Natural England has finally, after many months of delay, published its formal review of the Hen Harrier Brood Management (Meddling) trial that ran from 2018-2024.
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 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.
Male Hen Harrier (photo by Pete Walkden)
In March 2025, Natural England announced the end of the Hen Harrier brood meddling sham and noted that the so-called ‘partnership’ had now closed, although NE also said that no decision had yet been made about the potential annual roll-out of brood meddling (here).
In April 2025, Natural England announced that it had turned down a licence application from the Moorland Association for a brood meddling licence for 2025, mainly because the Moorland Association wanted to remove the licensing requirement that all brood meddled Hen Harriers must be satellite tagged (hmm, can’t think why), and also because the MA wanted a single release site for brood meddled Hen Harriers, presumably to get around the problem of there not being sufficient receptor sites/estates willing to take the young brood meddled birds on their release (see here).
This afternoon, Natural England has published three final reports as part of its review of the brood meddling trial. These are:
Hen Harrier Brood Management Trial Evaluation: The effectiveness of brood management as a mechanism for supporting Hen Harrier recovery.
Hen Harrier Brood Management Trial: Interim social science evaluation.
Hen Harrier Brood Management Trial: Findings from the social science survey of moorland managers Authors: National Centre for Social Research.
The three reports are available for download at the end of this blog. I haven’t read them yet – and probably won’t have time to do that until next week at the earliest, so will comment further once I’ve read them, if I find anything of interest.
Natural England has published a blog today, to accompany the publication of the three reports. Here’s the most relevant part:
This suggests that NE will consider brood meddling in the future, on the basis the same licence conditions used during the trial are in place (i.e. sat tagging, release site must be within the SPA from where the Hen Harriers are brood meddled etc).
Two of these paragraphs don’t make sense to me, as one contradicts the other. NE says that, “Such projects [i.e. brood meddling] should be for the explicit aim of increasing Hen Harrier numbers by reducing illegal killing and disturbance” but then in the next paragraph, it says, “It [brood meddling] is not a substitute for tackling wildlife crime“.
Eh?
The final sentence of NE’s blog is also relevant – “These views….will be kept under review as new evidence emerges“.
I don’t know if Natural England is aware, but significant new evidence on the extent of Hen Harrier persecution on UK grouse moors is on its way shortly, and if that doesn’t put an end to any idea about continuing the ludicrous brood meddling sham, I don’t know what will.
Meanwhile, here are NE’s three final reports on the Hen Harrier brood meddling trial:
CONFIRMATION OF FURTHER EAGLE POISONINGS IN DORSET
The white tailed sea eagle is one of England’s rarest and most impressive birds of prey, with a wing span often over 2 meters. A small group of these birds has been established by conservationists by re-introducing them onto the Isle of Wight from where they have spread out across England. However, this fragile population is under threat from a range of dangers, including poisoning from eating contaminated food such as poisoned rats. Nature lovers were outraged when one of the eagles was killed by poison in Dorset in 2022.
White-tailed Eagle (photo by Ronnie Gilbert)
An investigation by the wildlife group WPRUK has now shown that at least two further sea eagles were poisoned in Dorset in 2024, although many details of these incidents have been kept secret by the Government. The toxins involved are called Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (SGARs) – frequently used to kill rats by farmers, gamekeepers, pest controllers and householders. These were the same poisons that killed the eagle in 2022.
One eagle was originally recorded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as having died by electrocution in November 2024. However, from WPRUK’s attempts to establish the truth using Freedom of Information requests, it was confirmed by the Government agency, Natural England, that: ‘the high concentrations of second generation anti-coagulants reported in this eagle were of sufficient concern to justify further investigation.’ However, the HSE initially claimed that only background levels of these poisons were found in the liver.
Large residues of SGARs were found in the liver of a second sea eagle found dead in May 2024, which are believed to have been partly responsible for the bird’s death.
SGAR toxins start to have a lethal impact on sea eagles when levels reach above 0.1 mg/kg of the poison in the liver. WPRUK have established that the poison levels in the two 2024 eagles were far higher. The bird found in November had a toxin level of 0.194 mg/kg, while the one discovered in May had a staggering 0.43 mg/kg. Despite these incidents happening many months ago, Government agencies are still withholding the full details of the bird deaths. What are they so scared of? Two further eagles have now died in Dorset, one in March 2025 and one in March 2026. The full report for the bird that died in 2025 is also being withheld, although WPRUK has established that this too was exposed to SGAR poisons.
Is Government policy to blame for these eagle poisonings?
The dangers of these toxins have been known for many years and an environmental risk assessment in 2012 recommended that they should not be used outdoors due to the secondary poisoning risk – this is when the poisons move up the food chain. Poisons put out for mice and rats end up killing the top predators such as eagles. However, this risk assessment was ignored by the Government which permitted their continued use and even relaxed the regulations controlling where the higher toxicity poisons such as Brodifacoum could be used. This allowed the use of this poison outdoors for the first time, much to the alarm of wildlife experts.
The continued outdoor use of SGARs was on the condition that the chemical industry, by introducing better working practices by users, achieved a ‘significant reduction’ in the level of SGAR exposure in wildlife. This was part of the Government’s approved Rodenticide Stewardship Scheme.
WPRUK has been collecting data on SGAR exposure in buzzards in England and Wales to see if this ‘significant reduction’ has actually occurred.
So, what has happened?
The chemical industry’s attempts to reduce toxin exposure has been a complete failure. If two time periods, 2005 to 2013 and 2020 to 2024 are compared, it is found that:
The proportion of buzzards exposed to potentially lethal amounts of SGAR toxin (above 0.1 mg/kg in the liver) had increased from 15.1 % to 42.3 %.
The mean level of SGAR in the liver had increased 230 %.
It is clear that this increase in SGAR exposure in buzzards was due to a substantial rise in exposure of the birds to the highly toxic Brodifacoum, likely to be the result of the Government’s decision to permit the outdoor use of this highly toxic poison. Exposure to this high toxicity poison has increased by 1,026 %!
Commenting on the poison levels found in these eagles, Dr Ed Blane from WPRUK said:
“The death of these majestic birds in Dorset, and the high amounts of poison found in their livers, should cause alarm bells to start ringing across the country. What we see now is the total failure of Government approved policy meant to protect the environment, information being withheld and our wildlife paying the price. At the same time chemical companies are making profits from selling these poisons. We have Channel 4’s ‘Dirty Business’ meeting Rachel Carson’s ‘Silent Spring’!
“What is of particular concern are the plans to introduce eagles to other areas of England and Wales without addressing this growing poisoning issue. How many of these birds will suffer a similar fate as the Dorset eagles?“.
On Thursday this week, the High Court issued its judgement on a legal challenge, brought by the British Association for Shooting & Conservation (BASC) against Natural England, concerning the licensing of gamebirds on internationally important sites in England (Special Protection Areas).
The Royal Courts of Justice, London (photo by Ruth Tingay)
If you’ve been reading the subsequent press coverage, and the reaction of many gamebird shooters on social media, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the court has just overturned the recent gamebird licensing rules on Special Protection Areas and that gamebird releases can once again be undertaken anywhere, at any time, without restriction.
But that is far from being accurate.
Here, I will try to clarify the actual situation, with the caveat that this is my own personal interpretation, and I’m not a lawyer, but have been closely involved with the gamebird licensing issue for several years through my work with Wild Justice, and, with colleagues, attended BASC’s judicial review hearing in London on 1st July 2026 to listen to the evidence in this particular case.
First, some background.
In 2020, Wild Justice won a significant legal challenge against Defra, forcing it to introduce a licensing scheme for the release of gamebirds (Pheasants & Red-legged Partridges) on or near Natura 2000 sites to control ecological damage (see here). General Licences 45 and 43 were now required for gamebird releases on or within 500m of Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) respectively, regulating and restricting release densities on, or close to, these sensitive sites.
On 21 March 2025, Defra announced that it would not be issuing General Licence 45 for the 2025/26 shooting season, but instead applicants could apply for an individual licence, on a site-by site basis, because:
“It is currently not possible to rule out the risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) (which is currently very high) spreading to the bird features present on SPAs”.
Natural England (responsible for individual licences) went further, and on 14 April 2025 it advised the gamebird shooting industry that although they could still apply for individual licences for 2025 gamebird releases on or close to SPAs, some licences would only be permitted with a delayed release date for the poults, whereas licences for many other SPAs would be unlikely to be issued at all.
On 9 March 2026, Natural England announced the continued withdrawal of GL45 for the 2026/7 shooting season, and this year, for the first time, stated that individual licences would likely not be issued for the large Breckland SPA in Norfolk and Suffolk, due to the continuing very high risk of spreading Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (Bird Flu). Individual licences for restricted gamebird releases on certain other SPAs would still be issued, again with a delayed release date, to minimise the risk of transmitting HPAI and to protect wild birds of high conservation value for which the SPAs had been designated.
Importantly, the conditions of the individual licences in both years included a provision to not only prevent the release of gamebirds on/close to the SPA before a specified date, but also to prevent the keeping of those gamebirds on the site, prior to the specified release date. It’s crucial to understand this context, to be able to interpret the court’s recent ruling.
BASC’s legal challenge
In autumn 2025, BASC submitted an application for judicial review of Natural England’s licensing condition preventing the keeping of gamebirds inside pens on, or within 500m of, the SPA, arguing that this condition was ultra vires, i.e. it went beyond the scope of Natural England’s powers, because the keeping of gamebirds in pens is not the same as releasing gamebirds from pens, and was thus unlawful.
Although, if you’d read some of BASC’s media output about the legal challenge, this distinction wasn’t made. BASC had framed the legal challenge as follows:
“At the heart of the case is Natural England’s decision to impose a licensing regime for the release of pheasants and red-legged partridges on or near Special Protection Areas (SPAs).
“BASC believes this approach is legally flawed, unnecessary and disproportionate — particularly for shoots that have operated responsibly for generations under established codes of practice.
“The High Court has agreed there is a case to answer. A full hearing is expected later this year” (from a BASC press release, 2 March 2026).
I would argue that this framing by BASC was misleading, because it implied (to its members) that BASC was challenging the fundamental principle of licensing for gamebird releases on/near SPAs, when actually it was only challenging a condition of that licensing – that of preventing the keeping of gamebirds on site (in pens) prior to actual release, rather than the licensing of gamebird release.
BASC’s legal challenge also included an argument that release pens that straddled an SPA’s 500m buffer zone should not be subject to licensing.
Natural England defended its position that the licensing condition was lawful, and argued that the restriction on the “release [of gamebirds] into the wild” also covered the keeping of gamebirds in enclosures/pens prior to release, to protect the integrity of the protected site on which the enclosures/pens were situated, and to minimise the very high risk of transmitting HPAI between the penned gamebirds and any wild birds that could access the pens.
I’ve not included the specific, technical legal arguments here because they are long and detailed. They reminded me a lot of the absurdity of Schrodinger’s Pheasant, although instead of debating when is a Pheasant ‘wild’ and when is it ‘livestock’, this time the debate was about when is a Pheasant (and RLP) considered ‘released’. For those interested, the legal arguments can be found at the foot of this blog post.
A large, open-topped Pheasant pen partly situated within an SPA buzzer zone in Suffolk. It’s obvious that wild birds can access the pen with ease. (Photo: Ruth Tingay)
The High Court’s ruling
Judgement was reserved after the substantive hearing on 1 and 2 July 2026, which meant the judge, Mr Justice Ritchie, would consider the evidence heard in court and provide a written judgement at a later date.
That judgement came remarkably quickly, just over two weeks after the hearing (often it can take months, and sometimes, over a year) and was handed down on Thursday 16 July 2026. It’s not lost on me that the timing is very helpful to BASC, because the judgement affects licence conditions that are currently in use, preventing gamekeepers from tipping out hundreds of young birds into pens on or close to SPAs, prior to release later in the year.
The full 47-page judgement is provided further down this page. In summary, Mr Justice Ritchie ruled that Natural England’s imposition of a licence condition preventing the keeping of gamebirds within protected sites was unlawful. He did not rule on the issue of licensing pens that are partly in, partly out of a protected site, because BASC had not provided specific evidence on this so it was ruled a hypothetical argument.
The judgement also ruled that ‘relief should not be withheld’, which I understand to mean that the licence condition preventing the keeping of gamebirds on site prior to release will be immediately overturned.
Importantly, the licence condition that prevents the release of gamebirds on or close to SPAs before a specified date (as determined by Natural England) remains intact, and was never part of this legal challenge.
So in essence, BASC appears to have won a technical victory, in that gamebirds can now be kept in pens on site prior to release, but they still cannot be released on site prior to the delayed release dates (1 September or 1 October depending on the specific SPA). And, according to the Code of Good Shooting Practice, promoted and endorsed by BASC and all the other prominent gamebird shooting organisations,
‘Under normal circumstances, all birds should be released before the start of their shooting season. Shooting must not commence until the birds are mature and fully adapted to the wild – a minimum of one month from release‘.
So the implications of this judgement mean that gamebirds can be ‘imprisoned‘ (a word that appears frequently within Mr Justice Ritchie’s ruling) in pens on site without requiring a licence, and can be placed there at any time of the gamekeeper’s choosing, but once released on the specified date (either 1 Sept or 1 Oct), the shooters still can’t shoot them for at least another month anyway, so it seems a somewhat hollow victory.
BASC’s response to the judgement
BASC published a media response to the judgement on Thursday afternoon. It’s remarkable for its grandstanding, with very little detail about the substantive issues of the case or the implications of the judgement for BASC members.
Tellingly, BASC didn’t publish a copy of the judgement, which means that BASC members, and others, had to rely upon BASC’s interpretation of the judgement, rather than being able to read it for themselves and draw their own conclusions.
Given that BASC will likely have had a draft copy of the judgement for a week prior to it being formally handed down by the court, I’m amazed at the shallowness of its response:
More grandstanding by The Telegraph
Yesterday, The Telegraph featured the news about the judgement on its front page. It’s quite clear to me, after reading the opening paragraphs, why gamebird shooters on social media are thinking that gamebird licensing has been completely overturned:
‘By Patrick Galbraith, Environment Editor [former editor of Shooting Times!]: A CRACKDOWN on pheasant shooting has been overturned by the High Court, with a judge branding the green quango Natural England “irrational”.
The organisation, which acts as the Government’s nature watchdog, had sought to limit the countryside pursuit by forcing landowners to obtain a licence before releasing gamebirds.
However, the British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC) launched a legal challenge against the move, arguing that Natural England had acted unlawfully by restricting the release of pheasants and partridges.
Yesterday the High Court ruled in favour of BASC and criticised Natural England for “misinterpreting the scope of their powers“‘.
Natural England’s response to the judgement
Natural England is probably as unimpressed as I am with the way the shooting industry has framed the outcome of this legal challenge. NE published a blog in response, yesterday, laying out considerably more detail about the case than BASC has, and has stated its intention to apply to the court for permission to appeal the ruling. Quite rightly, NE’s focus is on the potential consequential threat to protected sites:
The 47-page judgement
The full judgement is published below so that everyone has an opportunity to scrutinise it.
For non-lawyers, which I guess most of us are, it’s very dry and turgid – that’s not a criticism, it’s just the way it is. And it’s clear that Mr Justice Ritchie is no ornithologist (there are a few howlers in there!) but ornithological qualifications aren’t necessary to interpret the law. It was also apparent, during the substantive hearing, that the judge was not familiar with the gamebird shooting sector – I say this to kill off any suggestion that the ruling was an establishment ‘set-up’ – a common accusation by some when legal arguments don’t go their way.
There are a few quotes from the judge, in reference to Partridge release pens, that will probably come back to haunt the gamebird shooting industry, such as:
“In my judgement, there is very little wild about a cage in a man planted corn field”
and
“It is clearly not released, it is fully imprisoned“
and
“They are imprisoned and not free“.
This is not quite the ‘wild’ and ‘natural’ image of gamebirds that the industry tries to portray!
Anyway, here’s the judgement, and I look forward to hearing further detail about Natural England’s application to appeal:
The charity Restoring Upland Nature (RUN), now home to the South Scotland Golden Eagle Project, is recruiting for the new position of North of England Golden Eagle Project Manager.
This position has been created following a Government announcement earlier this year that funding of £1 million would be made available to explore the feasibility of re-establishing Golden Eagles in England.
Here’s an overview of the job spec:
Location – Home based, ideally in Northern England, or potentially based in a partnership agency hub office.
Contract – full time to end of March 2029 with likely extension to 2032.
Salary – £35,000 – 40,000 depending on experience
Role – The role will focus on exploring, developing, and, subject to formal approval, supporting the potential reintroduction of Golden Eagles to Northern England. You will help shape the project from planning through to delivery, ensuring strong partnership working, effective community and stakeholder engagement, and high standards of project management throughout.
Closing date – 21 August 2026.
Interview date – first interview 31 Aug; second interview 4 Sept.
This is a controversial project, as discussed previously. There is an urgent need to restore long-lost native species to England (and the rest of the British Isles) but in this case, the cause of this particular species’ demise – illegal persecution – has not, and is not, being addressed with sufficient effectiveness to bring it to an end.
Many will argue that it’s ethically questionable to release Golden Eagles in to a landscape where they are undoubtedly going to be killed by gamekeepers on many of the intensively-managed driven grouse moors in the region. Large parts of the north of England have long been recognised as raptor persecution hotspots, most notably for Hen Harriers, Red Kites, Peregrines and Buzzards, and it won’t be any different for Golden Eagles, as demonstrated by the recent shooting of a young eagle that travelled down on its own from south Scotland. There’s also been the recent suspicious disappearance of a satellite-tagged White-tailed Eagle in the same region.
However, others will argue that the same issues faced the South Scotland Golden Eagle Project when it started to release translocated Golden Eagles in 2018, and even though some of those eagles have inevitably fallen victim to illegal persecution, and more are expected to, other individuals are now thriving and have paired up, are holding territories and are either attempting to breed or have bred successfully, some of them on nest platforms provided by supportive land managers.
Eagle conservation is a slow game. They generally have to survive for four or five years before they’re mature enough to attempt to reproduce, and they generally only produce one or two offspring at a time, uncommonly three. The biology of the species means that population restoration takes many, many years, and that’s even with the support of local landowners. If you add in the seemingly intractable culture of illegal persecution, along with the very low chance of being caught and so offending continues because the risk is seen to be worth it, then releasing Golden Eagles in to northern England to restore the population is not going to be quick and it certainly won’t be easy.
Applicants for the job would do well to read this authoritative feasibility report on Golden Eagle Recovery in England, authored by Dr Phil Whitfield and Dr Alan Fielding:
More detail has emerged from the ongoing trial of two Scottish gamekeepers, accused of offences relating to the alleged shooting and killing of Red Kites in the Cairngorms National Park in February 2025 and alleged firearms offences.
Head gamekeeper Graeme Rankin, 40, and assistant gamekeeper Steven Hague, 43, both of Glenbuchat Estate, have both denied the charges.
Red Kite photo by Ronnie Gilbert
The trial began at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in April 2026 and ran for four days (here), before it resumed again in June for several days (here). The case was then further adjourned until July, after the defence KCs lodged a motion calling for the dismissal of all charges for alleged procedural irregularities.
The trial will continue again next week. In the meantime, following on from a write-up from the trial in April, here’s a write-up from the June court proceedings, written by journalist Jamie Ross of the Press and Journal and published on 16 June 2026:
MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING RED KITE KEPT SHOTGUNS IN INSECURE CONDITIONS, COURT TOLD
A man accused of killing a red kite in the Cairngorms kept the keys to his shotguns in a broken safe and behind a table leg, a court has been told.
On Monday, Aberdeen Sheriff Court continued to hear evidence in the trial against Steven Hague, 43, and Graeme Rankin, 40, who each stand accused of shooting and killing a protected bird species on land in Knockie Wood.
The Glenbuchat Estate employees are also facing a charge of shooting a second red kite, while Hague is further charged with breaching the conditions of a firearms certificate and ammunition storage rules.
And yesterday, Sheriff Peter Hammond heard from a firearms officer who attended Hague’s cottage home and found that any combination of numbers could be entered into a safe for it to give up the key to one of his shotguns.
Another gun locker was accessed with a key the gamekeeper hung on a hook behind a table leg, just yards away in the same room where the weapons were kept.
Constable Tomas Spracklen told the court that he attended Hague’s Strathdon home on May 1 2025 alongside other officers who cautioned and arrested him in connection with the animal’s death.
The trial had previously been told that the red kite was discovered by a member of the public in the Glenbuchat area on February 26 last year before staff from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds got involved.
Experts concluded that the animal had been shot and the police were contacted.
Constable Spracklen, a firearms licensing officer, said he attended Hague’s property to carry out a “suitability review” for firearms certificates as colleagues carried out a search warrant.
He walked the court through the home, noting that the gun room had two cabinets where Hague kept his weapons.
On a previous visit to renew his certificates, Hague had provided the officers with a code to a safe, which was meant to securely store the key to his firearms.
“They need to be safely secured at all times,” Constable Spracklen explained.
“We asked him where his keys for the cabinets were kept. On our previous renewal, he indicated they were within a utility cupboard. I asked Mr Hague if that was still the same situation, if the code was the same as we had previously been given.
“Mr Hague advised that the actual safe for storing the keys didn’t work properly. We attended at the utility closet, where it was, and, as Mr Hague stated, I was just able to take the keys without entering the code.”
Hague would also tell the officer that the key to the second cabinet was on a hook on a table leg opposite the locker.
As part of keeping firearms, Hague is required to ensure that both weapons and ammunition are stored securely and are not accessible.
Asked for his opinion on whether what he found at Hague’s home meant he was in breach of that rule, Constable Spracklen said: “In my opinion, it did breach that condition. Anybody that was within that house could gain access to the keys and therefore gain access to the firearm cabinets.”
Fellow officers, he added, would allegedly go on to find an unsecured pouch of ammunition within the gun room.
Lawyer Shelagh McCall KC, representing Hague, queried the officer about her client’s property.
She asked: “Does it sit by itself, or is it adjoined to any other properties?”
“It sits by itself,” the constable replied.
She added: “In terms of the nearest neighbour, what do you reckon?”
“Well over a kilometre,” Constable Spracklen said, agreeing that the cottage was in “the back of beyond” and there was no one else living in the home other than Hague and his wife.
Joanna Murray, a forensic scientist at the Scottish Crime Campus, also gave evidence on Monday.
Shown the shotguns seized by police, she said it was her opinion that there were “similarities” between a Beretta A400 Lite — a left-handed weapon — and the weapon seen in trail camera footage from Knockie Wood.
The clips had previously been played to the court, which allegedly showed two men appearing to fire a shotgun before walking off screen and later returning with a bird in hand.
“That noise that occurred could have been caused by a discharge of a gun,” she told fiscal depute Karon Rollo.
“I am unable to determine what make and model the shotguns are from those videos.”
Queried on how rare a left-handed shotgun is, Mrs Murray added: “I do know, roughly, they make up 5% of the buying and selling market.”
Mrs Murray also concluded that, upon receiving a vet report on the deceased red kite, it was her opinion that its death was “consistent” with a shotgun pellet wound.
“It is my opinion,” she told the court. “Any of the shotguns could have discharged. Or any other shotgun”.
The quality of the video evidence again came under scrutiny during the trial.
At its last hearing, special constable Michael Flacherty said he had been able to identify Rankin, whose address was given as a croft on the Glenbuchat Estate, from the trail cam footage which he saw in better resolution.
“I cannot identify Mr Rankin from this resolution,” he said of the video when it was played back to him at court.
“In the original footage I viewed, I could identify Mr Rankin.”
Mrs Murray had similar issues when she attempted to point to features of the weapons she had referenced in her report as she struggled to find them when the videos were played back in the courtroom.
A video prepared by the defence, however, had no such problems.
Asked to view a piece of film which Ms McCall said showed a man shooting a shotgun 35 metres away from a camera to provide a comparison of the alleged shooting witnessed in the Crown’s footage, Mrs Murray said: “It’s noticeably louder.
“The pick-up on it seemed quite loud compared to the pick-up on the [trail cam].
“If I was to do a like-for-like comparison, I would like to see that testing done in the same area as well.”
The defence’s footage also showed a muzzle flash, which the trail camera does not appear to pick up.
Mrs Murray said “one explanation” for that was a tree causing a physical obstruction.
The red kite is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, making it illegal for them to be killed.
It is believed red kites scare grouse, making it harder for them to be driven towards shooting parties.
The trial was originally due to be heard last December, but the presiding Sheriff Robert Vaughan recused himself because he is an RSPB subscriber.
The trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court continues.
ENDS
The trial will resume at Aberdeen Sheriff Court next week.
NB: Comments are turned off as legal proceedings are still live.
UPDATE 6 August 2026: Trial collapses against two Scottish gamekeepers accused of killing Red Kites in Cairngorms National Park (here)
ITV News ran a five minute feature yesterday on the continued illegal killing of birds of prey in North Yorkshire, and the RSPB’s calls for a gamebird shooting licensing scheme to tackle these crimes.
The film highlights the recent convictions earlier this year of gamekeeper Thomas Munday, who was caught battering to death a Buzzard that he’d trapped on a Pheasant shoot at Hovingham (here), and gamekeeper Racster Dingwall, who was caught conspiring to shoot a Hen Harrier on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Both cases relied on video footage captured on hidden cameras installed on the estates by the RSPB’s Investigations Team.
Two members of the RSPB’s Investigations Team are interviewed (Mark Thomas and Howard Jones) and discuss how satellite tags have helped detect the locations where Hen Harriers are being killed, and the level of ongoing threat to this and other species, including White-tailed Eagles.
A counter-argument against gamebird shoot licensing is provided by Dr Marnie Lovejoy from the British Association of Shooting & Conservation (BASC). She admits that grouse shoot licensing in Scotland has not prevented the illegal killing of raptors (she’s right about that) but then claims, counter-intuitively, that licensing wouldn’t be a deterrent because, “They could lose their licence even though they have done nothing wrong“.
I’m not aware of any grouse shooting estate in Scotland losing its licence yet, even though there have been multiple raptor persecution crimes detected since licensing was introduced in 2024, although several cases are still making their way through the slow judicial process.
Nor has anyone had their grouse shooting licence revoked ‘when they’ve done nothing wrong’. Given the level of evidence required just for a General Licence restriction in Scotland, let alone a grouse shooting licence, it is highly unlikely that an innocent estate would ever be penalised. And even if it did happen, estates have several rights of appeal, first through the regulator, NatureScot, and then through the Sheriff Courts.
It’s clear that BASC doesn’t want further regulation, perhaps because it’s obvious that many gamebird shoots will struggle to comply, but using an unevidenced argument against it just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
A new report reviewing the current use of spring traps in England has been published by the National Anti Snaring Campaign (NASC) group.
Spring trap on a North Yorkshire grouse moor (Photo: Ruth Tingay)
Authored by Professor Stephen Harris, the report was commissioned as a direct response to Defra’s Animal Welfare Strategy, which was announced in December 2025, laying out the Westminster Government’s priorities and a framework for the changes it seeks to achieve by 2030. Those priorities include a ban on snares, a ban on trail hunting, and a review on traps and gamebird rearing (see here).
Thousands of traps are used in the countryside to kill so-called ‘vermin’, and they’re particularly common on driven grouse moors, where the intention is to protect grouse stocks from predation.
There have long been concerns about the animal welfare aspects of traps, particularly spring traps, and that includes traps that have been set legally, as well as those that have been deliberately (and illegally) mis-used to kill non-target species, including raptors (see here for many previous blog entries on this subject).
New legislation in 2020 was intended to counter the inhumane trapping of some species, particularly Stoats, although the subsequent new-design spring traps are still a cause for concern (e.g. see here).
The new report on spring traps in England is comprehensive and includes a review on current use, welfare implications and legislation. NASC has sent a copy of it to Defra to help inform policy.
In April this year, James ‘Jimmy’ Kempster, 39, was found guilty of being in possession at some point of a Kestrel and a Barn Owl that had been found impaled on the door handle of a community shop in Broughton, Hampshire, in March 2024. DNA found on the birds was linked to Kempster.
He was found not guilty of criminal damage in relation to the dumping of 50 dead Hares that were strewn around the shop’s courtyard, with blood smeared on the shop windows, as the prosecution could not show beyond reasonable doubt that Kempster was present at the crime scene.
Sentencing was deferred until 23 June 2026 to allow for background reports to be prepared.
Screen grab from the CCTV footage outside Broughton Community Shop on 15 March 2024, showing one of three unidentified individuals throwing dead Hares from a vehicle onto the shop forecourt. (Image via Crown Prosecution Service)
Kemspter, who has a string of at least 13 prior convictions, was given a 15-month community order including 30 days of rehabilitation activity and made subject to being monitored by an electronic tag for six months.
He was also fined £120 and ordered to pay costs of £650 with a £114 court surcharge.
Press release from Hampshire Constabulary (23 June 2026):
MAN SENTENCED FOR WILDLIFE OFFENCES IN BROUGHTON
A man has been sentenced for wildlife offences relating to handling the carcasses of two protected species of bird.
On 15 March 2024, police received multiple reports that a large pile of approximately 50 dead hares had been strewn across the floor outside Broughton Community Shop, and the bodies of a dead barn owl and kestrel were stuffed on to the shop’s door handle.
Local villagers turned up to help clean up the mess prior to police arriving.
Following a number of enquiries, 39-year-old James ‘Jimmy’ Kempster was arrested and subsequently charged with offences, after forensic testing of the carcasses showed that his DNA was present on the owl and the kestrel.
He denied any involvement, and the case went to trial at Southampton Magistrates Court on Tuesday 21 April 2026.
During the trial, the court heard how CCTV showed a Suzuki Grand Vitara turn up at the shop in the early hours of the morning on 15 March 2024. Two men exited the vehicle and began throwing the animal carcasses on the floor, and one of the men attached the dead birds to the shop’s door handle.
The following day, officers were out on patrol in rural Test Valley when they discovered a car similar to that captured on the CCTV burnt out approximately three and a half miles from Broughton.
Magistrates determined that, whilst the evidence was insufficient to place Kempster at the scene when the bodies were dumped, they accepted he had handled the dead birds at some point. Kempster was found guilty of possession of a dead schedule 1 wild bird, and possession of a dead non schedule 1 wild bird under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
A second man, aged 29 years, was interviewed under caution by police as part of this investigation, but he was later released with no further action being taken.
Kempster, of Marchwood Road in Eling, appeared at Southampton Magistrates Court on Tuesday 23 June where he was sentenced to a community order, rehabilitation activity, and ordered to pay £884 in costs.
ENDS
There’s a bit more detail provided in this article on the BBC News website.
Press release from Police Scotland (26 June 2026), followed by my commentary:
POLICE APPEAL AFTER SQUEAGLE THE GOLDEN EAGLE FOUND WITH SHOTGUN INJURIES
Police Scotland is appealing for information after a golden eagle was found to have been shot.
Squeagle, a four-year-old female golden eagle, was moved from the Outer Hebrides to the Lammermuir Hills in the Scottish Borders in February 2026 as part of a translocation project run by Restoring Upland Nature (RUN). She is fitted with a satellite tag which allows her movements to be monitored.
Low resolution map showing Squeagle’s satellite tracking data from Feb – May 2026. Image from Restoring Upland Nature (RUN)
After her release, Squeagle travelled through parts of northern England, including Northumberland, the Pennines and the Yorkshire Dales. A photograph taken in Northumberland on Monday, 4 May, 2026, showed significant damage to her wing feathers.
Squeagle photographed in Northumberland on 4 May 2026 with extensive feather damage (photo via RUN)
On Monday, 1 June, 2026, gamekeepers on an estate in the Lammermuirs became concerned after noticing the bird behaving unusually and contacted RUN. Squeagle was collected and taken to the Scottish SPCA’s National Wildlife Rescue Centre at Fishcross for assessment.
Scans and treatment revealed she had been shot and had at least 17 shotgun pellets lodged in her body and wings. Experts believe the injuries were not recent, as the wounds had already healed.
Detective Sergeant David Lynn, National Wildlife Crime Coordinator said:
“This was a serious attack on a protected bird of prey which I utterly condemn. Thanks to the quick actions of those who reported concerns, the golden eagle was able to receive specialist treatment and has since been returned to the wild. We are working with partners across Scotland and northern England to establish where and when she was shot.
“Following treatment by veterinary specialists at the Scottish SPCA, Squeagle was released back into the wild on Saturday, 6 June, 2026. Her condition will continue to be monitored through observations and detailed analysis of satellite tracking.
“Enquiries remain ongoing, and we are working alongside our colleagues in Northumberland, Durham, Cumbria and North Yorkshire, supported by the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit to establish who was responsible“.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Police Scotland, quoting incident number 1361 of 5 June 2026.
ENDS
Squeagle being released in south Scotland February 2026 after translocation from the Western Isles (photo by John Wright)
My commentary:
First of all, plaudits to all those involved with the recovery of this injured eagle and her subsequent release back to the wild – the gamekeepers who found her and chose to raise the alarm instead of their guns, RUN staff for a quick response and rescue, and the SSPCA staff who provided urgent and expert veterinary care and rehabilitation.
Plaudits also to Police Scotland for a fairly fast and detailed press release.
What struck me most about this latest persecution incident is that this Golden Eagle had survived for four-years in the relatively persecution-free Uists, but within three months of being translocated and released in south Scotland, and venturing into northern England, someone had shot her, presumably with the intention of killing her.
This happened just a few short months after another young translocated Golden Eagle, ‘Hamlet’, was found with shotgun injuries on a grouse moor in the Scottish Borders in January this year (see here).
These crimes, along with the shooting of Golden Eagle Merrick in the Moorfoot Hills in 2023 (here), the suspicious disappearances of Golden Eagles Tarras and Wren in the Langholm area in 2025 (here), the suspicious disappearance of a White-tailed Eagle in the Moorfoot Hills in 2025 (here), and the suspicious disappearance of White-tailed Eagle G834 in the North York Moors National Park in 2026 (here) are a stark reminder of the difficulties faced by those trying to re-establish eagle populations in the region, against a residual Victorian culture of zero tolerance for raptors on large areas of land that is managed for gamebird shooting.
The police and others are undertaking a detailed analysis of Squeagle’s satellite tracking data to try and pinpoint the location where she was shot, which looks likely to have been somewhere in northern England. I don’t doubt that they’ll be able to find it, given the quality and accuracy of the tag data available to them, but even if they can determine the location, it won’t result in a prosecution / conviction, or indeed any sanction, because unlike in Scotland, General Licence restrictions and/or grouse shoot licence revocations are not available in England.
So for those who continue to target these eagles, and other raptors, especially Hen Harriers, the risk of getting caught is almost negligible so in their minds it’s still worth committing the offence.
The RSPB and some others will argue that gamebird licensing is the way ahead, so that licences can be revoked where offences have been detected, providing at least some sort of sanction against those who continue to think the law doesn’t apply to them. There’s some merit in that argument, although personally I see licensing as only a step in the right direction and we’re still to see any licence revocations in Scotland, despite multiple raptor persecution offences taking place since licensing was introduced two years ago.
I’d like to see the Westminster Government put up funding to establish a national, multi-agency response unit to investigate raptor persecution crimes, and all other crimes that are listed as National Wildlife Crime priorities. It’s all very well putting up £1 million to explore the re-establishment of Golden Eagles in northern England (see here), but without also investing in wildlife crime enforcement capabilities, many eagles that are translocated are simply going to be shot, or trapped, or poisoned, or bludgeoned to death, with zero consequences for the offenders, just as they have been for the last 70+ years.
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
This is the blog I now publish after every reported killing or suspicious disappearance.
“They disappear in the same way political dissidents in authoritarian dictatorships have disappeared” (Stephen Barlow, 22 January 2021).
Today the list has been revised to reflect updates revealed in this morning’s blog (here) about two more ‘disappearing’ Hen Harriers on Ruabon Moor in North Wales whose satellite tags were found and assessments concluded they’d been ‘deliberately cut off’.
There isn’t a one-stop shop (apart from this list) where you can find information about ‘missing’ or illegally killed Hen Harriers – the information for this list is sourced and cross-referenced from various places, including Natural England’s database, the RSPB’s database, the HSE’s database, police reports, RSPB Birdcrime reports and FoIs to various agencies. This list doesn’t include any Hen Harriers that have been listed as having a natural cause of death (e.g. known/suspected predation), or listed as ‘likely tag failure’, or known to have been lost abroad, or where the cause of death is inconclusive, unless there is additional information (e.g. from satellite tag data) which indicates suspicious or illegal activity. It is painstaking work that takes a lot of time to complete, but I consider it to be as accurate and comprehensive as it can be at the time of writing.
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). A further scientific paper published in 2023 by scientists at the RSPB, utilising even more recent data, echoed these results – see here.
2018 was also the year that Natural England issued a licence to begin a Hen Harrier brood meddling trial on grouse moors in northern England. For new blog readers, Hen Harrier brood meddling was 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 and for a critical evaluation of the trial after 5 years see this report by Wild Justice. In 2024 the brood meddling trial appeared to collapse for reasons which are not yet clear (see here) and the licence for the so-called ‘scientific trial’ expired. In March 2025 Natural England announced the end of the brood meddling trial (here) and in April 2025 announced that a licence application to continue brood meddling, submitted by the Moorland Association, had been refused (here).
Brood meddling was earlier 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 at least 149 Hen Harriers gone since 2018, and 28 of those being brood meddled birds, there is no question that the grouse shooting industry was simply taking the piss. Meanwhile, Natural England pretended that ‘partnership working’ was the way to go and consecutive Tory DEFRA Ministers remained silent for all those years.
*n/a – no Hen Harriers were brood meddled in 2018.
‘Partnership working’ according to Natural England appeared 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 £75k ‘donation’ from representatives of the grouse shooting industry with a contract clause that prevented Natural England from criticising them or the sham brood meddling trial (see here). This was in addition to a further £10k ‘donation’ that Natural England accepted, under the same terms, in 2021 (here).
Thankfully, the Scottish Government finally decided to act by introducing a grouse moor licensing scheme under the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024. The intention behind this new legislation is that grouse shooting estates could have their licences suspended/revoked if, on the balance of probability, it is shown that any raptor persecution crimes (& some other associated offences) are linked with grouse moor management on that estate. There were, however, ongoing issues with the licence as it was significantly watered-down after an intervention from the grouse shooting industry (see here). The loophole was eventually closed off via an amendment in the Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2026 (see here).
In England a new Hen Harrier Taskforce was established in 2024, led by the National Wildlife Crime Unit, to use innovative techniques to target Hen Harrier persecution hotspots (locations where Hen Harriers repeatedly ‘disappear’ or are found illegally killed). It’s too early to judge the Taskforce’s success/failure and it’s been met with considerable resistance from the Moorland Association, the grouse moor owners’ lobby group (e.g. see here). So far though, it’s quite clear that the the illegal killing continues.
So here’s the latest gruesome list of ‘missing’/illegally killed Hen Harriers since 2018. Note that the majority of these birds (but not all) were fitted with satellite tags. How many more [untagged] harriers have been killed? We now have evidence that gamekeepers are specifically targeting untagged Hen Harriers, precisely to avoid detection (see here for extraordinary footage/audio captured by the RSPB’s Investigations Team as featured on Channel 4 News in October 2024).
2018
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). Tagged by RSPB.
5 February 2018: Hen Harrier Marc ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Durham (here). Tagged by RSPB.
9 February 2018: Hen Harrier Aalin ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Wales (here). Tagged by RSPB.
March 2018: Hen Harrier Blue ‘disappeared’ in the Lake District National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
March 2018: Hen Harrier Finn ‘disappeared’ near Moffat in Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
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). Tagged by RSPB.
8 August 2018: Hen Harrier Hilma ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Northumberland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
16 August 2018: Hen Harrier Athena ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
26 August 2018: Hen Harrier Octavia ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Peak District National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
29 August 2018: Hen Harrier Margot ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
29 August 2018: Hen Harrier Heulwen ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Wales (here). Tagged by RSPB.
3 September 2018: Hen Harrier Stelmaria ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
24 September 2018: Hen Harrier Heather ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
2 October 2018: Hen Harrier Mabel (Tag ID 34342) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref NY851059. Tagged by NE.
3 October 2018: Hen Harrier Thor ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in Bowland, Lanacashire (here). Tagged by RSPB.
23 October 2018: Hen Harrier Tom (Tag ID 161144) ‘disappeared’ in South Wales (here). Grid ref SS906698. Tagged by NE.
26 October 2018: Hen Harrier Arthur ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the North York Moors National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
1 November 2018: Hen Harrier Barney (Tag ID 34343) ‘disappeared’ on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall (here). Grid ref SX140720. Tagged by NE.
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). Tagged by RSPB.
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). Tagged by RSPB.
2019
16 January 2019: Hen Harrier Vulcan ‘disappeared’ in Wiltshire close to Natural England’s proposed reintroduction site (here). Tagged by RSPB.
28 January 2019: Hen Harrier DeeCee ‘disappeared’ in Glen Esk, a grouse moor area of the Angus Glens (see here). Tagged by RSPB.
7 February 2019: Hen Harrier Skylar ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in South Lanarkshire (here). Tagged by RSPB.
22 April 2019: Hen Harrier Marci ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
26 April 2019: Hen Harrier Rain ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Nairnshire (here). Tagged by RSPB.
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). Tagged by Wildlands.
11 September 2019: Hen Harrier Romario ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
14 September 2019: Hen Harrier R1-M2-19 (Brood meddled in 2019, Tag ID 183704) ‘disappeared’ in the North Pennines (here). Grid ref SD920943. Tagged by NE.
23 September 2019: Hen Harrier R1-M4-19 (Brood meddled in 2019, Tag ID 55149) ‘disappeared’ in North Pennines (here). Grid ref NY952103. Tagged by NE.
24 September 2019: Wildland Hen Harrier 2 ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor at Invercauld in the Cairngorms National Park (here). Tagged by Wildlands.
24 September 2019: Hen Harrier Bronwyn ‘disappeared’ near a grouse moor in North Wales (here). Tagged by RSPB.
10 October 2019: Hen Harrier Ada ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the North Pennines AONB (here). Tagged by RSPB.
12 October 2019: Hen Harrier Thistle ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Sutherland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
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). Tagged by RSPB.
November 2019: Hen Harrier Artemis ‘disappeared’ near Long Formacus in south Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
14 December 2019: Hen harrier Oscar ‘disappeared’ in Eskdalemuir, south Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
December 2019: Hen Harrier Ingmar ‘disappeared’ in the Strathbraan grouse moor area of Perthshire (here). Tagged by RSPB.
Unknown date in 2019: Hen Harrier Erin tagged on Isle of Man ‘disappeared’ (Stop No Malfunction) – location unknown (see here). Tagged by RSPB.
2020
27 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).
5 April 2020: Hen Harrier Hoolie ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
8 April 2020: Hen Harrier Marlin ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
19 May 2020: Hen Harrier Fingal ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Lowther Hills, Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
21 May 2020: Hen Harrier R1-M1-19 (Brood meddled in 2019, Tag ID 183701) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Cumbria shortly after returning from wintering in France (here). Grid ref SD770877. Tagged by NE.
27 May 2020: Hen Harrier Silver ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor on Leadhills Estate, Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
2020: day/month unknown: Unnamed male Hen Harrier breeding on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve, Cumbria ‘disappeared’ while away hunting (here).
14 August 2020: Hen Harrier Solo (Tag ID 201119) ‘disappeared’ in confidential nest area in Lancashire (here). Tagged by NE.
7 September 2020: Hen Harrier Dryad ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
16 September 2020: Hen Harrier Fortune (Tag ID 162150a) ‘disappeared’ from a confidential roost site in Northumberland (here). Tagged by NE.
19 September 2020: Hen Harrier Harold (Tag ID 57272) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref NY830036. Tagged by NE.
20 September 2020: Hen Harrier R1-M4-20 (Brood meddled in 2020, Tag ID 55152) ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in North Yorkshire (here). Grid ref SE103956. Tagged by NE.
19 December 2020: Hen Harrier Lagertha (Tag ID 201126a) ‘disappeared’ in Christchurch, Dorset close to winter roost. Not to be confused with RSPB-tagged bird also called Lagertha (2023). Grid ref SZ161924. Tagged by NE.
2021
24 February 2021: Hen Harrier Tarras ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in Northumberland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
12th April 2021: Hen Harrier Yarrow ‘disappeared’ near Stockton, County Durham (here). Tagged by RSPB.
18 May 2021: Untagged breeding male Hen Harrier (Geltsdale 1) ‘disappeared’ from its breeding attempt on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve, Cumbria whilst away hunting (here).
18 May 2021: Another untagged breeding male Hen Harrier (Geltsdale 2) ‘disappeared’ from its breeding attempt on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve, Cumbria whilst away hunting (here).
24 July 2021: Hen Harrier Asta (Tag ID 201117) ‘disappeared’ in the North Pennines after establishing a home range around Gilmonby Moor (here). We learned 18 months later that her wings had been ripped off so her tag could be fitted to a crow in an attempt to cover up her death (here). Grid ref SE206937. Tagged by NE.
14th August 2021: Hen Harrier Josephine (Tag ID 213850) ‘disappeared’ at a ‘confidential site’ in Northumberland (here). Grid ref NY592841. Tagged by NE.
17 September 2021: Hen Harrier Reiver ‘disappeared’ in a grouse moor dominated region of Northumberland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
24 September 2021: Hen Harrier R2-F1-21 (Brood meddled in 2021, Tag ID 213918) ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland (here). Grid ref NZ022667. Tagged by NE.
15 November 2021: Hen Harrier R2-F1-20 (Brood meddled in 2020, Tag ID 203003) ‘disappeared’ at the edge of a grouse moor on Arkengarthdale Estate in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref NY959039. Tagged by NE.
12 December 2021: Hen Harrier Jasmine (Tag ID 213848) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor (High Rigg Moor on the Middlesmoor Estate) in the Nidderdale AONB in North Yorkshire (here). Grid ref SE034733. Tagged by NE.
Unknown date in 2021: Hen Harrier Maiden, tagged in Lancashire in 2021, ‘disappeared’ at unknown location (here). Tagged by RSPB.
Unknown date in 2021: Hen Harrier Awyr, tagged in Conwy in 2021, ‘disappeared’ on Ruabon grouse moor. Her tag/harness was recovered and an expert assessment concluded it had been cut off (here). Tagged by the RSPB.
2022
9 January 2022: Hen Harrier Ethel (Tag ID 213852) ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland (here). Grid ref NY936632. Tagged by NE.
10 February 2022: An unnamed satellite-tagged Hen Harrier ‘disappeared’ in a grouse moor dominated area of the Peak District National Park (here). One year later it was revealed that the satellite tag/harness of this young male called ‘Anu’ had been deliberately cut off (see here). Tagged by RSPB.
12 April 2022: Hen Harrier Free (Tag ID 201121) ‘disappeared’ at a ‘confidential site’ in Cumbria (here). It later emerged he hadn’t disappeared, but his mutilated corpse was found on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. A post mortem revealed the cause of death was having his head twisted and pulled off. One (ringed) leg had also been torn off whilst he was still alive (here). Tagged by NE.
April 2022: Hen Harrier Pegasus ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor at Birkdale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
May 2022: An untagged breeding male Hen Harrier (Peak District 1) ‘disappeared’ from a National Trust-owned grouse moor in the Peak District National Park (here).
May 2022: Another untagged breeding male Hen Harrier (Peak District 2) ‘disappeared’ from a National Trust-owned grouse moor in the Peak District National Park (here).
14 May 2022: Hen Harrier Harvey (Tag ID 213844) ‘disappeared’ in the North Pennines (here). Grid ref NY918019. Tagged by NE.
20 June 2022: Hen harrier chick #1 stamped to death in nest on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
20 June 2022: Hen Harrier chick #2 stamped to death in nest on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
20 June 2022: Hen Harrier chick #3 stamped to death in nest on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
20 June 2022: Hen Harrier chick #4 stamped to death in nest on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
17 August 2022: Hen Harrier R1-M1-22 (Brood meddled in 2022, Tag ID 232637) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref SD804893. Tagged by NE.
September 2022: Hen Harrier Sullis ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Cumbria (here). Tagged by RSPB.
5 October 2022: Hen Harrier R3-M2-22 (Brood meddled in 2022, Tag ID 213920a) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref NY791016. Tagged by NE.
10 October 2022: Hen Harrier Sia ‘disappeared’ near Hamsterley Forest in the North Pennines (here). Tagged by RSPB.
October 2022: Hen Harrier R1-F1-21 (Brood meddled in 2021, Tag ID 213919) ‘disappeared’ in the North Sea off the North York Moors National Park (here). Tagged by NE.
1 December 2022: Hen Harrier R1-M1-21 (Brood meddled in 2021, Tag ID 55145a) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref SD917620. Tagged by NE.
7 December 2022: Hen Harrier R2-F2-20 (Brood meddled in 2020, Tag ID 55144) ‘disappeared’ from winter roost (same as R3-F1-22) on moorland in North Pennines AONB. Later found dead on 26 June 2023 with 3 shotgun pellets in corpse (here). Grid ref NY730372. Tagged by NE.
14 December 2022: Hen Harrier R3-F1-22 (Brood meddled in 2022, Tag ID 213921a) ‘disappeared’ from winter roost (same as R2-F2-20) on moorland in the North Pennines AONB (here). Later found dead on 10 April 2023 with two shotgun pellets in corpse (here). Grid ref NY708423. Tagged by NE.
15 December 2022: Hen Harrier R2-F1-22 (Brood meddled in 2022, Tag ID 213931) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref SD847831. Tagged by NE.
Unknown date in 2022: Hen Harrier Heath, tagged in Lancashire in 2019, ‘disappeared’ at unknown location (here). Tagged by RSPB.
Unknown date in 2022: Hen Harrier Syrcas, tagged in Conwy in 2021, ‘disappeared’ at unknown location (here). Tagged by RSPB.
2023
30 March 2023: Hen Harrier R1-F3-22 (Brood meddled in 2022, Tag ID NY823039) ‘disappeared’ in Yorkshire (here). Grid ref NY823039. Tagged by NE.
March 2023: Hen Harrier (tagged), last transmission/sighting in Lancashire. No tag number provided. Reported in RSPB Birdcrime 2023, Appendix 4 (here).
1 April 2023: Hen Harrier R2-M1-22 (Brood meddled in 2022, Tag ID NY846027) ‘disappeared’ in Yorkshire (here). Grid ref NY846027. Tagged by NE.
April 2023: Hen Harrier Lagertha ‘disappeared’ in North Yorkshire (here). Tagged by RSPB. Not to be confused with Lagertha tagged by NE & disappeared in 2020).
April 2023: Hen Harrier Nicola (Tag ID 234078) ‘disappeared’ in North Yorkshire (here). Grid ref SD831860. Tagged by NE.
April 2023: Untagged male Hen Harrier (Geltsdale 3) ‘disappeared’ from an active nest on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve in Cumbria (here).
April 2023: Another untagged male Hen Harrier (Geltsdale 4) ‘disappeared’ from an active nest on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve in Cumbria (here).
April 2023: Untagged male Hen Harrier ‘disappeared’ from an active nest in Co Durham (here).
4/5 May 2023: Hen Harrier Rush ‘disappeared’ from a grouse moor in Bowland AONB in Lancashire (here). Tagged by RSPB.
9/10 May 2023: Hen Harrier Dagda tagged in Lancashire in June 2022 and who was breeding on the RSPB’s Geltsdale Reserve in 2023 until he ‘disappeared’, only to be found dead on the neighbouring Knarsdale grouse moor in May 2023 – a post mortem revealed he had been shot (here). Tagged by RSPB.
17 May 2023: Hen Harrier Wayland ‘disappeared’ in the Clapham area of North Yorkshire, just north of the Bowland AONB (here). Tagged by RSPB.
31 May 2023: Hen Harrier R2-M3-22 (Brood meddled in 2022, Tag ID 213932) ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland (here). Grid ref NY765687. Tagged by NE.
11 June 2023: Hen Harrier R2-M1-21 (Brood meddled in 2021, Tag ID 213922) ‘disappeared’ in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref NY757000. Tagged by NE.
12 June 2023: Hen Harrier R1-M2-20 (Brood meddled in 2020, Tag ID 203004) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Co. Durham (here). Grid ref NY976322. Tagged by NE.
6 July 2023: Hen Harrier Rubi (Tag ID 201124a) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Co. Durham (here). Grid ref NY911151. Tagged by NE.
23 July 2023: Hen Harrier R1-F1-23 (Brood meddled in 2023, Tag ID 55154a) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Co. Durham (close to where Rubi disappeared) (here). Grid ref NY910126. Tagged by NE.
9 August 2023: Hen Harrier Martha ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor (Westburnhope Moor) near Hexham in the North Pennines (here). Tagged by RSPB.
11 August 2023: Hen Harrier Selena ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor (Mossdale Moor) in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
11 August 2023: Hen Harrier R3-F1-23 (Brood meddled in 2023, Tag ID 201118a) ‘disappeared’ in Co. Durham (here). Grid ref NZ072136. Tagged by NE.
15 August 2023: Hen Harrier Hepit ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor (Birkdale Common) near Kirkby Stephen in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
24 August 2023: Hen Harrier R1-F2-23 (Brood meddled in 2023, Tag ID 55155a) ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland (here). Grid ref NY679863. Tagged by NE.
August-Sept 2023: Hen Harrier Harmonia ‘disappeared’ in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). ‘Stop No Malfunction’. Tagged by RSPB.
September 2023: Hen Harrier Saranyu, tagged in Cumbria in June 2023, ‘disappeared’ in Durham in September 2023 (here). Tagged by RSPB.
September 2023: Hen Harrier Inger, tagged in Perthshire in July 2022, ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Angus Glens in September 2023 (here). Tagged by RSPB.
15 September 2023: Hen Harrier Rhys (Tag ID 213847a), tagged in Cumbria on 1st August 2023, ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref SD798896. Tagged by NE.
24 September 2023: Hen Harrier R2-F2-23 (Brood meddled in 2023, Tag ID 213929) ‘disappeared’ in the North Pennines (here). Grid ref NY888062. Tagged by NE.
26 September 2023: Hen Harrier Hope, tagged in Cumbria on 21 July 2023, ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref SD801926. Tagged by NE.
4 October 2023: Hen Harrier R1-M3-20 (Brood meddled in 2020, Tag ID 55153) ‘disappeared’ in Co Durham (here). Grid ref NY935192. Tagged by NE.
4 October 2023: Hen Harrier R4-F1-23 (Brood meddled in 2023, Tag ID 213925a) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref SE003981. Tagged by NE.
15 November 2023: Hen Harrier Hazel’ (Tag ID 240292) tagged in Cumbria on 21 July 2023, ‘disappeared’ on the Isle of Man (here). Grid ref SC251803. Tagged by NE.
7 December 2023: Hen Harrier R2-M1-20 (Brood meddled in 2020, Tag ID 55146a) ‘disappeared’ in Co Durham. Grid ref NY963211. Tagged by NE.
Unknown date in 2023: Hen Harrier Aurora, tagged in Dumfries & Galloway in 2022, ‘disappeared’ at unknown location (here). Tagged by RSPB.
2024
12 February 2024: Hen Harrier Susie (Tag ID 201122), found dead in Northumberland. Later revealed to have been the victim of shooting (here). Grid ref NY759585. Tagged by NE. Susie’s chicks were stamped to death at nest on moor at Whernside in 2022 (here).
15 February 2024: Hen Harrier Shalimar, tagged on the National Trust for Scotland’s Mar Lodge Estate in 2023, ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances on a grouse moor in the notorious Angus Glens (here). Tagged by RSPB.
24 April 2024: Hen Harrier Ken (Tag ID 213849a) ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances close to a grouse moor in Bowland (here). Grid ref SD684601. Tagged by NE.
17 May 2024: Hen Harrier R2-M2-23 (Brood meddled in 2023, Tag ID 213928) ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances next to Middlesmoor grouse moor in Nidderdale (here). Grid ref SE043754. Tagged by NE.
7 June 2024: Hen Harrier Edna (Tag ID 161143a). Decomposed corpse found next to a wind farm nr Otterburn, Northumberland. Listed as ‘suspected illegally killed’. There has been a suggestion she was killed elsewhere & dumped at the wind farm as a ploy to cover up the crime (here). Grid ref NY910827. Tagged by NE.
25 June 2024: Hen Harrier R2-F1-23 (Brood meddled in 2023, Tag ID 213923) ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances on a grouse moor in Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref NY985082. Tagged by NE.
July 2024: Hen Harrier Helius, tagged in Lancashire in 2023, ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances in Bowland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
29 July 2024: Hen Harrier (Tag ID 254843) tagged in Northumberland on 5 July 2024, decomposed corpse not suitable for post mortem but forensics work on her satellite tag showed shot damage (here). Grid ref NY824937. Tagged by NE.
October 2024: An un-tagged Hen Harrier was apparently shot on a grouse moor at Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales National Park by one of three gamekeepers being secretly filmed by the RSPB (here).
1 October 2024: Hen Harrier Dreich (Tag ID 254842) ‘disappeared’ in Lanarkshire (here). Grid ref NS826020. Tagged by NE.
15 October 2024: Hen Harrier Baldur (Tag ID 240291) ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland (here). Grid ref NZ038961. Tagged by NE.
19 October 2024: Hen Harrier Margaret (Tag ID 254844) ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland (here). It was later reported that her tag had been found (‘removed’) but no sign of the carcass (here). Grid ref NY878497. Tagged by NE.
2025
15 January 2025: Hen Harrier Red, hatched on the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve in 2024, ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in County Durham in the North Pennines, in the same area another tagged Hen Harrier (Sia) vanished in 2022 (here). Tagged by RSPB.
January 2025: Hen Harrier Ataksak was found poisoned close to a grouse moor in North Yorkshire (here). Apparently a police investigation is ongoing. Tagged by RSPB.
3 February 2025: Hen Harrier R3-F2-22 (Brood meddled in 2022, Tag ID 213924) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the North York Moors National Park (here). Grid ref SE759996. Tagged by NE.
27 February 2025: Hen Harrier Sita, tagged on behalf of Hen Harrier Action in Bowland in 2024 ‘disappeared’ from a roost site on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
4 April 2025: Hen Harrier Bonnie (Tag ID 254841) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Moorfoots, Scotland (here). Grid ref NT415575. Tagged by NE.
10 April 2025: Hen Harrier Gill (Tag ID 240294) ‘disappeared’ in south Scotland (here). Grid ref NT440344. Tagged by NE.
1 May 2025: Hen Harrier Pete (Tag ID 213843) ‘disappeared’ in Cumbria (see here). Grid ref NY309418. Tagged by NE.
May 2025: Untagged Hen Harrier male (Geltsdale 5) with an active nest on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve in Cumbria ‘disappeared’. Strongly suspected to have been shot whilst away hunting on nearby grouse moor (here).
May 2025: Another untagged Hen Harrier male (Geltsdale 6) with another active nest on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve in Cumbria ‘disappeared’. Strongly suspected to have been shot whilst away hunting on nearby grouse moor (here).
May 2025: Hen Harrier Dynamo with an active nest on United Utilities-owned land in Bowland, Lancashire, ‘disappeared’. Strongly suspected to have been shot whilst away hunting on a nearby grouse moor (here). Tagged by RSPB.
May 2025: Untagged Hen Harrier with an active nest on United Utilities-owned land in Bowland, Lancashire, ‘disappeared’. Strongly suspected to have been shot whilst away hunting on a nearby grouse moor (here).
31 August 2025: An unnamed Hen Harrier, hatched and tagged on National Trust-owned moorland in the peak District National Park in 2025, ‘disappeared’ from Ruabon grouse moor, north Wales after arriving there three days earlier. Her tag data indicated she was dead on 31 August. Her tag/harness were recovered on 2 September and an expert assessment concluded it had been “intentionally severed” (here). Tagged by RSPB on behalf of National Trust.
9 September 2025: Hen Harrier Maria (Tag ID 281718) tagged in Northumberland on 25 July 2025, ‘disappeared’ near Belford in Northumberland. Grid ref NU125340. Tagged by NE.
17 September 2025: Hen Harrier Beatrix, who fledged from the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve in summer 2025, ‘disappeared’ from an area dominated by grouse moors near Allendale in the North Pennines (here). Tagged by RSPB.
27 September 2025: Hen Harrier Wadrew, who fledged from the RSPB Geltsdale Reserve in Cumbria in summer 2025, ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor near Birkdale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (see here). Tagged by the RSPB.
30 September 2025: Hen Harrier Morrigan ‘disappeared’ in the southern area of the North Pennines National Landscape (here). Tagged by RSPB.
14 October 2025: Hen Harrier Circe, hatched on the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve in 2025 and tagged on behalf of charity Hen Harrier Action, ‘disappeared’ in the Moorfoots, south Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
To be continued…
Of these 149 incidents, only one has resulted in a conviction – Head gamekeeper Racster Dingwall pleaded guilty at York Magistrates Court in January 2026 to conspiracy to kill a Hen Harrier on the Conistone & Grassington Estate in the Yorkshire Dales National Park in October 2024 (see here).
I had thought that when we reached 30 dead/missing Hen Harriers then the authorities might pretend to be interested and at least say a few words about this national scandal. We’ve now reached at least ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY NINE Hen Harriers, and still Govt ministers remain silent on the illegal persecution issue. They appear not to give a monkey’s. And yes, there are other things going on in the world, as always. That is not reason enough to ignore this blatant, brazen and systematic destruction of a supposedly protected species, being undertaken to satisfy the greed and bloodlust of a minority of society.
And let’s not forget the response from the (now former) Moorland Association Chair (and owner of Swinton Estate in North Yorkshire) Mark Cunliffe-Lister, who told BBC Radio 4 in August 2023 that, “Clearly any illegal [Hen Harrier] persecution is nothappening” (here), in the year when a record 32 Hen Harriers had been confirmed ‘missing’ and/or illegally killed.
Nor should we forget the response from the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s (GWCT) Director of Policy Dr Alistair Leake who wrote a letter to the Guardian newspaper in November 2023 stating that the Hen Harrier brood management [meddling] scheme “is surely a shining example of human / wildlife conflict resolution that would be the envy of other countries trying to find similar solutions“ (I kid you not – here).
Detective Inspector Mark Harrison of the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) who leads on the national Hen Harrier Taskforce gave a live online presentation on 27 January 2026 for the charity Friends of the Dales, about the work being undertaken to tackle the ongoing illegal killing of Hen Harriers in the UK. You can watch it on YouTube, here.
For new blog readers, an RSPB report Hen Harriers in the Firing Line, published last year provides a good overview of the illegal persecution of Hen Harriers on UK grouse moors, as does this news reel from Channel 4 News:
Raptor Persecution UK 