for any length of time
It’s a Bird Scarer.
It must be removed.
Upland birds a nesting now!