Month: February 2026

Racster Dingwall, the now former Head Gamekeeper on Conistone and Grassington Estate in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, pleaded guilty at York Magistrates’ Court last month to conspiring to kill a Hen Harrier.

His crimes were captured on camera after the RSPB installed covert equipment on the grouse moor, capturing video and audio recordings of Dingwall and his two armed accomplices, as shown on Channel 4 News, here.

Dingwall’s sentence was a fine of just £1,520. I’ve written previously about the judge’s remarks and how this derisory penalty was determined (see here).

Now the Northern England Raptor Forum (NERF, representing raptor fieldworkers) has added to the commentary in a new blog (here), which is well worth a read.

Here are some of the highlights:

Dingwall had a previous conviction for violence, but this was discounted because it was dissimilar to the offence before the court. However, there is ample evidence in the literature showing that violence towards people and animal cruelty are frequently linked.

It was accepted by the court that Dingwall’s actions in this case were “completely out of character”. Was it really? The RSPB Investigations Team didn’t just turn up on the estate and install covert recording equipment. The team was there as a result of intelligence they had received and had spent several months confirming that the information was correct. They also identified the precise location where Dingwall and his colleagues usually sat. There was nothing random in the enquiry. Dingwall and his two underkeepers, recorded during the filming, were dressed in camouflage clothing, using radios, and armed with shotguns. They were clearly on a mission when sat in their allocated positions, waiting for dusk and for Hen Harriers to come in to roost.

Mr Ryan, Dingwall’s solicitor, told the court that his client “regrets enormously” his actions. If that were true, why were he and his colleagues there in the first place, dressed and armed with shotguns? Why didn’t he chastise his staff when they discussed having killed a Buzzard and a Raven? Why didn’t he call the whole thing off when they talked about not shooting a Hen Harrier—now known to be Ataksak—because it was wearing a box and would cause problems for the estate? Why, when the next Hen Harrier arrived without a “box”, did Dingwall leave his post to go and shoot the bird, which he subsequently told his staff he had done? He had every opportunity to prevent his underkeepers from killing the Buzzard and Raven. He also had a duty to ensure that Ataksak and the untagged Hen Harrier were not threatened with death. He failed on all accounts. Clearly, the only thing Dingwall regretted was being caught.

There is no requirement for a defendant to identify who his two underkeepers were, and Dingwall chose that route and stood in the dock alone. That was his choice, and the identity of his underkeepers remains unknown—at least in the public domain. Obviously, their employer knows who they are; but will they be sanctioned? Will they lose their jobs?

What we do know is that the owner will not be sanctioned, and it is business as usual. This loophole in the law is ludicrous and needs to be closed. Owners and land agents responsible for managing shooting estates need to be held accountable for the criminal activities of their employees. Until they are, they have no incentive to ensure that their estates are managed in compliance with wildlife legislation.

To read the full blog on the NERF website, click here.

I’ll be writing a further blog about this case shortly…

The Yorkshire Dales Moorland Group (YDMG) is undertaking a major damage limitation exercise this week following the widespread media coverage of the recent conviction of Yorkshire Dales gamekeeper Racster Dingwall, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill a Hen Harrier on the Conistone & Grassington Estate (see here), which is, as far as I can tell, a member of the Yorkshire Dales Moorland Group.

Indeed, according to this 2018 article in the Yorkshire Post, the then coordinator of the YDMG lived on the Conistone & Grassington Estate as the wife of the previous Head Gamekeeper (i.e. before Racster Dingwall took on the role as Head Gamekeeper). The current YDMG coordinator is believed to be a former gamekeeper from one of the most notorious estates in the Dales.

Dingwall’s conviction, based on damning video evidence filmed by the RSPB, made the national, regional and local news, which threw the spotlight once again on the criminal killing of birds of prey on grouse moors in the Yorkshire Dales.

Dingwall’s conviction has undone all the good work (propaganda) that the YDMG has pumped out over the years to try and disguise the fact, according to the RSPB, that:

“This area – dominated by grouse moors – is the epicentre for Hen Harrier persecution in the UK. Since 2016, in this area four confirmed persecution incidents involving RSPB and Natural England satellite tagged Hen Harriers have taken place and 13 satellite tagged Hen Harriers have suspiciously disappeared – all suspected to have been persecuted (2016-2025)” (see here).

In a desperate attempt to divert attention from Dingwall’s crimes, the Yorkshire Dales Moorland Group is trying to persuade anyone who’ll listen that Hen Harriers aren’t routinely killed on grouse moors in their area. Good luck with that!

To illustrate this claim, the YDMG has posted the following story on social media about a satellite-tagged Hen Harrier called Frank:

Did Hen Harrier Frank live a long and productive life on grouse moors in the Yorkshire Dales? Yes, he did, but he was the exception to the rule. I’ve often wondered why he wasn’t nobbled and have been told, by various sources over the years, that Frank was seen as a ‘pet’ of one of the gamekeepers’ wives and an agreement was made not to shoot him. Whether there’s any substance in that I don’t know, but it’s interesting that I’ve heard the same story from different sources.

I think one of the reasons Frank wasn’t killed was because he was seen by the grouse shooting industry as the ‘poster child’ for Natural England’s Hen Harrier Brood Meddling Trial – indeed, some of Frank’s offspring were indeed brood meddled (unsurprisingly, several of them later then ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances) and so there was a LOT of attention on Frank by those invested in the brood meddling sham who wanted to show that the trial was working. ‘Look, here’s a Hen Harrier (Frank) whose chicks we’ve brood meddled but he’s surviving just fine, he hasn’t been killed, therefore the brood meddling trial is a stunning success, let’s roll it out as standard practice for ever more’. You get the picture.

Anyway, back to the YDMG’s diversionary tactics. What they’re suggesting in their latest propaganda piece, is that gamekeepers were suspected of illegally killing Frank in 2025 when his tag stopped working. They claim that,

“They [raptor monitors and Natural England field staff] raised suspicion and insinuated to local gamekeepers that persecution could be a factor behind the bird going off-line“

and

“Suspicions and accusations began to circulate. Internal communications at Natural England determined the bird as missing/suspicious on a grouse moor“.

Really? Where is the evidence that gamekeepers were accused/suspected of killing Frank? He’s NEVER appeared on any list on this blog, nor on the Natural England Hen Harrier satellite tag spreadsheet, nor in any RSPB press release.

Why didn’t he appear? Well, simply because Natural England had been quite upfront on the HH sat tag spreadsheet and reported, accurately, that Frank’s tag stopped transmitting in May 2025 but in June 2025 he was photographed by NE field staff provisioning young at a nest and the photograph clearly showed his satellite tag had a broken aerial and therefore the tag was no longer transmitting. It was a clear technical malfunction, acknowledged by Natural England, and therefore there weren’t any grounds for suspicion.

The Yorkshire Dales Moorland Group is trying to play the victim card here but without any actual evidence of being ‘victimised’.

The fact that (apparently) Frank was recently found dead near Hull, and tests (apparently) show he had contracted avian influenza (although that wasn’t necessarily the cause of death) is neither here nor there. Although I suspect, if indeed this information is accurate, that Natural England might be looking closely at who was privy to that information and who leaked it to the YDMG!

I’d be interested in a statement from the YDMG about the status of the Conistone & Grassington Estate as a YDMG member. Has the YDMG got any plans to expel the estate? If not, why not?

The bigger question that very few people seem to be asking is, who funds the Yorkshire Dales Moorland Group, and all the other regional moorland groups that sprung up in 2015 to promote ‘the good work’ of the grouse shooting industry?

Who is paying for the regional coordinators of these groups, who spend their time putting rubbish out on social media and conducting malicious smear campaigns against individuals and organisations who happen to challenge the claims made by the grouse shooting industry? Who is paying for their websites? Who is paying for their extensive promotional material? Their branded clothing? Their picture boards and associated marketing material they drag around the country shows each year? Their logo-heavy ‘activity packs’ that they hand out to unsuspecting school children?

Gosh, I wonder who it might be? Surely not someone with a vested interest in grouse shooting and is a member of the British aristocracy?