On the day the Scottish Parliament is due to vote through new legislation intended to tackle the ongoing illegal persecution of birds of prey on grouse moors, we learn that yet another satellite-tagged hen harrier has ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances, this time on a grouse moor in the notorious Angus Glens.
If there are any MSPs in the chamber this afternoon who are wavering about whether this new legislation is needed, this news will assure them that yes, it most certainly is.
Press release from RSPB (21 March 2024):
ANOTHER SATELLITE-TAGGED HEN HARRIER ‘SUSPIOUSLY DISAPPEARS’ IN THE ANGUS GLENS IN SCOTLAND
- A young Hen Harrier fitted with a satellite-tag to monitor its movements ‘suspiciously disappeared’ in Glen Esk, in the Angus Glens in late February 2024.
- This is the fourth sat-tagged Hen Harrier to have suspiciously disappeared in the area since 2017.
- Hen Harriers are being persecuted across the UK with many confirmed incidents associated with land managed for gamebird shooting.
RSPB Scotland are appealing for information following the sudden, suspicious disappearance of a satellite-tagged Hen Harrier in Glen Esk in Angus.
The tag fitted to ‘Shalimar’ a young female Hen Harrier, which fledged from a nest on the National Trust for Scotland’s Mar Lodge Estate in Aberdeenshire last summer, was functioning as expected before data transmissions unexpectedly and suddenly stopped on 15 February.
Officers from the National Wildlife Crime Unit and Police Scotland, supported by the RSPB Investigations staff, carried out a search of the area where the bird last transmitted, but failed to find its body or tag.
A large area of the Angus Glens is intensively managed for driven grouse shooting and is a notorious raptor persecution hotspot, with multiple confirmed incidents of poisoning, shooting and illegal trapping stretching back over the last 20 years. There have also been several previous incidents where satellite-tagged birds of prey have been killed or ‘suspiciously disappeared’ in the area. Since 2017, this has included four Hen Harriers, a Golden Eagle and a White-tailed Eagle.
Hen Harriers are one of the UK’s rarest birds of prey and, in terms of its population size, the most heavily persecuted species in the country. Several recent independent studies and evidence from historical and on-going criminal investigations have confirmed that the killing of this ‘Red Listed’ species is significantly linked to land managed for Red Grouse shooting and have revealed that the illegal killing of Hen Harriers associated with the grouse shooting industry is the primary constraint on their population.
Ian Thomson, RSPB Scotland’s Head of Investigations said: “The Scottish Parliament has recognised the ongoing link between crimes against birds of prey and the management of some grouse moors by its of passing of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill earlier this week. In future, any landholding linked to wildlife crime faces a loss of its licence to shoot grouse. While these provisions have come just too late to prevent Shalimar becoming the latest Hen Harrier to likely disappear at the hands of criminals, we hope that the new legislation will help to consign raptor persecution to the history books in Scotland”.
The Mar Lodge Estate, near Braemar, is an important area for breeding Hen Harriers, largely as a result of effective habitat management and an overall commitment to conservation. Last year 32 Hen Harriers successfully fledged from nests on the estate, of which four were fitted with satellite-tags by RSPB.
The data received from these sat-tags provides information which allows conservationists to study the movements of these birds, including identifying roost sites, foraging areas and any migration patterns, whilst also helping to detect suspected incidents of persecution. If a tagged bird dies of natural causes, in the vast majority of cases the bird’s tag and its body can be recovered and submitted for post-mortem analysis.
Although in some areas Hen Harriers breeding numbers are improving their survival rate remains low. A paper published in 2023 highlighted that Hen Harrier persecution accounted for 27-43% of mortality of first-year birds, with the lifespan of Hen Harriers after fledging averaging 121 days.
23 Hen Harriers have been tagged at Mar Lodge since 2016. Almost 40% of these satellite-tagged birds have ‘suspiciously disappeared’.
Staff at Mar Lodge are saddened by the apparent loss of Shalimar and the other tagged-harriers that have fledged from the estate. A spokesperson said: “We hope some of the other chicks fledged last year have a more favourable future. Despite these losses we will continue our vital conservation work at Mar Lodge and other NTS properties doing what we can to ensure the survival and recovery of hen harriers and other raptor species.”
If you have information about anyone killing birds of prey which you wish to report please call the police on 101 and fill in the RSPB’s online reporting form here. If you would like to report anonymously, please call the RSPB’s confidential Raptor Crime Hotline on 0300 999 0101 or fill in our reporting form.
We would like to thank Mar Lodge Estate, the NWCU and Police Scotland for their support and positive partnership working.
ENDS
UPDATE 21 March: 123 hen harriers confirmed ‘missing’ or illegally killed in UK since 2018, most of them on or close to grouse moors (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 
The arrogance of the shooting industry….
Licencing is all very well, bit I can’t help thinking that it will be business as usual on these huge estate and reporting anything is certainly not without severe risk.A total ban is needed.Normal people don’t go around doing these outdated practice.Breeding birds just to shoot them is plain stupid.
Their locations make them feel invulnerable.They are living in the past.
as someone who shoots grouse I can tell you that no estates would allow the killing of protected birds of prey, indeed any gamekeeper found guilty of doing this would be instantly dismissed and would find it hard to find another job. There is a high natural morality rate especially for raptors in their first year, mostly to other species of hawk. Nice and convenient to blame the shooting fraternity
quite a few keepers have been caught red handed
“There is a high natural morality rate especially for raptors in their first year, mostly to other species of hawk.”Quite right too. And the little blighters eat the transmitters, aerials and straps, too.
I think its nice and convenient to say that all the hen harriers satellite tagged have conveniently died mature birds to boot what rot I suppose they tread on there own nests and smash the eggs?? But your entitled to your opinion!!
I’m sure you really believe all that but the unwillingness of most shooters, in the face of all the evidence, to take a critical view of ‘keeper bullshit has always been part of the problem.
these are the words of Lyndsay Waddell, (ex chairperson of the National Gamekeepers Association) Not a Townie, Not a PR person pretending to know a thing or two. A man whose job was to look after other Gamekeepers, “when Agents started to run the Grouse moors and introduced medicated grit. There was no need to touch the Harriers, we had more Grouse than we knew what to do with, some of the big London hotels wouldn’t touch the Grouse anymore. I lost some good friends who wouldn’t do what the agents wanted, some of the new keepers being brought in couldn’t identify half the birds on the moors these days”
the shooting industry has been taken in by these Agents, Greed, Arrogance and an unwillingness to Evolve legally is killing the sport. others in the industry have spoken out however greed is a powerful adversary
Yep and its not just financial greed, but the greed of the ego i.e. we will break those old bags records; we will shoot more than our neighbours; I will beat the averages of the previous keeper. The above type of c**k measuring contest is fine in premier league football, etc but not in an enterprise that determines the fate of vast areas of the UK and the wildlife in it.
there is only one way to stop this slaughter by the wealthy landed gentry.
hit them where it hurts, IN THE POCKET.
charge the nearest game shopping Moor owners £200,000 per raptor disappearance and take away their licence for 20 years.
further cases mean they do not care and the owner needs hail time of 5 years as deliberating time
Mike Muller ex game shooter stopped over 35 years ago.
exactly an I fully agree with you 👌👍
As an ex resident of Glen Esk I express no surprise at the continuing persecution of wildlife in the area…. from badgers to birds. Over the past 20 or so years I’ve watched the change of personnel and the huge effort that has made to present a very different front to the public than actually exists.
It was only in 2022 that a gamekeeper employed by one of the top Driven Grouse Estates, Millden, was imprisoned for despicable and systematic crimes against badgers and cruelty to his dogs. The injuries to the dogs were visible to anyone who might pass his home at the time and the data retrieved from his phone illustrated how open he was as to his activities. This on an Estate policed by what we are led to beleive are the experts in the field, Custoduians of the Countryside, Guardians of the Countryside.
Fingers crossed that all goes as planner in regards to the new Act which, if passed intact, has the potential to open new doors and make life much harder for those who would destroy our wildlife for supposedly increased profit though I do feel that bloody mindedness plays a large part in it all
well said my friend 👍
Time to stop messing around with licence and snare ban, welcome as they are, but ban the whole so-called ‘sport’ shooting industry.
I agree, licencing is a poor tool.
And yes, it will be business as usual.
TOTAL BAN
most of the game shooting estates are owned by the [Ed: rest of comment deleted as offensive]
I think I can fill in the deleted part – and I agree!
I too vote total ban. Too much pandering to money. Yes I know people need to be able to earn a living in rural areas but this activity is not the way to do it. Ban it and promote activities that bring in wildlife tourism and other activities that don’t require killing defense less creatures.
I imagine the most of us reading this blog (apart from those who read it, hating the content) are in favour of total ban. A ban is not yet a political possibility. This legislation may well not have the intended purpose, because the perpetrators of wildlife crime, of whatever variety, have no intention of stopping. In that event we may well be faced with a delay as long as the one we have faced in getting this legislation passed. Ruth has done sterling work over a long period of time. If she is prepared to continue, we may well require her for some time to come, unfortunately.
Doesn’t change the thrust of the press release but it would look a lot less stage-managed if Ian Thomson’s quote had been corrected to reflect the non-passing of the Bill yesterday as reported on this blog. It doesn’t do us any favours.
To be fair to the RSPB, the timing was somewhat out of their hands. The story was given to The Scotsman as an exclusive so it had been lined up for some time and everyone had expected the Bill vote to take place on Tues, so the news of the latest missing HH would have been out AFTER the vote. Nobody expected the timetabling change by Scot Gov on Tues.
Poor Shalimar ban shooting ban hunting rid this country of evil cruel lawless rich people and I agree with you all because everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet we need to get a bloody grip of this once and for all .
Is it not possible to fit satellite trackers with a camera? It’s possible now to purchase tiny drones with cameras. Then video footage could reveal who was doing the killing.
There is the question of weight… signal bandwidth… and the limited view any camera would have…?
If any person has the audacity to take some game for the pot they face the full might of the law. Democracy is a total charade in this country and the patience of Job is required when waiting for politicians to change. Land reform now please.
its seems quite simple to me. Any tagged bird of prey that disappears ‘mysteriously’ on an estate,that estate gets shut down, until they can prove they had no part in it’s disappearance. Maximum 5 years. Only way back to business before that time limit is to solve the crime.
If only it was as simple as that. We would need to know where the offence was committed, which is not necessarily on the same estate as that on which it was found. Depending on the nature and extent of the injuries a bird could possibly fly a fair distance before succumbing.
Youve hit the nail in the head Colin close down estate immediately where bird is found fine landowner zero tolerance.
The whole shooting industry is not getting what will happen if they don’t clean up their act
The wholesale slaughter of pheasants ,the killing of birds of prey ,will eventually lead to a total ban on all apart from pest control
So they need to get their house in order before it’s to late
They have very little support in the wider community