Hen Harrier Action fundraising for more satellite tags

The charity Hen Harrier Action has launched a Christmas fundraising appeal to raise money for at least four more satellite tags to be fitted to young hen harriers in spring 2024.

Here are a few words from Hen Harrier Action about this fundraising appeal:

The latest RSPB Birdcrime Report documents the continuing relentless persecution of Hen Harriers and other birds of prey in the UK. As the Report notes, ‘despite being fully protected by law and a UK Red Listed species, they are being persecuted on a relentless scale’.

Between January 2022 and October 2023, 39 Hen Harriers are suspected or proven to have been persecuted across the UK. And the report tells us that this number is likely to rise, as some known incidents cannot be disclosed yet as they form part of on-going investigations.

As a rare protected species with an estimated fewer than 600 breeding pairs in the whole of the UK, this chronic level of persecution, if it continues, will severely hamper the chance of any recovery for this charismatic raptor.

In response, Hen Harrier Action has launched a Christmas Appeal on GoFundMe to raise money to fund the satellite tagging and monitoring of young Hen Harrier chicks next Spring.

We’ve set an ambitious target of raising enough money to fund four satellite tags, likely to cost around £12,000. The tagging and monitoring will be undertaken by the RSPB.

There’s more information here, and the fundraising page for donations is here.