In May this year I blogged about a young satellite-tagged Hen Harrier named ‘Sita’ who had disappeared under suspicious circumstances from a winter roost site on an unnamed grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park in February 2025 (here).
There was very little information available – neither North Yorkshire Police or the National Wildlife Crime Unit’s Hen Harrier Taskforce had made any statements or appeals for information.
Eight months on, today the RSPB has helpfully published some information about Sita’s disappearance having been told by North Yorkshire Police and the NWCU that there were no further lines of enquiry.
The RSPB’s press release is as follows:
ANOTHER HEN HARRIER LIKELY TO HAVE BEEN SHOT IN THE YORKSHIRE DALES NATIONAL PARK
- The satellite tag of a one-year-old Hen Harrier sent its last transmission from land managed for grouse shooting between Swaledale and Wensleydale
- Illegal persecution of Hen Harriers is the main factor limiting the recovery of this rare, red-listed species in the UK
- This Hen Harrier is the 29th to suspiciously disappear in the national park since 2015 with each tag worth £3000.
As part of the RSPB’s on-going Hen Harrier monitoring, a female bird, named Sita was fitted with a satellite tag in summer 2024, fledging from her nest in the Forest of Bowland. Subsequently, her tag data showed that she had settled at a wintering site on moorland between Reeth and Redmire, in the northeast of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. However, concern was raised when Sita’s tag stopped transmitting from a roost site on 27 February 2025.
When sat-tagged Hen Harriers die naturally, the tag will continue to transmit, allowing recovery of the bird, which can then undergo analysis to determine the exact cause of death. However, it is accepted that sudden, unexplained transmission loss without signs of tag malfunction in this species sadly indicates that the bird is likely to have been shot, especially if no tag or body is then found.
The RSPB reported the incident to North Yorkshire Police, the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) and their Hen Harrier Task Force, however, despite launching a police investigation neither Sita nor her tag have been found. In late August, almost six months after the incident took place, the Police and NWCU formally confirmed that there were no further lines of enquiry. Sita is one of several satellite tagged Hen Harriers that have disappeared under suspicious circumstances this year, with several cases being referred to the NWCU in recent weeks.
Dominated by grouse moorland, the Yorkshire Dales National Park, is sadly one of the most well-known hotspots for bird of prey killing. Between 2015 and 2024, 67 confirmed or suspected incidents were recorded within or near the National Park. These include 39 incidents where birds of prey (including Peregrine, Hen Harriers, Red Kites and Buzzards) were targeted, poisoned, trapped or shot and is the location where 28 suspicious disappearances of tagged Hen Harriers have taken place. Sita’s loss brings the total to 29.
Hen Harrier Action, the wildlife conservation charity that sponsored Sita’s satellite tag from public donations, expressed deep concern at her disappearance and the continuing threat to these birds.
Paul Samuels, Hen Harrier Action Co-chair: “The Yorkshire Dales National Park is a landscape where Hen Harriers ought to be thriving. Yet time and time again headlines about the Park are dominated by illegal persecution stories, most often associated with grouse moors. Sita’s short life and sad end should be a catalyst for change.”
As repeated police investigations have shown, crimes against Hen Harriers are strongly linked to land managed for grouse shooting, where some individuals illegally kill birds of prey as they are regarded as a threat to their commercial grouse stocks. The RSPB is calling for licensing of grouse shooting to be introduced in England – mirroring the system introduced in Scotland in 2024 under the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024. Under such legislation, estates implicated in bird of prey persecution could lose their licence to shoot grouse.
Howard Jones, RSPB Senior Investigations Officer: “The most effective way to stop the killing of these incredible birds is through licensing grouse shooting in England. It’s very simple, the sooner this is introduced the quicker Hen Harriers will get the protection that they urgently need.”
If you notice a dead or injured bird of prey in suspicious circumstances, call the police on 101 and fill in the RSPB’s online reporting form: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/wild-bird-crime-report-form/
If you have information about anyone killing birds of prey which you wish to report anonymously, call the RSPB’s confidential Raptor Crime Hotline on 0300 999 0101.
ENDS
This is the first time we’ve been given any level of detail about Sita’s last known location, on a grouse moor between Reeth and Redmire on the north-east side of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
If you look at the land ownership in that area (courtesy of Guy Shrubsole’s excellent website, Who Owns England?), you’ll see there are at least two large grouse shooting estates between Reeth and Redmire:
The turquoise area is Grinton Estate and the green area is Bolton Estate. I don’t know who owns the unmapped area of moorland to the east. There’s no suggestion that any of them were involved in Sita’s suspicious disappearance. I can’t pin down the Hen Harrier’s last known location with any more precision because, sensibly, the RSPB has not publicised the location of the winter roost from which Sita vanished, and nor would I want them to.
I applaud the RSPB for releasing the information they have – there’s no legitimate justification for North Yorkshire Police and the NWCU’s Hen Harrier Taskforce to suppress this case. None whatsoever, especially when they’ve stated they have no further lines of enquiry.
The withholding of information about ‘missing’ and/or confirmed illegally killed Hen Harriers is an ongoing issue, involving several other police forces in northern England. I’m aware of at least 14 cases involving the disappearance and/or illegal killing of Hen Harriers that are currently being withheld from the public, some of them dating back over 18 months so there can be no excuse about not wanting to jeopardise investigations, which in all likelihood have come to a similar dead end (pun intended).
I also noted the following sentence in the RSPB’s press release:
‘Sita is one of several satellite tagged Hen Harriers that have disappeared under suspicious circumstances this year, with several cases being referred to the NWCU in recent weeks‘ [emphasis is mine].
So just how many suspected or confirmed incidents of Hen Harrier persecution are being withheld, and why? It sounds like we’re quickly heading towards 20 cases.
I’ll be returning to this topic shortly…
Raptor Persecution UK 
Just bear in mind that the police are infested with Freemasons which may be an influence here. It is possible those who own surrounding lands may be fellow Brothers. There can be no rational explanation for the police withholding information in these cases. It appears to involve some sort of corrupt influence.
One has to wonder, why the secrecy? I still think that the estate/grouse moor where a bird’s tag stops transmitting should be held accountable, it’s too much of a coincidence that there aren’t rogue keepers employed there
“I still think that the estate/grouse moor where a bird’s tag stops transmitting should be held accountable, it’s too much of a coincidence that there aren’t rogue keepers employed there”
Really? As stated by the RSPB, Sita’s tag stopped transmitting on a winter roost site. Do you still think the owner of that site was ‘responsible’ for killing Sita, and ‘should be held accountable’?
Was the winter roost not on managed grouse moorland?
“Was the winter roost not on managed grouse moorland?”
It is a secret, so no one outside of the investigation officially knows, and no one is saying publicly (that I can find). Hen Harriers normally roost communally in winter, so other birds would have (presumably) been at risk? Why else keep it secret?
Were other Hen Harriers killed? What happened to the roost subsequently? Who knew, and for how long, that there was a winter roost there? Was it being protected by the owner? What is the status of the roost site, now?
Far too many unknowns for anyone outside of the investigation to jump to any conclusions about vicarious liability. And those who do know are keeping shtum…
“Her last transmission was recorded on the 27th February when she was roosting for the winter, close to two large grouse moors” said Hen Harrier Action. Is that true, or misleading? I do not know…
https://www.henharrierday.uk/news/yorkshire-dales-becoming-a-no-fly-zone-for-birds-of-prey/
This is what we, and the general public, are up against:-(
[Ed: Thanks, Northern Diver. It’s paywalled. Will be blogging about it].
Andy Huddleston (National Rural Crime Unit)
Tim Passmore (National Rural Crime Network)
National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC)
Please contact all three and explain that, with the intelligence you carry nationwide, you cannot help the police if they don’t publicise the details of where deceased raptors have been found….obviously subject to court/ ongoing investigations etc.
Don’t let them treat you like this..it’s completely counterproductive.
If the RSPB know where the tag stopped transmitting then they must know if it was on or near a grouse moor. If the former then legislation (licensing) is required; licensing that can be removed as a penalty. Do birds move (fidget) during roosting if only to shuffle feathers? If they do perhaps a new type of tag is required that sends out a warning if the bird shows no sign of moving for a short but predetermined time. Shooting a bird, walking up to it and removing the tag must take minutes and that time factor could be a strong indicator of illegal activity. It is only a pity that the tags can’t have a camera added but I suppose even the tiniest cameras and the equipment to transmit pictures would add unnecessary weight.
[Ed: I think this is the third time you’ve tried to post a link to a dodgy webpage. You’re welcome to comment here if you’re prepared to engage in constructive conversation but if you continue to write abusive comments/post links to dodgy sites you’ll be banned. Fair warning]
Whilst on the subject of dodgy sites, Avast on my phone (my security provider) won’t open RPUK via emails saying ‘un-secured website,’ I have to over-rule it and then open anyway. (Avast on my laptop doesn’t do this) I’d just like to point out to anyone interested / that this happens to, that RPUK is always safe to open + can be trusted. Maybe if I add RPUK to ‘list of trusted sites’ this won’t happen.
That harriers are still routinely disappearing on grouse moors anywhere is a continuing scandal but this is a National Park FFS and thus in many ways even worse if that is possible and it is one amongst many. There are plenty of apologists for these crimes on social media, notably on FB, who come out with all the it died naturally ( laughing emojis when challenged), along with “no proof” BS and they are predictably nauseatingly smug knowing as we all do that nobody will get caught, never mind appear in court. Where are the good guys in grouse shooting, if they are not loudly condemning these crimes along with the rest of us then they are not good guys at all and just as culpably guilty as the criminal morons who killed this and the many other Harriers that have disappeared and died, often horrible deaths, on grouse moors. Sacrificed, along with scores of other protected raptors on the obscene altar of big bags of grouse. This along with the fact that the number of Harrier pairs successfully breeding on grouse moors has fallen to just 3 pairs ought to be the death knell of the elitist blood fest that is Driven Grouse Shooting but sadly it won’t be.
Well said 2blue tails great comment covered it all these people are always going to win because they are above the law never brought to justice jailed money clever lawyers rule. Also I’ve keep losing my ability to comment via phone but computer ok same as you Tim .
You’re always supportive of other people’s comments Karen – that’s very nice of you.