2023 has been the worst year for the illegal killing of hen harriers on grouse moors since the ludicrous DEFRA / Natural England hen harrier brood meddling trial was given the green light in 2018.
By September this year, the number of confirmed ‘missing’/dead hen harriers in 2023 stood at 21 birds. However, the RSPB’s annual Birdcrime Report, which was published a couple of weeks ago (here), included previously withheld information about three more satellite-tagged hen harriers that have gone this year:
- Hen harrier Saranyu, a female tagged by the RSPB in Cumbria in June 2023, who ‘disappeared’ in Durham in September 2023 (no further details available yet).
- Hen harrier Inger, a female tagged by the RSPB in Perthshire in July 2022, who ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Angus Glens in September 2023 (here).
- Hen harrier Dagda, a male tagged by the RSPB in Lancashire in June 2022 and who was breeding on the RSPB’s Geltsdale Reserve in 2023 until he ‘vanished’, only to be found dead on the neighbouring Knarsdale grouse moor in May 2023 – a post mortem revealed he had been shot (here).
So that takes this year’s total (so far) to 24 ‘missing’/dead hen harriers and this number is expected to rise as I understand there are other incidents that haven’t yet been publicised. This is the highest number of (known) persecuted hen harriers in six years and includes nine of Natural England’s brood meddled harriers:
Do these disgraceful figures indicate to you that Natural England’s brood meddling scheme is working? (Remember, one of the objectives of this ‘trial’ is to test whether grouse moor managers would stop illegally killing hen harriers if nestlings were removed from grouse moors, under licence, reared in captivity and released elsewhere).
If you listen to the spin of the grouse shooting industry, the brood meddling trial is being declared a pure and unmitigated triumph for hen harriers. The Moorland Association (Natural England’s main ‘partner’ in the trial which brings with it a level of perceived credibility to those who don’t know any better) issued a press release in mid- November to announce that the (short term) survival rate of brood meddled hen harriers was greater than the (short term) survival rate of un-meddled harriers, but conveniently forgot to mention the persecution figures and that 56% of all the brood meddled chicks had since ‘disappeared’ / been illegally killed (see here). The Moorland Association’s horseshit propaganda was recently regurgitated in the national press, including the Daily Mail (obvs) and as far as I can see, Natural England did nothing to challenge the narrative.
The chairman of the Moorland Association even told BBC Radio 4 in August this year that, “Clearly, any illegal [hen harrier] persecution is not happening” (here) when clearly, it so obviously is.
Then in late November, Dr Alistair Leake, GWCT’s Director of Policy wrote a letter to the Guardian (and a copy was posted on GWCT’s website) stating that the hen harrier brood management [meddling] scheme “is surely a shining example of human / wildlife conflict resolution that would be the envy of other countries trying to find similar solutions“.
It is quite obvious to anyone with functioning eyesight that not only has the illegal killing of hen harriers continued since the brood meddling trial began, but that the extent of the (known) killing has got worse.
The hen harrier killers are now so brazen and out of control that they don’t even care if they take out brood meddled harriers – birds that they initially mostly left alone in the early years of the trial.
They can afford to be so audacious about their crimes because they know that (a) they’re NEVER caught, (b) never prosecuted, (c) never convicted, (d) the grouse shooting industry’s representative bodies will shamelessly deny the criminality even exists and (e) the industry will still get a brood meddling licence from Natural England to keep the harriers off their grouse moors, even in Special Protection Areas specifically designated to protect hen harriers, because Natural England doesn’t have the balls to call them out and won’t pull the plug on the trial because it doesn’t want to lose face and admit it’s been taken for a mug for all these years.
It’ll be interesting to see Natural England’s next update on the fates of its tagged hen harriers (last update was September 2023 – next one will be due in the new year) to see what this year’s final tally of hen harrier killing has been and whether that figure, the highest in the six years since brood meddling began, will influence Natural England’s decision to continue with its brood meddling licence in 2024.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Spin from GWCT!? What a shock!
I get sent emails of their biased press releases I guess as they want me to share it on the Podcast. I did oblige once, but pointed out the fact they were blaming Pine Martens for Capercaillie decline, when research they were involved in showed disturbance was the issue and how it was weird they instead blamed Pine Martens, which just so happen to be regarded as a pest by local Pheasant and Partridge shoots ..
We are going to have a General Election next year. Has anyone from the Labour party uttered a word on the subject of illegal persecution of raptors? Nothing will change without politicians getting involved.
Olivia Blake, MP for Sheffield Hallam has become interested in this issue. I seem to remember she spoke about raptor persecution in one of the petition committee debates. I think she is Hen Harrier Species Champion.
No doubt Tony the Tory Juniper will be proud of this
“No doubt Tony the Tory Juniper…”
Errrr…. interested why you should try to pretend that Tony Juniper was not an ex-Green Party Parliamentary candidate?
This is again a blatent line of horse shite being spewed out by the killing industry, and its cohorts natural England.
Defra, (death to all free roaming animals) in the meantime are sitting quiet, and saying nothing, expected I suppose due to xxxxx on the board of directors.
This so called government body, supposedly there to protect the environment, and rural affairs, including the crimes against wildlife .
We need a big shake up in government, especially within the wildlife and rural affairs.
There is no excuse for meddling with broods, and absolutely no reason to even touch or get near these amazing birds, but to give these killers a free reign to meddle is like giving them a gun and telling them to get rid of the birds.
There is no reason to even get near these amazing birds, the killers should be ordered to stay away from the birds, not give them the green light to dispatch them.
The shooting industry have proved time and time again that they can not be trusted to uphold the law, and they have proved that they are more than happy to kill birds illegally in the pursuit of protecting game birds, and protecting the income of the shooting industry, and they have been responsible for multiple shootings and poisonings, and snares responsible for killing birds of prey, and so far there has been no justice issued on the behalf of the birds of prey that have been killed.
We need the criminal justice system to step up, and start to issue sentences which match the level of crimes, not the silly slap on the wrist that currently get issued.
The most recent case of a person responsible for using his dogs to attack foxes, and badgers, and actively causing harm, and injuries to both the badgers foxes, and his own dogs, he had a slap on the wrist, and told don’t do it again naughty boy and sent on his way, his dogs have been rescued from him, and given some vet help, he was given a few hours of unpaid work, big deal, the poor animals he has caused harm to are probably just a tip of the iceberg, what about xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx, with sick individuals like him, and those who sit and watch that stuff are just as sick.
The justice system needs to be overhauled, especially these cases with evidence to prove the crimes took place, and just send them on their way back out into public, should have had a minimum sentence of 5 years, and a very hefty fine, and the people he is a gamekeeper for should also be punished, like a removed of licence to shoot for a season, and then be put on a red list to be watched very carefully, and any further crimes committed on or near the Moor should be taken into consideration for prosecutions ongoing.
I feel the gamekeepers often get left to take the fall, as long as the estate get away with it, that needs to stop, and the estates are just as culpable as the gamekeeper in these crimes, with these crimes against wildlife the estates will be fully aware of what has happened, and in some cases encourage this action from the game keepers.
The new bill needs to be passed, and new laws passed to take down the entire chain of command, we need a robust system to stop these crimes from happening, and discourage it from happening ever again.
The new bill should help reduce these crimes, and hopefully stamp it out once and for all.
It has been clear from day One of the Brood Meddling farce that some estates would get involved, perhaps in part to save reputations, as well as some who truly believe in it ( this is based on personal comments from some of those estates). However it is and always was clear that some ( many?) in grouse shooting weren’t having it because to put it simply (1) it meant putting up with more harriers, perhaps even on their moors, (2) Nothing has really been done to counter the myths within DGS that makes Hen Harrier ( with Peregrine and Goshawk) a bête noire, because most of what they believe is just plain wrong (3) an the main point of all it is still far too easy, as we can see to kill the harriers and completely get away with it. This was all obvious before NE and their partners in DGS said they needed an extension to get more data—- more data my arse the data they got is quite quite clear, their immoral scheme, sold to the gullible as conservation when it’s nothing of the sort is in very large part a failure. “they ” pint to the increase in Harriers yet what is again clear is that increase has nothing to do with brood meddling. Most successful nests are still in the core areas where Hen Harriers are well regarded, United Utilities land in Bowland, Forestry England land plus others in Northumberland plus a few places with Brood Meddling but even on some of them the productivity of the remaining nest(s) is often suspiciously low. I doubt anything will change until after an election but frankly nothing has changed DGS still has far too many folk willing to break the law and a badly under funded and hamstrung NE is a laughing stock.
As a previous contributor pointed out we should expect no help from the primary political Parties as they are the poodles of the Elite Business/Political classes who hold that as they have a combination of the sconomic/political resources of our country they will do as they like…. no matter what methods are required. Period.
I note that the two Nationalist Parties, those of Wales and Scotland are the exceptions although Forbes and Ewing are doing their best to reduce the SNP vote to allow the Economic/political Elite to hold the strings in Holyrood too.
Period.
Now, I’ve said this before and I will say it again ….. as the methods of lobbying are ineffective in changing events on the ground then the only rationale thing to do is to change the main thrust of the approach. The control mechanisms required to effect change appear to have been compromised from the top down .. with those below managerial level having very little say at all as to how things are run. Personal autonomy is as big a myth as Santa Claus. In a functioning civil society the Romans reckoned all it required was for one in ten to be clandestinely working for them to control it’s functioning. In the realms of power concerning the shooting lobby they have that ratio, The only effective weapon against them would seem to be people power.
Now here we are pushing against an open door as a large percentage of the population are fully against wildlife crime in general, and raptor persecution to aid the shooting lobby, a minority activity, specifically. Ther question should now be as to how to fully inform them and present them with ways to make their views visible. Given the new laws currently going through the system this is going to become much harder in the near future due to increased censorship and the tightening of personal freedoms in the context of demonstrations.
My hat comes off to the SNP Administration in pushing this new Bill through in face of such pressure, as it does to the Welsh Administration for taking a hardline stance on environmental and wildlife issues.
There are better minds than mine more capable .of developing new, innovative approaches and I hope they take up the challenge.
“we should expect no help from the primary political Parties… I note that the two Nationalist Parties, those of Wales and Scotland are the exceptions”
I disagree, somewhat. In 2018 a Welsh Minister (Labour) proposed that Natural Resources Wales outlaw shoots on its land. The call was not supported by Plaid Cymru.
See https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/government-accused-shifting-blame-game-15204970
In March 2023 the Welsh Government (Labour) proposed a licensing scheme for all shoots in Wales.
See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65091100
The British Game Alliance said “Labour policy in Wales demonstrates why we need the British Game Alliance”
See https://www.britishgameassurance.co.uk/labour-policy-in-wales-demonstrates-why-we-need-the-british-game-alliance/
On the 17th October 2023 snares and glue traps were made illegal in Wales, the first such law in the UK.
See https://www.gov.wales/historic-total-ban-snares-and-glue-traps-use-comes-force
Whereas in Scotland, I credit the Green Party greatly for pushing a somewhat reluctant SNP into limited shooting reform and other, more extensive reforms. But I also noticed that the Labour Party (Scotland) were strong supporters of these reforms. The SNP have definitely moved and are catching up with public opinion… because they need the votes – but they have taken a long time to get there.
In England, however, things are not so promising:-( Yet. Some reforms have been made, or are ‘in the pipe line’, but there appears to be an awfully long way to go to catch up with two of the devolved administrations. In England, the issue appears to not be so prominent in the public mind, although equally held. Maybe the press are partly responsible for that?
Still sticking two fingers up to the general public and still Untouchable, In fact getting even more toxic. I doubt a Labour government can change this but I can hope, SNP have dragged their feet for years. What is worse is that we are paying for this criminality through our taxes. Whilst small farms are struggling to survive with some going under, they are once again planning to blockade supermarkets in an effort to gain more money for their produce., the majority of the subsidies meant to help them are being given to millionaire land owners, One estate in England received nearly 1.8 million pounds in subsidies in 2018, can we call these benefits, If I lose my job I have to jump through hoops to claim £90 a week, I get means tested, if I have savings I can’t claim anything. this broken subsidies system needs fixing, fix this and I think it will be the death of many of these estates
To be fair the SNP had Fergus Ewing, whose genealogy presented him with political poiwer beyond his worth, who always stymied green or wildlife initiatives and whose power increased when Kate Forbes, who holds similar positions, entered the arena and who both attract positive media reports.
A lot of the friction encountered by the SNP is out of sight, which is not appreciated by many. I’m not a natural SNP supporter by any means but do feel that they are to be supported as the best chance of protecting the Green Agenda.
This was inevitable, as nothing has changed to tackle the root cause of Hen Harrier persecution. As others have pointed out, brood management was always going to be a failure, as it failed to tackle the criminal behaviour which is so frequently associated with grouse shooting and the management of the moors where Hen Harriers would normally inhabit. In fact, brood management may well lead to increased persecution, as any success from removing chicks from their nests to avoid persecution, will potentially lead to an increase in juvenile birds. But these juvenile birds will simply return to the moors where they face persecution. It doesn’t take a genius or scientist to work this out, and it should have been obvious from the outset that this would happen.
So why did Natural England fail to recognise what should have been so obvious?
My deep suspicion is that brood management was the construct of political pressure to do something which gave the impression of appearing to be attempting to help the conservation of Hen Harriers, yet in reality ensured the adult population would never really increase to the point where it interfered with the vested interests of those involved in grouse/game bird shooting.
I think from the recent posts regarding DEFRA appointments it is perfectly clear how the political system works.
Is it these type of appointments which have led Natural England down the path of brood management, rather than to directly confront the criminal behavior which is responsible for so much Hen Harrier and other raptor persecution?
Repeating what others have said, the only real solution is the introduction of new legislation which effectively tackles the criminal persecution which is taking place.
I suspect there are those in Natural England who fully realise this, but are powerless to do anything to bring this about.
Tackling the criminal persecution which blights so much of nature should have been part of the governments strategy to help it reach it’s 2030 biodiversity and nature recovery targets, and I wonder how the government intended to judge the success of increasing nature and biodiversity by 2030?
One only has to look at the many new “wildlife conservation area” signs appearing across the countryside to see in recent years just how much of the countryside has been turned into “conservation/game bird shooting estates”.
Was this increase in shooting estates masquerading as conservation areas going to form part of how the government measured the success of its wildlife regeneration policies?
The plight of the Hen Harrier is testament that wildlife conservation and commercial game bird shooting are often incompatible, as the desired outcome for the majority of shooting estates is to produce artificially high populations of game birds, not to increase biodiversity or protect endangered species.