Some excellent news, for a change!
Natural England / DEFRA have turned down a licence application for hen harrier brood meddling in the 2025 breeding season, following the recent closure of the seven-year hen harrier brood meddling ‘trial’.
For new blog readers, the hen harrier brood meddling trial was a conservation sham sanctioned by DEFRA as part of its ludicrous ‘Hen Harrier Action Plan‘ and carried out by Natural England between 2018 – 2024, in cahoots with the grouse shooting industry, the very industry responsible for the species’ catastrophic decline in England. In general terms, the plan involved the removal of hen harrier chicks from grouse moors, they were reared in captivity, then released back into the uplands just in time for the start of the grouse-shooting season where many were illegally killed. It was plainly bonkers. For more background see here and here.
In autumn last year, the Moorland Association (grouse moor owners’ lobby group in England) lodged a licence application with Natural England, seeking to continue hen harrier brood meddling in 2025 albeit with some significant changes from the ‘trial’ conditions.
Those proposed changes included removing the requirement to satellite tag brood meddled hen harriers, presumably because the data from current satellite-tagged hen harriers have been so very effective at revealing the devastating extent of ongoing hen harrier persecution (e.g. see here and here).
The other main change was that the Moorland Association wanted “a single release site” [for brood meddled hen harriers], “irrespective of the location from where they’d been removed from their nests”, presumably to get around the problem of there not being sufficient receptor sites willing to take the brood meddled harriers. I understand that the proposed single release site would have been of great interest to readers of this blog!
In March this year, Natural England announced the end of the hen harrier brood meddling trial but said it had not yet made a decision on whether to roll out brood meddling more widely (see here).
Today, Natural England has updated its hen harrier brood meddling blog with the following statement:
NE hasn’t provided any more detail about how it came to this very welcome decision but I have submitted an FoI and will publish NE’s response when it arrives.
Meanwhile, the Moorland Association has issued its own version of events about why its licence application was refused. I take everything the MA says with a dumper-truck-full of salt, given the reputation of its CEO for distorting and manipulating facts (e.g. see here and here).
According to this statement, the Moorland Association’s refusal to satellite tag brood meddled hen harriers was a factor in NE’s decision-making process. The Moorland Association says this:
“We proposed using high visibility leg tags because we have serious concerns about using satellite tags – particularly the added cost and complexity. We also have concerns about how satellite tracking data is [sic] being used to damage trust and increased [sic] tension“.
Er, nope. Satellite tag data are being used to demonstrate the ongoing and widespread criminal killing of hen harriers in and around many driven grouse moors. It’s the illegal killing (undertaken by gamekeepers on grouse moors) that’s damaging trust and increasing tension, not the use of satellite tag data!
At least 134 hen harriers ‘disappeared’/were illegally killed during the brood meddling trial, mostly on or close to grouse moors, and they’re just the ones we know about.
Incidentally, there’s news about a recent, very high profile case, coming shortly…
Meanwhile, I’m raising a glass to the end of hen harrier brood meddling (for this year, at least). It should never have started in the first place. Well done to all those who have campaigned so hard against it over the last seven years and shame on the individuals and organisations who facilitated this conservation sham.
Wild Justice’s petition calling for a ban on driven grouse shooting is nearing its 100,000-signature goal. It currently stands at 91,439. If you’d like to help it over the line, for the sake of future generations of hen harriers, please click here.
Raptor Persecution UK 
I thought it would be turned down but one never knows for sure of course. The legal challenge only failed because NE claimed it was a scientific trial so any post trial role out was bound to be rightly challenged, perhaps NE remembered that. without Satellite tracking and without birds being returned to the same SPA/ region they came from made it even less justifiable if that were possible. No doubt the grousers will whinge hugely but that is fine too they are on a down slope anyway. however the real risk is that even more of them will reach for the gun or put boots in nests to solve what they claim is a problem, we all need to be vigilant on that one difficult as it is under current licence conditions.
its reiculous what goes on. The rspb and the government know that game keepers are the demise of such a beautiful bird of prey. Just look at at the grouse moors owned by xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx around xxxxx and xxxxx. The area of nidderdale. You struggle to see any birds of prey.
Plaudits to Raptor Persecution UK for its tenacity and determination in keeping up the pressure on NE.
I’m raising a glass with you too Ruth
Slainte Mhath to Hen Harriers
No satellite tags and all taken to the same location for release? What a great solution that would have been – something along the lines of live pigeon Trap shooting I would think. It’s quite rightly been rejected, so instead dare we hope for NE working on initiatives around the enforcement of the law through intelligence led covert surveillance in future? It is the only way – influential political relationships that protect the status quo must be swept aside by this new(ish) Labour government once and for all.
Like the vast majority of so called organisations apparently there to protect, they are more interested in selling out than having a grain of integrity. They are all back slapping with nothing meaningful ever done.
I wonder if anyone is planning to maintain the proportion of young Hen Harriers to be satellite tagged, now that this scheme has ended? I hope and trust that Natural England will step up and maintain that aspect of the programme… Babies and bathwater come to mind.
RSPB also tags some each year, though I’ve never been quite sure where their figures sit in relation to the NE ones. We don’t seem to get composite figures, though presumably their known or suspected casualties are included in Ruth’s infamous figure of 134 missing in action.
“RSPB also tags some each year..”
It is a relatively expensive exercise. I am concerned that the RSPB might not be able to fill a possible gap left by Natural England… But I dare say I am not alone…
Very true. However, I would doubt that NE would pull the plug completely, given the useful and vital information which tagging provides. At least there won’t be all the ancilliary expenditure associated with brood-meddling to be met.
People on here will be well aware but surely it must be clear to NE that the attitude and tolerance of the Moorland’s Association towards Hen Harriers couldn’t be more obvious – regarding their (ludicrous) licence requests of not to satellite tag the birds and to have a single release site. Were they just proposed requests by the MA or were they actually refusing to engage in the brood meddling scheme unless those conditions were met? Did they not want a licence otherwise?
Im with you Pleasantly Magical you’ve hit the nail on the head there is no one to be trusted to look after precious things they are so far up each other’s backsides they need surgical removal and they are out for there own gains. Well done Ruth