The RSPB has issued a press release this morning announcing the suspicious disappearance of two more satellite-tagged hen harriers over a two week period in May.
One of them, called ‘Rush’, is the harrier whose suspicious disappearance Lancashire Police mentioned on their Facebook page a couple of weeks ago (here).
The suspicious disappearance of a second harrier, called ‘Wayland’, has not previously been reported.
Here is the RSPB’s press release:
MORE HEN HARRIERS DISAPPEAR IN SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES
*Two satellite tagged birds disappeared over two weeks in May, in Lancashire and North Yorkshire: the latest in a succession of similar incidents.
*The RSPB recently reported that 21 Hen Harriers had been either killed or disappeared in the North of England in the past year.
*Hen Harriers are rare birds on the red list of conservation concern, with illegal killing the key factor limiting their recovery.
Two Hen Harriers have vanished in suspicious circumstances in just two weeks within the Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and nearby North Yorkshire.
The birds were fitted with satellite tags, which are fitted to gather information about this rare and persecuted species.
Rush, an adult male bird, had been spending time in Mallowdale, in the Forest of Bowland, throughout the spring until his tag unexpectedly stopped transmitting on 4 May. The tag’s last fix put him over a grouse moor. Lancashire Police and the National Wildlife Crime Unit carried out a search of the area but found no sign of the bird or its tag.
On 17 May, another tagged bird, Wayland, vanished in the Clapham area of North Yorkshire, just north of the Bowland AONB, where the land is a mix of farmland with gamebird shooting. Its tag had also been functioning normally until that point.
These two birds are in addition to the 21 Hen Harriers that were reported as either killed or missing across Northern England in the last year, including one found dead in the Yorkshire Dales National Park with its head pulled off.
Hen Harriers are rare breeding birds in the UK, known for their acrobatic ‘skydancing’ courtship display which they perform above upland moors in spring. In England there were 34 successful nests in 2022, despite a previous independent government report finding that there is enough habitat and food to support over 300 pairs. Illegal killing continues to be the main factor limiting the recovery of the UK Hen Harrier population.
A scientific study published in the journal Biological Conservation found that survival rates of Hen Harriers were ‘unusually low’, and illegal killing was identified as a major cause. Using data from the largest GPS tracking programme for Hen Harriers globally, the authors discovered that individuals tracked by the project were typically living just 121 days after fledging. The risk of dying as a result of illegal killing increased significantly as Hen Harriers spent more time on areas managed for grouse shooting. Previously, a 2019 Government study concluded that Hen Harriers suffer elevated levels of mortality on grouse moors, most likely as a result of illegal killing.
The RSPB’s Birdcrime report found that, of the 108 confirmed incidents of bird of prey persecution in 2021, 71% were in connection with gamebird shooting and, since 1990, 67% of those convicted of raptor persecution offences were gamekeepers.
Howard Jones, RSPB Senior Investigations Officer, said:
“To have two more Hen Harriers disappear this spring is a huge blow for a struggling species where every nest counts. These latest disappearances are being treated as suspicious by the police. From Wayland’s tag data, it appears that the tag stopped mid-transmission – cutting out abruptly as it was sending data through to us – which strongly suggests human interference.
“We hope the otherwise tragic news of these birds sends a clear message that licensing of driven grouse shooting estates must be implemented to ensure all are operating within the law, and to protect birds like Hen Harriers from persistent persecution. Clearly self-regulation has failed, as evidenced by this spate of disappearances. How many more birds must vanish from the breeding population before action is taken?”
ENDS
Hen harrier ‘Wayland’ is the 9th hen harrier to ‘vanish’ this year and the 95th hen harrier to have been either illegally killed or gone ‘missing’ in suspicious circumstances since Natural England’s insane brood meddling trial began in 2018. I understand there are more, still to be publicised.
I’ll be updating and publishing the running tally of illegally killed / ‘missing’ hen harriers shortly…
Raptor Persecution UK 
Always the same ……Estate owners seem to have free rein to kill any wild or half tame species for cash & their ‘sport’. Landowners never seem to be charged, it’s always their paid staff.
The land owners know all about it and what the gamekeepers are up to. Its funny there is more road kills than what a raptor kills but gamekeepers don’t go around shooting or poisoning cars do they.
I’d like to see the landowners clear up their dead pheasants from the A95, as an example, since you mention roadkill.
Pheasants aren’t native birds, just one of the species like rabbit, brown Hare and Leeks; that we have the Romans to thank for.
Think its time these grouse shoots was stopped ,its probably only the rich that attend these shoots .They have no regard for anything or anyone,time to make them illegal
For ‘missing’ read ‘killed’. We all know that.
Its getting beyond a joke. These poor birds are disappearing almost as soon as they are released it seems.
It must be so glaringly obvious to the authorities what is happening but nothing ever seems to be done about it. I realise that the police do require actual evidence but it always seems to happen in the same places, close to or on grouse moors.
‘Suspicious’ need to be translated into more of what it is. These birds are being killed by those who see them as a danger to their precious profits of bird murdering by shooters on their moors.
Our protection laws are not strong enough by any means and the punishments are nothing but a mere slap on their wrist if that. Not helped by a government having no interest in protection, for species or environment, whatever they may say, and they never will
Mallowdale is a notorious area for Hen Harrier disappearances in the past, this is part of xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx estate. The other estate is the xxxxx estate where a male bird was previously seen to be shot bu the witness was not near enough for a positive ID of the culprit. Time we named and shamed estates where this happens.
[Ed: Thanks, Paul. I don’t doubt your extensive local knowledge and experience at all, but before I can publish these estate names as factual, I’ll need to see tangible evidence. Happy to post if you can provide.]
The bird that disappeared in the Clapham area was not that far away from area near Whernside where the Hen Harriers chicks were reportedly stamped to death last year.
Hopefully the police will deploy some crime pattern analysis to help them focus their investigation in the right direction.
But I am not convinced raptor crime is high enough on the police’s agenda to start to treat raptor persecution as they would burglary or other acquisitive crimes, despite it being a UK wildlife crime priority.
I don’t know how individual police forces make up the personal on their wildlife crime units. But in those areas where raptor crime is an issue, if it isn’t already being done, it might be helpful to either have a dedicated detective on the wildlife unit to coordinate investigations, or have a detective inspector in CID who takes the lead on wildlife crimes, and can direct police wildlife crime officers as to how best to focus their investigations, and disrupt the criminal behaviour.
Hopefully the Raptor Persecution Priority Deliver Group will pick up on these crimes and direct the relevant police forces as to where they need to target their investigations and activity.
My big suspicion is that when it comes to raptor crimes, the police are not being as intrusive as perhaps they could be, and not deploying tactics which actually confront those they suspect of these crimes.
It used to be a tactic to for police to park up in the vicinity of a known burglar or suspected drug dealers home, thus letting the burglar or drug dealer know they were being watched; especially if marked police vehicles were rotated with unmarked vehicles, which then had the effect that any vehicle could be the police, which had the effect of making the suspect very wary, thus disrupting their crime behaviour pattern.
The question is – do police wildlife officers park outside the homes of those they suspect of raptor persecution, or drive onto the moors in the areas where the crimes are occurring, and observe just who is up there and what they are doing? Rural forces could even direct their Special Constables to undertake this activity, as part of their patrol duties.
It is fact that there are very few successful prosecutions for raptor crimes.
It is always going to be very difficult to catch a criminal in the process of committing a wildlife crime. This suggests the police perhaps need to change tactics, and focus more on disrupting those they suspect of committing raptor persecution crimes, in the hope that this reduces the the number of crimes which are occurring.
John L,
The police tactics you suggest are not permissible. The police can’t just rock up onto a privately-owned estate (key words = privately owned) to have a look around on a whim, nor can they park outside gamekeepers’ houses on the estate ‘to let them know they’re being watched’.
Section 19 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act ‘allows a constable who has reasonable cause to suspect that any person is committing/has committed an offence under Part 1 (wildlife) WCA to stop and search them and to enter premises (other than a dwelling) for the purposes of searching for evidence or arresting the suspect’.
Reading the second paragraph I was puzzled by the section ‘.. to enter premises ( other than a dwelling)’ Does this mean a gamekeepers home, usually a tied cottage, is not searched even if they are a suspect? I thought any suspect’s home was always searched.
[Ed: to search a dwelling the police need a warrant, & they’ll only get one of those if there’s strong evidence of criminality]
Thanks, but I am not suggesting the police use their powers of entry under the WCA.
Neither am I suggesting the police enter privately owned estates, where access is clearly not permitted.
This is all about identifying the crime hotspots where raptor persecution is clearly a persistent issue, and then taking positive action to deter those crimes occurring, and disrupt those responsible for the crimes.
Most of the grouse moors where the Hen Harriers go missing is land covered by CROW legislation. Such land is deemed a public place as the public have access, and therefore is accessible to the police.
Whilst CROW legislation doesn’t permit a member of the public to drive a motor vehicle onto this land, I understand that the police are deemed to be a “special class” of the public, who along with other “special classes” of the public, such as postmen etc are usually deemed to have the owners consent whether implied or expressly to enter a private road.
The question then is whether the police could drive onto the private roads and shooting tracks which run over the moors, if their presence was deter crime, and identify offenders?
Bearing in mind all the game shooting umbrella organizations have expressed zero tolerance for raptor persecution, then it could raise awkward questions for a landowner to deny the police access to an area of land which through crime pattern analysis has been identified as subject to repeated criminal activity.
The police might even consider contacting a landowner to enquire whether they would have permission to drive on the roads running over that land, in order to try and identify who was entering the land and committing the wildlife crimes.
The police could even suggest that they were accompanied by one of the estate gamekeepers. This could put those estates where the crimes are occurring onto the back foot.
How would they respond to such a request from the police? To deny permission could raise suspicion that the estate was complicit in the crimes which were incurring.
It must be remembered this tactic is about deterring crimes, not solving them once they have occurred.
Even if the police were denied permission to enter the land by way of a motor vehicle, then there would be nothing to prevent them from entering the land on foot (cycle or horse in Scotland). Ebikes would be permitted on public bridleways in England/Wales, and could be ridden on any of the shooting tracks in Scotland. This could give easier access to the more remote areas.
Parking a police vehicle at access points to a moor, might well also have a deterrent effect, especially if the perpetrators of the wildlife crimes then believed the police might be present on the moor, and their activities might be observed.
I also purposely didn’t use the word gamekeeper, as the police’s presence would be to deter criminal activity, and identify suspects- not target a particular class of people.
A solution needs to be found to the current state of affairs where Hen Harriers are clearly subjected to high volumes of illegal persecution.
NE’s method of brood management program isn’t working, as it is evidently clear that the tagged birds are either going missing or being killed when they return to their natural habitat.
The law should never be a barrier to identifying criminals and bringing them to justice, or to preventing the police from engaging in activity to prevent crimes happening in the first place.
I would suggest there needs to be some “out of the box” thinking as to how we end the current intolerable situation of Hen Harrier persecution (including other raptors for that matter), as at the moment there appears to be very little crime prevention work being undertaken. How do we change this?
This is only a suggestion, but hopefully it will set minds working to try and find a workable solution to a problem which is clearly not going away, and appears to be getting worse.
Whilst grouse moor licensing might appear to be one remedy, there will still be a requirement to provide evidence that raptor crimes are occurring for an estate to loose its license, and the licensing scheme might be more effective if it was also linked in with robust police crime deterrence tactics.
“How would they respond to such a request from the police? To deny permission could raise suspicion that the estate was complicit in the crimes which were incurring.”
They would likely refuse. And they are not afraid of either the Police nor of any suspicions of being complicit: they are already held in suspicion by everyone else, anyway.
The local P&CC is sponsored by a political party, which may well be funded by the very same estate owner. Careers and jobs will be at stake.
In xxxxx they select people who either know nothing about the law surrounding what goes on in the countryside and what is legal (it took three years for me to persuade the local plods to stop a local farmer from trashing hedgerows in the bird breeding season) or those whose sympathies lie with the criminals, e.g. two members of their team of recent years were members of local fox hunts – one of which is the notorious xxxxx xxxxx – thrown out of their own “regulatory body” (bad joke!) for criminal behaviour.
No longer suspicious……not for years!
There Is absolutely no suspicious circumstances at all, it is blatantly obvious what has happened, even a blind person could see the truth behind these killings.
Not knocking a blind person, but stating the obvious, 2+2 will always make 4, birds vanishing, and grouse shooting estates go hand in hand.
Time to stop killing game birds for fun, it’s barbaric, and serves absolutely no purpose in modern day Britain.
The rich estate owners will need to find another way to stay rich, like work for example, or be held accountable for birds of prey being killed on or near their land, this would force them to take an interest in the protection of the birds on the red list instead of them having only their income in mind, and how much profits they can save from killing birds of prey.
It is so upsetting to hear about the persecution that hen harriers are receiving 😪 The landowners of these estates need to be prosecuted and held responsible, along with the gamekeepers,as they definitely know exactly what is going on ! I really despair as to how wildlife is treated , at a time when numbers are tumbling……it is a scary view of mankind’s effect on our planet!!
Are these birds actually missing, or has the satellite monitor stopped working. It is always easier to blame the shooters znd Gamd Keepers but do we know for a fact that they are to blame. Yes there have been instances in the past where these groups have been responsible for killing raptors but unless we know for certain that this is the case it would be irresponsible to blame them when many other reasons might be the case.
I suggest that you educate yourself regarding how these tags work, and how they indicate any malfunction.
Furthermore, ask yourself why almost all final transmissions are located on or near to keepered moors.
Perhaps you would care to enlighten me as you seem to know and while you are at it perhaps you could explain why the people you suspect would do this when they are so proud of the number of chicks that hatch and fledge on Grouse Moors compared to any RSPB controlled areas. Also you might give some thought as to why there are more Harriers in attendance on keepered moors. Maybe because there is more food as a result of the efforts of the keepers. Should this be the case then support, education, encouragement and even some assistance may prove much more beneficial than the constant picking that seems to be the only thing I ever read about on this site. Perhaps something to think about if you really want to help to improve the numbers of this magnificent raptor.
“support, education, encouragement and even some assistance” has been the main way of trying to change approaches on grouse moors ever since the first laws protecting raptors came in. But it doesn’t work! Whereas “constant picking” or in other words people merely publicising persecution incidents and the highly suspicious losses of tagged harriers, has done more in recent years to force the issue into public discussion than was ever achieved by the “placating approach” in 70 odd years!
Certainly.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-09044-w
Click to access grouse_moor_evidence_review_final.pdf
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ibi.12356
Click to access bop-in-niddaonb-evidence-report-final-sept-2019.pdf
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2405296?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1365-2664.1999.00419.x
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S000632070300363X
https://www.nature.scot/snh-commissioned-report-982-analyses-fates-satellite-tracked-golden-eagles-scotland
It may have escaped your attention that while shooting organisations are claiming credit for Hen Harriers which actually fledged from monitored “show” nests, many of them are now dead, or have disappeared in the same suspicious circumstances.
Also, conservation bodies have bent over backwards for decades, to compromise with the practitioners of what is now known to be an environmentally damaging, crime-dependent activity. Their reward for this softly sofly approach has resulted in continued criminality, backed with lies, threats, abuse, and bad faith arguments from the DGS side.
Now, I suggest that you provide peer-reviewed evidence to support your claims.
Thank you for the attached information it makes for good reading. As for your request for me to provide peer reviewed proof of my claims I would be pleased to do so once you let me know what “claims” I have made. I respectfully suggest you read my reply again to discover what I actually said, which in reallity was only that you and your hateful anti Grouse Moor friends should give more support to those that are really trying to make things better rather than maintain your constant barrage of insults and innuendos. These people are actually doing something positive to aid ground nesting birds, to include Harriers, they should be congratulated for their efforts not treated like criminals. Help and assistance is what is required, or does that not fit with your ideology. There is far too much criticism and zero support. I fully appreciate that this site is dedicated toward the highlighting of any and all Raptor persecutions and long may that continue, but you should accept that any such criminal activity is only caused by a very small minority of people that are involved in Grouse Moor management. The vast majority of GM Managers are law abiding carers of the countryside and it is very wrong for them to be treated so badly. If you really want to support ground nesting birds on Grouse Moors you would be well advisdd to support the strategic burning of heather which would have prevented the catastrophic wildfire currently killing thousands of ground nesting birds, including Raptors, now ravaging Scotland.
Hi Tony, your heart is on the side of “land managed for shooting is a good thing” and I respect that, though I personally abandoned it as ultimately there is (in my own experience) just too much needless and often cruel death inherent in that world for me stomach as a mature fairly humane adult. Your discussion with Coop is a replay of thousands in the same vein before it, between possibly thousands of people, and has again come to the inevitable “it’s only the odd bad apple” defence on the chessboard of the debate. You just said to Coop, “…you should accept that any such criminal activity is only caused by a very small minority of people that are involved in Grouse Moor management. The vast majority of GM Managers are law abiding carers of the countryside…”
But this defence (surely a claim in & of itself?) needs an evidence base of some sort to counter the increasingly rock-solid evidence base that says “lots of keepers are doing it, in lots of places, lots of the time”. I can’t personally come up with anything that supports the “it’s only the odd bad apple” defence, and I flatter myself that I can play a respectable game as white or black on this chessboard. What am I missing?
Hi spaghnum morose, you are right in that my leanings are toward land management, but I do try to keep an open mind on all aspects of the many issues that constantly affect this complex subject. I truly have no love of those that are guilty of killing Raptors, regardless of who they are or which community they are from. Not only are they criminals but by their very actions they automatically bring disrepute upon the real caretakers of both flora and fauna that our UK moors are famous for. Yes I support Grouse shooting even though I never have and never will be able to partake in this activity, but it does not stop me from trying to defend the livelyhood of those that do. Red Grouse are a magnificent wild bred bird not necessarily favoured for their culinary capability but probably more loved for their flying abilities and praised as a quarry species above all others. I do not support shooting as a means to killing but as a sport that has been enfused with etiquette and a high degree of efficacy and I respect the feelings that those opposed to my point of view may have. In return I also expect the same courtesy, so when I read with some concern that valued birdlife has been killed for no reason other than they may have been wrongly classed as competition, I feel ashamed that these criminals may be members of, or associated with, the shooting community. My concerns are then doubled when I read comments by so called bird lovers, who have never accomplished anything toward the protection and wealfare of the species, proclaiming that all Grouse Moor Managers are to blame without having any evidence that any of them were or are involved. Don’t get me wrong, if evidence is discovered and there have been instances in the past, that these people are responsible, I would be first in line to call for the harshest punishment available. But equally I cannot stand idly by and read such hate and venom toward the shooting community without calling for fair judgement.
Tony, I’m afraid you (or anybody in your position) need to do more than sing from the heart to either (a) refute the strong evidence base that shows raptor persecution is an endemic & interwoven feature of intensive game management or (b) show your meaningful actions to purge the shooting world of this wrongdoing. If you do neither you are inadvertently playing into the stereotype of “wilful blindness” to the wrongdoing, and assisting it by attempting to dismiss fair and justifiable criticism / scrutiny.
Notwithstanding his flowery waffle (which looks as if it was cribbed from an edwardian book on the subject), note the “terminological inexactitudes” in Mr Johnstone’s statement…
He has, of course, no idea as to whether anyone here are involved, or have been, in “the protection and wealfare (sic) of the species”.
And…
He also claims that we are “proclaiming that all Grouse Moor Managers are to blame”. This is simply demonstrably untrue. No such claim has been made; either by myself, or other commenters who have challenged him.
Not content, of course, with making these distortions, he once again plays the victim; making unfounded claims of “hate and venom”. Perhaps he should look at the abuse that has been directed at the admin of this site and her associates, by his pals in the “sport that has been enfused with etiquette” DGS.
[Ed: comment deleted. Enough]
You can ignore the facts and play the victim all you like. You’re fooling no-one.
“the number of chicks that hatch and fledge on Grouse Moors compared to any RSPB controlled areas. Also you might give some thought as to why there are more Harriers in attendance on keepered moors.”
Less prevarication and shoddy attempts at deflection. Peer-reviewed evidence, if you please.
Why do you feel the need to get personal and antagonistic when someone has an opposite viewpoint. You need to tone down your hatred and look at the facts. I do not intend to stoop so low as to bombard you with peer reviewed literary accounts to support my point of view but if you really need to have this information spoon fed to you, you might do well to open your eyes to the many articles written by the Game Conservancy that are science based rather than those that are emotionally based.
Aside from his apparent unawareness that several of the authors behind the “emotionally-based” evidence that he’s been shown are, or have been, associated with “the Game Conservancy “, Mr Johnstone previously stated…
“As for your request for me to provide peer reviewed proof of my claims I would be pleased to do so once you let me know what “claims” I have made.”
However, when his claims are quoted to him, and he’s challenged to provided that evidence, he responds with the following…
“I do not intend to stoop so low as to bombard you with peer reviewed literary accounts to support my point of view”.
Priceless.
What a condescending and hateful person you are. Not getting your own way by preaching your rhetoric to all the nodding donkeys really makes you angry doesn’t it. [Ed: rest of comment deleted. I’ll tolerate trolling for so long but it’s now got boring]
Futhermore:
The facts regarding your “strategic burning of heather”…
https://www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article/3597/grouse_moor_burning_causes_widespread_environmental_changes
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.13708
Although it’s proved ridiculously easy to debunk your empty rhetoric (as it always does when it comes to apologists for DGS and its related criminality), have some more from the mountain of evidence…
Click to access ewing-et-al-2023-illegal-killing-hh-grouse-moors-biol-consv.pdf
Give up, you have lost the debate as you always knew you would when trying to defend the indefensible.
I have tried to be kind but you are beyond saving so I shall just bid you farewell.
A “debate” with supporting evidence provided by one side only!
Cheerio…
I’m afraid your self-declared ‘victory’ in this debate is no such thing. As to ‘defending the indefensible’, I’d suggest that what is indefensible is the continuing persecution of birds of prey on grouse moors. There is substantial evidence from the satellite tracking programme that this is still occurring widely across grouse shooting land. This has been analysed and published by professional scientists in peer-reviewed journals and cannot simply be dismissed as ’emotionally based’.
Fledging birds through the brood management/meddling scheme gives grouse moor managers something to boast about but actually does nothing for the well being of hen harrier populations if the birds are then prevented from entering the adult breeding population by getting bumped off in the ensuing months. Sadly the evidence shows that this is exactly what is happening on.
There is more peregrine falcon in UK than the whole of Europe thousands of racing pigeons killed every year stop crying for raptors
The statement about there being “more peregrine falcon in UK than the whole of Europe” is simply incorrect. Where did that one come from? And I for one won’t stop “crying for raptors” until the persecution stops.
1. Don’t think you can get away with making things up on here.
2. If you’re so concerned about the safety of your pigeons, don’t drive them several hundred miles from home before chucking them out to fend for themselves.
Is it not true that 60 %of hen harrier die in thete forst year your hate for the country side and those that live and work in it shows it self on every thing you write yet you dono conservation work other than your finger pointing perhaps if the rspb reserves were well managed instead and not subject to the wild fires that muirburn prevents may be hen harriers would nest there
Remember, every time you and your pals comment here, pretending to represent rural communities, all you do is create a false impression of genuine country people. The reader could be forgiven for thinking that “the countryside” (an artificial construct) is full of nothing more than semi-literate wildlife abusing degenerates.
Therefore, any sympathy that they may have for the REAL concerns of rural dwellers will simplsimply evaporate.
THINK ON!
What an awful thing to say.
Boo Hoo!
Speaking as somebody who has lived in a wilderness area where hunting large and small game was a matter of subsistence, I find these “management” arguments to carry little weight. I’ve never shot at anything I didn’t intend to feed myself or my community, never taken a shot if I thought the result would be less than clean. To achieve that I had to learn actual woodcraft, had to learn to live with the land rather than just on it.
All the”management” does is twist the local ecosystem out of all recognition so that artificially high numbers of birds can live there briefly, before being driven at shooting parties. That’s no kind of hunting I recognise. Maybe if these lines of human artillery had to learn actual hunting skills to find their birds they’d have a finer appreciation and a greater respect for both the game and the environment they live in.
Driven shooting needs to go the same way as fox hunting.
These estate owners know that even if a case gets to court, the penalties are so deliberately laughable that effectively there is near zero consequences for the criminal behaviour of the their staff
I don’t know why we keep saying disappeared in suspicious circumstances. There’s nothing suspicious about it, we all know what’s happened it’s the same thing that’s happened to all of the others that have disappeared. They’ve been killed by keepers on Grouse Moors so people who pay a small fortune can kill Grouse!
If they can’t put someone on these private estates to investigate can they not use drones and fly them over the estates and film, surely a better way of gaining evidence!
Well, well, well. I would say what an unexpected surprise but I would be lying.
What will the outcome of the (highly likely), persecution in terms of a prosecution be…….. HEE HAW do I hear you say!