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Greater protection for iconic Scottish mountain hares

Press release from Scottish Government (27th January 2021)

Greater protection for iconic Scottish mountain hares

New licensing regime to take effect from March

Mountain hares in Scotland are to be given greater protection under regulations introduced to the Scottish Parliament today.

From 1 March 2021, it will be illegal to intentionally kill, injure or take mountain hares at any time unless a licence is obtained.

Previously a licence would be required during the closed season, this will now be the case throughout the whole year.

The new licensing arrangement will be overseen by NatureScot, with licences issued only under certain circumstances, such as concerns for public health or protection of crops and timber.

[These bloodied corpses were left to rot in a pile on a sporting estate in the Angus Glens. The mass culling of mountain hares on grouse moors will no longer be permitted from 1st March 2021. Photo by an RPUK contributor]

The changes are part of the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020 which will also see new licensing requirements for those breeding puppies, kittens or infant rabbits, as well as introducing ‘Lucy’s Law to end the third party selling of dogs and cats in Scotland under the age of six months.

Natural Environment Minister Ben Macpherson said:

“Protecting Scotland’s wild animals in their natural environment is a key priority for this Scottish Government. Mountain hares are an iconic Scottish species and it is right that we protect them.

“Through the Animals and Wildlife Act 2020, we are taking action to safeguard the welfare of animals in Scotland and preserve our precious natural heritage for future generations to come.”

Donald Fraser, NatureScot’s Head of Wildlife Management said:

“Mountain hares – our only native hare – are an important and valued species in the Scottish hills. This increased protection will help ensure healthy populations of mountain hares can be found and enjoyed in the mountains, while giving some recourse when there is a need to prevent damage being caused to saplings or sensitive habitats. We are also working with several partner organisations to continue to improve our understanding of mountain hare populations across Scotland, along with other work to support their conservation status.”

Background

Mountain hares are native to Scotland and are found in upland and mountainous regions. 

They are a quarry species that have long been shot for sport and are also legitimately controlled for other reasons, including to protect plants and crops.

Those found guilty of breaking the new laws could face a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both.

ENDS

A lot of people have campaigned for many years to bring in greater protection for mountain hares, particularly amidst the backdrop of obscene mass culls on grouse moors. It remains to be seen how effective this new licensing regime is (and be in no doubt there will be considerable scrutiny of this in the field and further campaigning if licensing is considered to be failing) but for now congratulations to RSPB Scotland, OneKind, Revive, LUSH, League Against Cruel Sports, RPUK, Scottish Raptor Study Group, Scottish Green Party and the supporters of all these groups who have forced this change in Government policy. Special thanks to Alison Johnstone MSP for all her work on this issue.

7 million blog views

This blog passed another milestone yesterday, reaching seven million views.

In recent years it’s averaged approx 1 million views per year but this time it’s only taken seven months to get from six million all the way to seven million views.

Here’s the photograph that gets published here every time a new milestone is reached. This is a golden eagle that was found dead on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park in 2006. It had been illegally poisoned. It epitomises everything in its pitiful, poignant, senselessness. [Photo by RSPB]

Have attitudes changed since 2006?

No.

This white-tailed eagle was found dead on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park in 2020. It, too, had been illegally poisoned. [Photo by Police Scotland]

I’m often asked what motivated me to start this blog and what motivates me to continue. These two photographs say it better than I ever could.

Thank you to everyone who supports and contributes to this blog, particularly those behind the scenes. It isn’t a pleasure to write it but it is enormously rewarding to see its increasing reach.

Thank you.

Langholm Moor Community Buyout: now recruiting for nature reserve team

In November last year the largest community buyout in south Scotland realised its ambitious goal by raising enough money to buy some moorland from Buccleuch Estates in Langholm with the intention of turning it from a former grouse moor in to a thriving nature reserve for the benefit of the local community, the environment and for visitors from further afield (see here).

[Langholm Moor when it was being run as a grouse moor. Photo by Ruth Tingay]

The purchase of over 5,000 acres and six properties from Buccleuch Estates is currently being finalised and excitingly, the project is now recruiting two senior managers to begin the process of creating the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve.

The two vacancies are for a Development Manager (£40k per annum, fixed term 3 year position) and an Estate Manager (£35k, permanent position).

The closing date for applications for both positions is 19 February 2021.

Further details on the roles and responsibilities and the application process can be found on the Langholm Initiative website here

These are brilliant opportunities to be able to contribute to an important project that has attracted significant attention and support both locally and nationally. Alongside major donors, nearly 4000 ‘ordinary’ people were sufficiently inspired to make a donation to assist this buyout. A lot of us will be wishing the new recruits the very best of luck as the project gets underway.

Non-native gamebirds (pheasants & red-legged partridges) comprise approx half of all wild bird biomass in Britain

The annual mass release of millions of non-native gamebirds (pheasants and red-legged partridges) for shooting has long been of interest to those of us who care about raptor conservation, because the vast majority of illegal raptor persecution in the UK is undertaken by gamekeepers whose job is to ‘protect’ the gamebirds long enough for them to be shot by paying guests. Since 1990, two thirds of those convicted of raptor persecution related offences have been gamekeepers (see here).

The exact number of gamebirds that are released in the UK for shooting every year is not known because, incredibly and unlike virtually every other European country, the game bird shooting industry in the UK is under-regulated. Nobody even knows how many game bird shoots there are because the people involved do not have to register anywhere, nor report on the number of birds released / shot each year. It’s been a great old wheeze for decades.

The most recent figures, still considered to be a conservative estimate, were for the year 2018 and included 49.5 million pheasants and 11.7 million red-legged partridges, making a total of 61.2 million non-native gamebirds released into our countryside. These figures emerged as a result of Wild Justice’s recent successful legal challenge on gamebird releases (see Mark Avery’s blog here for more details).

Today a new peer reviewed scientific paper has been published that has revealed a shocking insight in to the effect of releasing so many gamebirds. The authors estimate that around a quarter of British bird biomass annually is contributed by pheasants and red-legged partridges, and at their peak in August these two species represent about half of all wild bird biomass in Britain!!!!!!!

This pie chart from the paper is eye-watering:

The paper’s citation is: Blackburn, T.M. and Gaston, K.J. (2021). Contribution of non-native galliforms to annual variation in biomass of British birds. Biol Invasions.

It is open access, which means anyone can read it for free. Download it here:

Blackburn and Gaston_2021_Biological_InvasionsDownload

The next time someone tells you, ‘There’s too many bloomin’ buzzards / sparrowhawks / red kites / sea eagles / goshawks / etc’ / [insert your own hooked-bill species here] you might want to point them to this paper.

You might also want to have a word with your local politician and point out that the release of non-native gamebirds is out of control and needs urgent regulation.

‘Keeping homes dry should never have been compromised to shoot more grouse’

Conservation campaigner Les Wallace has lodged a new petition on the Scottish Parliament website which seeks to make it a condition of any forthcoming grouse shooting licence that landowners must first demonstrate they are using natural flood prevention methods (e.g. reduced heather burning, targeted tree planting) to reduce the downstream flood risk to homes and businesses.

The petition (PE01850) ‘Natural flood prevention on grouse moors‘ can be signed HERE – anybody can sign it, you don’t need to live in Scotland to have a point of view.

Unlike the Westminster petition system, petitions to the Scottish Parliament do not require a threshold of signatories before the petitions committee considers the case, although obviously the better supported the petition the more impression it will make.

[Gamekeeper setting a grouse moor alight. Photo by Ruth Tingay]

Les has written the following background summary to support his case:

More than 10% of Scotland consists of grouse moors which are predominantly in upland areas where much of our rain falls. Flood prevention strategies are inadequate if they do not involve changes in the way our uplands are managed. The intended licencing scheme for grouse moors provides an excellent opportunity to begin this process. Keeping homes dry should never have been compromised to shoot more grouse. Flood reduction work will also reduce the fire risk and speed of fire on grouse moors through creating firebreaks, a much-needed relief for our emergency services.

I believe that in order for grouse moor owners to be granted a grouse moor license, they must be able to demonstrate that they are using natural flood prevention methods to slow the flow of water from their land in order to reduce the flood risk to homes, businesses and farms on lower land. The measures to be taken include reduced muirburn, blocking drainage, peat restoration, targeted contour and riparian tree planting to reduce the speed of flow into watercourses, insertion of woody material into watercourses to create ‘leaky’ dams to hold water back during high rainfall and the eventual return of the beaver whose dams are increasingly being recognised as a major contributor to flood prevention. These measures are vital to combat the massive financial and human cost of flooding.

Further reading can be found on the petition website here.

‘Scotland’s reputation is being trashed by the brutal killing of wildlife’

Many thanks to Brinkwire for picking up on the recent blog post (here) about the Scottish Government’s failure to appoint a taskforce to consider additional powers for the Scottish SPCA.

The following article was published yesterday, with quotes from Mark Ruskell MSP, Environment Minister Ben Macpherson and the SSPCA’s Chief Superintendent Mike Flynn:

SNP ministers have been accused of years of delay over plans to hand more powers to the Scottish SPCA to allow it to better investigate wildlife crime, including the illegal killing of birds of prey. 

It came as it emerged a new task force expected to be set up last summer has yet to be established.

Campaigners said the issue has been “kicked into the long grass more times than is credible”, with increased powers first suggested a decade ago.

Scottish Green MSP Mark Ruskell argues wildlife crime is rife, the police are overstretched and the role of the SSPCA needs to be extended.

This would allow the animal charity to investigate a greater number of suspected wildlife crimes, such as those where animals have been killed.

Mr Ruskell proposed further powers for the SSPCA as part of last year’s Animals and Wildlife Bill. 

But the Scottish Government instead committed to setting up an independently-chaired task force to consider the matter.

In June, Mairi Gougeon, who was then the SNP rural affairs ministers, said she expected this task force “to convene later in the summer and that they will be in a position to conclude their review and submit a report of their recommendations before the end of the current parliamentary session” in May this year.

She said that timeline “may be subject to change” due to the coronavirus crisis and preparations for Brexit.

Ben Macpherson, the current rural affairs minister, has now confirmed the task force has been delayed. 

In a written answer to Mr Ruskell, he said: “We now expect the task force to be established later this year and will provide further details in due course.”

Mr Ruskell, his party’s environment spokesman, said: “Giving the SSPCA powers to investigate wildlife crime and act on the brutal killing of raptors seems a no brainer, but the Scottish Government seems unwilling to even set up a task force to discuss it. 

“I note the Scottish Government delayed this task force meeting because of Covid but allowed grouse shooting to continue, even when the rest of us were told to stay at home.

“This idea was first floated a decade ago. There is nothing left to discuss. 

“It is completely unacceptable for minister after minister to continue to kick this can down the road when Scotland’s reputation is being trashed by the brutal killing of wildlife. 

“It raises serious questions about the SNP’s commitment to tackling wildlife crime during a nature emergency.”

Dr Ruth Tingay, author of the Raptor Persecution UK blog, said increased powers for the SSPCA were first suggested in February 2011. 

Her blog details the “extraordinary” timeline of delays that have occurred since then, with the issue “kicked into the long grass more times than is credible”.

Ms Tingay, who also runs the not-for-profit Wild Justice with television presenter Chris Packham and environmental campaigner Dr Mark Avery, told The : “Ten years and seven environment ministers later and we’re still no closer to letting highly experienced SSPCA investigators help the police tackle ongoing illegal raptor persecution. You have to ask why that might be.”

Chief Superintendent Mike Flynn of the SSPCA said it “welcomes the minister’s commitment to establishing this task force in 2021”. 

He said: “We already work very closely with Police Scotland and other agencies to protect wild animals from cruelty.

“We have the skills and expertise to assist and investigate wildlife crime. 

“The extension of these powers would put this expertise to use and allow us to provide even more support to our partners and reduce pressure on their resources.

“As Scotland’s animal welfare charity we believe we can do more to protect Scotland’s wildlife.”

Mr Macpherson said tackling wildlife crime has been a “long-standing priority for the Scottish Government”.

He said: “While we had initially anticipated the task force would be convened in summer 2020 this has not been possible because of the need to focus on the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic – a health crisis which has created an economic crisis – and preparations for EU exit. We now expect the task force to be established later this year.”

ENDS

Sea eagles: talk of reintroduction to Norfolk & of cull in Scotland

White-tailed eagles were in the news yesterday after it emerged that the progressive Ken Hill Estate has launched a public consultation to consider the reintroduction of sea eagles to Norfolk (there’s a good article in the Guardian about it, here).

This is quite a story, as journalist Patrick Barkham points out, given that ten years ago some Norfolk pig farmers vehemently opposed a reintroduction proposal but this time a number of them are on board, no doubt reassured by their recent experiences with visiting eagles from the Isle of Wight reintroduction project.

There’s a long way to go before a decision is made, of course, and Norfolk’s appalling reputation for the continued illegal killing of birds of prey will need to be carefully considered, but have a look at the Ken Hill Estate website (here) where they’ve published useful background information and provided links to the public consultation and opportunities for people to sign up to forthcoming webinars. It’s impressive stuff.

Meanwhile in Scotland, there is still talk of culling white-tailed eagles. This isn’t anything new – there have been persistent calls for a cull from certain quarters for years, fuelled by sensationalist nonsense from the Scottish Gamekeepers Association who even wrote to the Government calling for a public enquiry about the ‘threat’ that sea eagles posed to babies and small children (I kid you not – see here).

The latest call stems from the recent news in the Scottish Farmer that Nature Scot’s sea eagle action plan review ‘may also include further licensed activities’ (see here).

Although those potential ‘licensed activities’ are not defined, and may not involve lethal control at all, the Scottish Farmer’s editor, Ken Fletcher, has written an editorial suggesting that ‘there is a growing feeling that management will, indeed, mean that in some areas a cull will have to take place‘.

Here’s the relevant part of his editorial from 14 January 2021:

Natural Balance

RE-WILDING has become a noisy topic both on-line and in the national press, but there is a temptation to argue that it’s very much a minority that is seeking to drive change.

For want of a better expression, it would appear that the Great British (Scottish) public don’t give a monkeys about beavers, sea eagles and lynx. Yes, they would probably like to see them on their way to littering our countryside, but it cannot be argued that their life would be immeasurably worse off without them.

So, it’s nice to see that there is more of a balance in the stakeholder input into curbing so-called rogue individual birds by the sea eagle management scheme. It’s now readily accepted that some birds do severe damage to livestock in certain areas and equally that farmers accept their managed right to be in their locale. The key is in the word ‘managed’.

It’s a thorny and potentially politicised subject that will probably not raise its head above the parapet until after the Scottish elections later this year, but there is a growing feeling that management will, indeed, mean that in some areas a cull will have to take place.

Some argue that this should involve relocation as being an option, instead of a lethal solution. But, in the same way the ludicrous notion that not producing beef in Scotland will save the planet thus seeing production ‘exported’, then sending difficult birds to new locations will only transpose the problem.

It’s also been hinted that beavers should not be shot – as they are allowed to be under licence at the moment – but re-located instead.

We have a ready-made solution. Send them to Knapdale, in Argyll, where the original and sanctioned re-wilding project seems to need ‘topping up’ on a regular basis as they keep disappearing. It seems that they don’t like the wild west!

ENDS

51 hen harriers confirmed illegally killed or ‘missing’ since 2018

For anyone who still wants to pretend that the grouse shooting industry isn’t responsible for the systematic extermination of hen harriers on grouse moors across the UK, here’s the latest catalogue of crime that suggests otherwise.

[This male hen harrier died in 2019 after his leg was almost severed in an illegally set trap that had been placed next to his nest on a Scottish grouse moor (see here). Photo by Ruth Tingay]

Ten days ago this list totalled 48 hen harriers, all either confirmed to have been illegally killed or to have ‘disappeared’, most of them on or next to driven grouse moors.

“They disappear in the same way political dissidents in authoritarian dictatorships have disappeared” (Stephen Barlow, 22 January 2021).

Today the list has been updated to include some others whose reported disappearances in 2020 have been confirmed, including Bronwyn (here) and Rosie (here), bringing the current running total to 51 hen harriers.

This disgraceful catalogue will continue to grow – I know of at least one more on-going police investigation which has yet to be publicised and I suspect there’s one other, although I’m still waiting for clarification on that one.

I’ve been compiling this list only since 2018 because that is the year that the grouse shooting industry ‘leaders’ would have us believe that the criminal persecution of hen harriers had stopped and that these birds were being welcomed back on to the UK’s grouse moors (see here).

This assertion was made shortly before the publication of a devastating new scientific paper that demonstrated that 72% of satellite-tagged hen harriers were confirmed or considered likely to have been illegally killed, and this was ten times more likely to occur over areas of land managed for grouse shooting relative to other land uses (see here).

2018 was also the year that Natural England issued itself with a licence to begin a hen harrier brood meddling trial on grouse moors in northern England. For new blog readers, hen harrier brood meddling is a conservation sham sanctioned by DEFRA as part of its ludicrous ‘Hen Harrier Action Plan‘ and carried out by Natural England (NE), in cahoots with the very industry responsible for the species’ catastrophic decline in England. For more background see here.

Brood meddling has been described as a sort of ‘gentleman’s agreement’ by commentator Stephen Welch:

“I don’t get it, I thought the idea of that scheme was some kind of trade off – a gentleman’s agreement that the birds would be left in peace if they were moved from grouse moors at a certain density. It seems that one party is not keeping their side of the bargain“.

With 51 hen harriers gone since 2018, I think it’s fair to say that the grouse shooting industry is simply taking the piss. Meanwhile, Natural England pretends that ‘partnership working’ is the way to go.

‘Partnership working’ appears to include authorising the removal of hen harrier chicks from a grouse moor already under investigation by the police for suspected raptor persecution (here) and accepting a £10K bung from representatives of the grouse shooting industry that prevents Natural England from criticising them (see here).

[Cartoon by Gill Lewis]

So here’s the latest gruesome list:

February 2018: Hen harrier Saorsa ‘disappeared’ in the Angus Glens in Scotland (here). The Scottish Gamekeepers Association later published wholly inaccurate information claiming the bird had been re-sighted. The RSPB dismissed this as “completely false” (here).

5 February 2018: Hen harrier Marc ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Durham (here)

9 February 2018: Hen harrier Aalin ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Wales (here)

March 2018: Hen harrier Blue ‘disappeared’ in the Lake District National Park (here)

March 2018: Hen harrier Finn ‘disappeared’ near Moffat in Scotland (here)

18 April 2018: Hen harrier Lia ‘disappeared’ in Wales and her corpse was retrieved in a field in May 2018. Cause of death was unconfirmed but police treating death as suspicious (here)

8 August 2018: Hen harrier Hilma ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Northumberland (here).

16 August 2018: Hen harrier Athena ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here)

26 August 2018: Hen Harrier Octavia ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Peak District National Park (here)

29 August 2018: Hen harrier Margot ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here)

29 August 2018: Hen Harrier Heulwen ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Wales (here)

3 September 2018: Hen harrier Stelmaria ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here)

24 September 2018: Hen harrier Heather ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here)

2 October 2018: Hen harrier Mabel ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here)

3 October 2018: Hen Harrier Thor ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in Bowland, Lanacashire (here)

23 October 2018: Hen harrier Tom ‘disappeared’ in South Wales (here)

26 October 2018: Hen harrier Arthur ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the North York Moors National Park (here)

1 November 2018: Hen harrier Barney ‘disappeared’ on Bodmin Moor (here)

10 November 2018: Hen harrier Rannoch ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here). Her corpse was found nearby in May 2019 – she’d been killed in an illegally-set spring trap (here).

14 November 2018: Hen harrier River ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Nidderdale AONB (here). Her corpse was found nearby in April 2019 – she’d been illegally shot (here).

16 January 2019: Hen harrier Vulcan ‘disappeared’ in Wiltshire close to Natural England’s proposed reintroduction site (here)

7 February 2019: Hen harrier Skylar ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in South Lanarkshire (here)

22 April 2019: Hen harrier Marci ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (here)

26 April 2019: Hen harrier Rain ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Nairnshire (here)

11 May 2019: An untagged male hen harrier was caught in an illegally-set trap next to his nest on a grouse moor in South Lanarkshire. He didn’t survive (here)

7 June 2019: An untagged hen harrier was found dead on a grouse moor in Scotland. A post mortem stated the bird had died as a result of ‘penetrating trauma’ injuries and that this bird had previously been shot (here)

5 September 2019: Wildland Hen Harrier 1 ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor nr Dalnaspidal on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park (here)

11 September 2019: Hen harrier Romario ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (here)

14 September 2019: Hen harrier (Brood meddled in 2019, #183704) ‘disappeared’ in North Pennines (here)

23 September 2019: Hen harrier (Brood meddled in 2019, #55149) ‘disappeared’ in North Pennines (here)

24 September 2019: Wildland Hen Harrier 2 ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor at Invercauld in the Cairngorms National Park (here)

24 September 2019: Hen harrier Bronwyn ‘disappeared’ near a grouse moor in North Wales (here)

10 October 2019: Hen harrier Ada ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the North Pennines AONB (here)

12 October 2019: Hen harrier Thistle ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Sutherland (here)

18 October 2019: Member of the public reports the witnessed shooting of an untagged male hen harrier on White Syke Hill in North Yorkshire (here)

November 2019: Hen harrier Mary found illegally poisoned on a pheasant shoot in Ireland (here)

January 2020: Members of the public report the witnessed shooting of a male hen harrier on Threshfield Moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here)

23 March 2020: Hen harrier Rosie ‘disappeared’ at an undisclosed roost site in Northumberland (here)

1 April 2020: Hen harrier (Brood meddled in 2019, #183703) ‘disappeared’ in unnamed location, tag intermittent (here)

5 April 2020: Hen harrier Hoolie ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (here)

8 April 2020: Hen harrier Marlin ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (here)

19 May 2020: Hen harrier Fingal ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Lowther Hills, Scotland (here)

21 May 2020: Hen harrier (Brood meddled in 2019, #183701) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Cumbria shortly after returning from wintering in France (here)

27 May 2020: Hen harrier Silver ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor on Leadhills Estate, Scotland (here)

9 July 2020: Unnamed female hen harrier (#201118) ‘disappeared’ from an undisclosed site in Northumberland (here).

25 July 2020: Hen harrier Harriet ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here)

14 August 2020: Hen harrier Solo ‘disappeared’ in confidential nest area in Lancashire (here)

7 September 2020: Hen harrier Dryad ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here)

16 September 2020: Hen harrier Fortune ‘disappeared’ from an undisclosed roost site in Northumberland (here)

19 September 2020: Hen harrier Harold ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here)

20 September 2020: Hen harrier (Brood meddled in 2020, #55152) ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in North Yorkshire (here)

To be continued……..

Anybody still wondering why the grouse shooting industry wants conservationists to stop fitting satellite tags?

Satellite-tagged hen harrier Rosie ‘disappears’ at roost site in Northumberland

Nine days ago I blogged about the suspicious disappearance of a satellite-tagged hen harrier called ‘Fortune’ who had vanished from an undisclosed roost site in Northumberland in September 2020 (see here).

Well guess what? Another one has gone, also from an undisclosed roost site in Northumberland.

This one was called ‘Rosie’, who was tagged (#57278) at a nest site (Northumberland 1) in July 2019 and the tag’s last known fix was 23 March 2020, also in Northumberland. Natural England has this marked in its database as ‘Missing fate unknown. At roost (site confidential)‘.

[Hen harrier Rosie when she was being tagged. Photo by Natural England]

Some of you may remember Rosie. She was previously reported as ‘missing’ in October 2019 (here) but then was reported to be alive and well later in the month (see here and here) and just wearing one of those Lotek tags whose limited functionality has proven to be problematic for tracking hen harriers (e.g. see here). I think it’s reasonable to assume that, ten months on and as there still hasn’t been a signal from her tag, then this is likely to be more than a tag reliability issue this time.

To be fair to Natural England, Rosie’s suspicious disappearance in March 2020 was not concealed – it was included in Natural England’s September 2020 tagged birds update but I didn’t spot it until now. Although perhaps if Natural England had bothered to publicise her suspicious disappearance at the time….

So, along with missing tagged hen harrier Fortune, that’s two gone at an undisclosed roost site in Northumberland this year. Whether that’s the same roost site only Natural England knows. Why can’t the roost sites be numbered, like the nest sites are, to disguise the actual location for security reasons but at least indicate positional proximity?

BASC’s £10K bung to Natural England to help fund winter roost monitoring doesn’t seem to be working very well, does it?

Rosie will now be added to the list of confirmed illegally killed/missing suspected killed hen harriers in the UK since 2018 – the running total is currently 50 but there’s more to come….standby.

Confirmation that hen harrier brood meddling estate was under police investigation

Cast your minds back to September 2020, when the RSPB claimed that a Natural England fieldworker had filmed a gunman, with an eagle owl, close to a hen harrier nest site in Cumbria (see here).

The RSPB, quite fairly, considered that the tethering of an eagle owl and the positioning of an armed man nearby was evidence that the eagle owl was being used as a decoy to attract in raptors (perhaps hen harriers) which could then be shot at close range. It’s an increasingly familiar sight on some grouse moors (e.g. see here), despite the use of a tethered live decoy being illegal (but let’s face it, the grouse shooting industry isn’t exactly feted for its adherence to the law).

A police investigation in Cumbria ensued, but allegations were later made that a Natural England staff member had unintentionally frustrated the criminal investigation by contravening legal protocol and phoning up the suspected gunman and asking whether he was the person who’d been seen, with the owl decoy, near to the hen harrier nest the previous day (see here). The investigation came to an abrupt halt but Natural England denied that its staff member’s actions had any bearing on this decision (see here). We’ll never know for sure because Natural England can’t be trusted to be upfront about anything relating to the hen harrier and its precarious conservation status (e.g. see here for the latest example of why Natural England shouldn’t be trusted).

The other interesting aspect about this case was the suggestion that this estate was actively involved with Natural England’s insane hen harrier brood meddling trial last year. The suggestion was made in the RSPB blog although certainty was lacking due to the secrecy surrounding the location of brood meddled nest sites.

For new blog readers, hen harrier brood meddling is a conservation sham sanctioned by DEFRA as part of its ludicrous ‘Hen Harrier Action Plan‘ and carried out by Natural England (NE), in cahoots with the very industry responsible for the species’ catastrophic decline in England. For more background see here.

[A more realistic view of DEFRA’s hen harrier action plan. Cartoon by Dr Gerard Hobley]

Thanks to one of our blog readers making a Freedom of Information request to Natural England, it can now be confirmed that yes, this [unnamed] grouse-shooting estate where a gunman was filmed crouching close to a tethered eagle owl, in the territory of a pair of breeding hen harriers, was also one of the estates where Natural England licensed the removal of hen harrier chicks for brood meddling last year.

Although it took Natural England a couple of goes to confirm this, first of all denying it and then having to send an email two weeks later to correct the information:

It leaves you brimming with confidence in Natural England’s competence, doesn’t it?

The biggest joke in all of this is that the brood meddling trial is supposed to test whether those people responsible for killing hen harriers illegally would stop killing hen harriers if the chicks were brood meddled (removed from the grouse moor in June at the critical grouse-rearing stage and then returned to the wild in August). It’s a sort of ‘gentleman’s agreement’, as I saw it described by one commentator the other day. The problem is, there doesn’t seem to be many ‘gentlemen’ involved, or at least not honourable ones.

The irony of permitting brood meddling to take place on an estate under police investigation for suspected raptor persecution is not lost on any of us.