2023 has been the worst year for the illegal killing of hen harriers on grouse moors since the ludicrous DEFRA / Natural England hen harrier brood meddling trial was given the green light in 2018.
Photo by Pete Morris/RSPB Images
By September this year, the number of confirmed ‘missing’/dead hen harriers in 2023 stood at 21 birds. However, the RSPB’s annual Birdcrime Report, which was published a couple of weeks ago (here), included previously withheld information about three more satellite-tagged hen harriers that have gone this year:
Hen harrier Saranyu, a female tagged by the RSPB in Cumbria in June 2023, who ‘disappeared’ in Durham in September 2023 (no further details available yet).
Hen harrier Inger, a female tagged by the RSPB in Perthshire in July 2022, who ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Angus Glens in September 2023 (here).
Hen harrier Dagda, a male tagged by the RSPB in Lancashire in June 2022 and who was breeding on the RSPB’s Geltsdale Reserve in 2023 until he ‘vanished’, only to be found dead on the neighbouring Knarsdale grouse moor in May 2023 – a post mortem revealed he had been shot (here).
So that takes this year’s total (so far) to 24 ‘missing’/dead hen harriers and this number is expected to rise as I understand there are other incidents that haven’t yet been publicised. This is the highest number of (known) persecuted hen harriers in six years and includes nine of Natural England’s brood meddled harriers:
*No brood meddling took place in 2018, the year Natural England issued the first licence
Do these disgraceful figures indicate to you that Natural England’s brood meddling scheme is working? (Remember, one of the objectives of this ‘trial’ is to test whether grouse moor managers would stop illegally killing hen harriers if nestlings were removed from grouse moors, under licence, reared in captivity and released elsewhere).
If you listen to the spin of the grouse shooting industry, the brood meddling trial is being declared a pure and unmitigated triumph for hen harriers. The Moorland Association (Natural England’s main ‘partner’ in the trial which brings with it a level of perceived credibility to those who don’t know any better) issued a press release in mid- November to announce that the (short term) survival rate of brood meddled hen harriers was greater than the (short term) survival rate of un-meddled harriers, but conveniently forgot to mention the persecution figures and that 56% of all the brood meddled chicks had since ‘disappeared’ / been illegally killed (see here). The Moorland Association’s horseshit propaganda was recently regurgitated in the national press, including the Daily Mail (obvs) and as far as I can see, Natural England did nothing to challenge the narrative.
The chairman of the Moorland Association even told BBC Radio 4 in August this year that, “Clearly, any illegal [hen harrier] persecution is not happening” (here) when clearly, it so obviously is.
Then in late November, Dr Alistair Leake, GWCT’s Director of Policy wrote a letter to the Guardian (and a copy was posted on GWCT’s website) 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“.
It is quite obvious to anyone with functioning eyesight that not only has the illegal killing of hen harriers continued since the brood meddling trial began, but that the extent of the (known) killing has got worse.
The hen harrier killers are now so brazen and out of control that they don’t even care if they take out brood meddled harriers – birds that they initially mostly left alone in the early years of the trial.
They can afford to be so audacious about their crimes because they know that (a) they’re NEVER caught, (b) never prosecuted, (c) never convicted, (d) the grouse shooting industry’s representative bodies will shamelessly deny the criminality even exists and (e) the industry will still get a brood meddling licence from Natural England to keep the harriers off their grouse moors, even in Special Protection Areas specifically designated to protect hen harriers, because Natural England doesn’t have the balls to call them out and won’t pull the plug on the trial because it doesn’t want to lose face and admit it’s been taken for a mug for all these years.
It’ll be interesting to see Natural England’s next update on the fates of its tagged hen harriers (last update was September 2023 – next one will be due in the new year) to see what this year’s final tally of hen harrier killing has been and whether that figure, the highest in the six years since brood meddling began, will influence Natural England’s decision to continue with its brood meddling licence in 2024.
Ten days ago the Rural Affairs & Islands Committee published its Stage 1 report on the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill (here).
The Committee’s report contained requests for further detail / clarification from the Scottish Government on many aspects of the Bill, prior to today’s Stage 1 debate in the Scottish Parliament.
Those information requests included more information on the level of threat to raptors on grouse moors and the levels of ‘recovery’ of raptor populations, the provisions of NatureScot to suspend / revoke a grouse shooting licence, the range of relevant offences that would trigger a suspension / revocation, various questions about muirburn, various questions about the proposed ban on snares, and various questions about the proposed extension of powers for the SSPCA.
Yesterday, Environment Minister Gillian Martin MSP responded to the Committee with the following letter (see below), in which she provides a summary of the status of several raptor species whose populations have been affected by ongoing illegal persecution on grouse moors (regular blog readers won’t learn anything new – it’s all information that’s been in the public domain for some time). She also answers the unfounded and arrogant criticism from some in the grouse shooting industry that her speedy decision to ban snares was made fast because (a) the Committee had pushed her for a speedy response ahead of its deliberations for the Stage 1 report and (b) because the grouse shooting industry’s proposals for a licensing scheme for snare use didn’t contain any evidence that the Government hadn’t heard before.
Here’s her letter – well worth a read. She’s standing firm on the fundamental issues of importance but is prepared to consider her position on some of what I would consider minor, less important issues such as potentially changing the length of the licence period from an annual licence to one that is issued for a three to five year period. It’s also worth noting her cover letter to the Committee in which she points out that, unusually, the Committee’s Stage 1 report does not indicate whether the Committee supports or rejects the general principles of the Bill!
It’ll be all eyes on the Scottish Parliament this afternoon as the Stage 1 report is debated in the main Chamber, followed by a vote on whether the Bill can progress to Stage 2.
You can watch live on Scottish Parliament TV from 2.30pm HERE
Thank you to all of you who sent emails to your MSPs and to the three Ministers ahead of this debate, urging their attendance and support of the Bill following the news that one of the South Scotland golden eagles has ‘disappeared’ and which Police Scotland ‘believe has come to harm‘. It’s been important for MSPs to understand ahead of this debate the extent of public anger that these criminal atrocities against birds of prey continue.
Channel 4 News aired an exclusive seven-minute report this evening about raptor persecution on gamebird shooting estates across the UK.
Fronted by Chief Correspondent Alex Thomson, this was a pre-cursor to the publication tomorrow of the RSPB’s latest Birdcrime report (2022) and the film featured two case studies that are included in that report – the illegal shooting of a hen harrier found dead on the Knarsdale Estate in Northumberland earlier this year, and the illegal poisoning of a red kite and a white-tailed eagle found on a pheasant shoot in West Sussex in October 2021. A beater’s gundog also died from the same poison, on the same estate, within a few days.
I’ll be writing in detail about both these cases and others, once Birdcrime has been published. There’s a lot to say.
In the meantime, I thoroughly recommend you watch the Channel 4 report here:
Tune in to Channel 4 News this evening at 7pm – there’s an exclusive report on the continued killing of birds of prey in the UK with a particular focus on two new cases.
You do not want to miss this programme. [Update: link to programme now added to foot of this blog]
The report will be led by veteran correspondent Alex Thomson, who has previously reported robustly on raptor persecution crimes (see here and here).
Alex is known for not pulling his punches so standby for a furious response from the game shooting industry, just as they responded last time (here).
The timing of this news report also probably explains why the Moorland Association published its pathetically cynical piece yesterday about hen harrier survival rates, in the hope of grabbing a few favourable headlines while they can, although they failed to mention that over half of the brood meddled hen harriers that they claim are doing so well are either missing in suspicious circumstances or have been confirmed illegally killed. Funny that.
This evening’s Channel 4 news report will be followed up tomorrow by the publication of the RSPB’s latest Birdcrime report.
UPDATE 21.30hrs: Channel 4 News reports two thirds of raptor persecution crimes in 2022 linked to shooting estates (here)
A staggering 56% of all satellite-tagged hen harriers that have been brood meddled since 2019 are ‘missing’ in suspicious circumstances / have been illegally killed.
Of the 41 brood meddled hen harriers, 23 are ‘missing’ / dead, according to data held by Natural England (data from September 2023 onwards not yet available):
DEAD* = body recovered, awaiting formal post mortem results, under active police investigation
I’m publishing these results in response to an astonishing piece published today by the Moorland Association that claims that the [short-term] survival rate of brood meddled hen harriers is almost double that of un-meddled hen harriers.
The Moorland Association hasn’t provided the data it used to reach its conclusion but given the appallingly high level of continued illegal killing of hen harriers on driven grouse moors (110 missing/dead since 2018) it seems like a desperate but futile attempt to portray the grouse shooting industry as the hen harrier’s best friend. I’m afraid that fictional tale has long been blown out of the water.
I note also that the Moorland Association doesn’t mention the extent of the ongoing persecution of hen harriers on grouse moors but that’s hardly a surprise given that the Moorland Association Chairman recently told BBC Radio 4, “Clearly, any illegal [hen harrier] persecution is not happening” (here).
Why Natural England continues to view the grouse shooting industry as a ‘partner’ when that industry so blatantly ignores/denies what’s so obviously going on is beyond me, I’m afraid, although the £75,000 ‘donation’ received by NE might have something to do with it.
This latest publicity ruse by the Moorland Association is pathetic but predictable. I suspect they know what news is brewing in the background and are trying to get some favourable media coverage before that all breaks…
On 26 September 2023, two gamekeepers were convicted at Dumfries Sheriff Court for offences committed on Overlaggan Estate in 2021, a pheasant, partridge, duck and goose- shooting estate in Dumfries & Galloway.
David Excell, 54, pleaded guilty to deliberately trapping and killing a pine marten and failing to comply with the conditions of his firearms licence. Kenneth McClune, 61, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the conditions of his firearms licence.
Location map from Overlaggan Estate sales brochure
Landscape view from Overlaggan Estate sales brochure
You might recall that I wrote about this case (here), and I mentioned that I thought there was something odd going on because I was pretty sure that four men had been charged originally and that the alleged offences included the illegal killing of birds of prey, according to a press statement issued by Police Scotland in October 2021 (see here).
But when gamekeepers Excell and McClune were convicted at Dumfries Sheriff Court in September 2023, there was no mention of the other two defendants, nor of the alleged raptor persecution offences, which I thought was odd, so I’ve done some research.
First I asked Police Scotland about the case, to determine whether the raptor persecution charges were going to be heard in a separate case, or whether the charges had been dropped, and if so, why? Police Scotland refused to comment and instead pointed me in the direction of the Crown Office.
The Crown Office told me this:
“As you were not directly involved in this case there is a limited amount of information which I can give you as we need to ensure compliance with Data Protection legislation.
I can, however, advise you that there were four accused persons in this case and there were charges involving raptors. COPFS have a duty to review the available evidence throughout the life of a case. This review includes the assessment of evidence, the availability and strength of evidence against each accused and outcome focus for a case.
On the day of the trial pleas were offered from two of the accused in the terms that you are aware of [Ed: i.e. the guilty pleas from gamekeepers David Excell and Kenneth McClune in relation to firearms offences and the killing of the pine marten]. In light of this new circumstance the case was reviewed by the prosecutor. I can assure you that this decision was not taken lightly and was ultimately done so based on a careful analysis of the evidence. COPFS takes the prosecution of offences involving raptors and all other wildlife crime extremely seriously and prosecutorial action will be taken if there is sufficient evidence and if it is in the public interest to do so”.
When I asked the Crown Office to specify what were “the charges involving raptors“, the Crown Office told me this:
“All I can advise you further is that there were three charges under s1(1)(a) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 involving raptors.
The rules around what information we can provide and to who are outlined in s6 of the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014. Subsection 2 outlines the categories of individuals who are entitled to information upon request. You do not fall within any of those categories in relation to this case.
Even if you did, COPFS are only required to provide information in relation to the ‘nature’ of the charges on a complaint, not the details of them. So had you been a witness in this case, I would have been unable to provide you with any more information than I already have.
I am sorry that I cannot provide you with any more details about the case. You will hopefully appreciate that, in an effort to assist you as much as possible, I have provided you with more information than I was technically required to give you under the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014“.
So there we have it. The raptor persecution charges were dropped, with no explanation given, and we’re not even allowed to know the details of those charges, let alone why they were dropped, other than there were three charges and they related to S1(1)(a) of the Wildlife & Countryside Act, which refers to the killing, injuring or taking of a wild bird. We don’t know whether that involved poisoning, shooting or trapping in this case.
Presumably there was sufficient evidence to warrant the charges being placed against the four individuals in the first place so we can conclude that raptor persecution crimes were indeed committed, but the resultant dropping of those charges and the subsequent (and lawfully legitimate) position of both Police Scotland and the Crown Office means that effectively those crimes have been covered up, and the public has no (lawfully legitimate) access to the details.
How is that ‘justice being seen to be done’? All it does is provide the game-shooting industry a platform to perpetuate the myth that gamekeepers are no longer killing birds of prey on land that’s managed for gamebird shooting.
At the time the offences were committed, Overlaggan Estate was marketed on the Sporting Lets website as offering the following ‘sport’:
The owner of Overlaggan Estate was not identified in the Sporting Lets promotional material but details of the management team were given as follows:
Police Scotland announced the charges against the four men in a press release in October 2021. Interestingly, Overlaggan Estate was put on the market in February 2022. Here’s the sales brochure:
The estate has since been sold and the farm is now owned by James Pringle Jack, according to Andy Wightman’s brilliant website, Who Owns Scotland:
James Pringle Jack owns several other estates in the area, including Hensol and Dornells. It is not known whether Mr Jack operates a pheasant/partridge shoot at Overlaggan or whether any of the previous staff are still employed there. There is no suggestion that wildlife crime continues on the estate.
It’ll be interesting to see whether a General Licence restriction is imposed for the offences committed on the estate in 2021.
Earlier this week, Police Scotland issued a press statement about the conviction of two men in relation to a wildlife crime investigation on a pheasant and partridge shooting estate in Stewartry, Dumfries & Galloway.
David Excell, 54, pleaded guilty to trapping and killing a pine marten on the estate, in addition to failing to comply with the conditions of his firearms licence. He was fined £9,700 and his firearms licence has been revoked.
The Pine Marten is a protected species. Photo by Laurie Campbell
Kenneth McClune, 61, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the conditions of his firearms licence. He was fined £840 and his firearms licence was also revoked.
At a superficial level this seems like a good result and a half-decent fine, at least for David Excell. The revocation of the firearms licences is also very welcome, although it would have been useful to know whether the two individuals also held shotgun certificates and whether those had also been revoked. (My understanding is that a shotgun certificate isn’t automatically revoked even if a firearms certificate has been – see here).
However, even though the convictions are welcome, there is something very odd about this case.
Firstly, the statement from Police Scotland was (deliberately?) vague, excluding the date the offences took place, the name of the estate where the offences took place and the occupations of the two guilty men. Is there some ‘shielding’ going on here?
Secondly, the police statement also included a gratuitous reference from the Police Wildlife Crime Officer in defence of shooting estates in general:
“The actions of a few individuals do not reflect the positive steps taken by most land owners and managers to maintain and encourage wildlife in our countryside“.
Eh? Why on earth is this statement included in a press release about a man convicted of wildlife crime, and perhaps more seriously, on what qualified evidence has this claim been based?
Some would argue that the intensive and systematic (currently lawful) killing of wildlife on sporting estates (up to an estimated quarter of a million animals per year on grouse moors alone), undertaken entirely on the basis of increasing gamebird stocks for shooting, is not ‘maintaining and encouraging wildlife in our countryside‘. Some species will benefit, for sure, but other species definitely don’t. Either way, this isn’t a pronouncement that should be coming from Police Scotland.
But the oddest thing of all about this case is that I believe it is linked to this 2021 Police Scotland investigation into the alleged killing of birds of prey on an unnamed estate in Stewartry, but there’s no mention of this in the Police Scotland statement.
So either (a) I’m wrong that the allegations of raptor persecution relate to this case and there’s another, entirely separate case relating to another Stewartry estate going on; or (b) the allegations about raptor persecution do relate to this case but are being heard separately (which would be odd but not inconceivable, especially if those allegations relate only to the two other men charged in October 2021); or (c) the allegations of raptor persecution do relate to this case but have been quietly dropped.
Some clarification is needed. Watch this space.
UPDATE 16 November 2023: Charges dropped for raptor persecution offences committed on Overlaggan Estate, Dumfries & Galloway (here)
Yesterday a friend sent me a link to a recent claim made by the grouse shooting industry that ‘Natural England hen harrier data reveals just 2% suffered persecution‘.
The article, published on the dodgy astro-turfing C4PMC (Campaign for Protection of Moorland Communities) website (see here for background on this murky outfit) has since been widely shared on social media by the usual suspects, in an attempt to counter my rolling list of missing/dead hen harriers in the UK since 2018 (currently reporting 110 birds but there are more to come).
The grouse shooting industry REALLY doesn’t like this rolling list, or the accompanying posters, because it lays bare their criminal activities with proven data sources (from Natural England and the RSPB) to back up each and every one of those listed ‘missing’/killed hen harriers.
My friend had never heard of C4PMC but knew the article was dodgy just from its introductory blurb, which describes me as an “animal rights activist” – he knows I’m not, and suggested I’d been labelled this way in an attempt to undermine my credibility. It’s a common tactic to create a wholly false impression of someone – the Daily Mail also tried this defamatory ploy a few years ago when it described me as an “anti-hunt extremist” and an “animal rights extremist“, presumably egged on by the loathsome Countryside Alliance, but was later forced to apologise and correct the article (see here).
Personally, I don’t read the C4PMC website ever since it published a particularly malicious ‘advent calendar of hate’ a few years ago, targeting well known conservationists, broadcasters, authors and politicians with vindictive and spiteful personal attacks, posted online every day in the run-up to Xmas during a lockdown period; so misjudged that even many of their own supporters from within the grouse-shooting industry thought they’d gone too far.
But given that my friend had drawn my attention to this latest article about hen harrier persecution being as low as 2%, I thought I’d take a look.
I’m glad I did, because it’s hilariously and hopelessly inaccurate. It’s apparent that whoever writes for C4PMC can’t count, can’t think, and can’t even copy data from a published source.
In a nutshell, C4PMC has published a list of satellite-tagged hen harriers, supposedly copied from Natural England’s public spreadsheet, showing the fates of NE’s satellite-tracked hen harriers since 2017, and has attempted to analyse those fates and present them as factual.
There are many problems with how they’ve done this (which I’ll describe below), but C4PMC’s first and most obvious mistake is to present the data from only 82 hen harriers, whereas Natural England’s spreadsheet shows the fate of 97 hen harriers. For some inexplicable reason, C4PMC has ‘forgotten’ to include 15 hen harriers (the ‘forgotten’ harriers are highlighted in blue in the document below).
Then when I started to analyse C4PMC’s ‘results’, I noticed that they’d completely changed the status of some of the birds – nine of them in fact – so for example, where Natural England has recorded a harrier as ‘Missing Fate Unknown’ in Cumbria in May 2020, C4PMC has recorded the same harrier as ‘Alive and well and living in France’ in September 2023!
C4PMC even included one harrier on its list that doesn’t actually exist in Natural England’s spreadsheet (highlighted in pink in the document below). C4PMC just made it up!
To show you the extent of C4PMC’s catalogue of ineptitude, I’ve produced a table to compare Natural England’s data with C4PMC’s misinterpretations (highlighted in red in the document below):
It’s quite obvious that any conclusion C4PMC has drawn from its inaccurate and unreliable ‘analysis’ is going to be flawed, given how many harriers they’ve left out and how many fates they’ve changed.
But it still doesn’t answer the question about how they calculated hen harrier persecution to be as low as 2%. It took me a while but then it dawned on me – to calculate the 2% figure, C4MPC has only included the two hen harriers confirmed to have been illegally killed (Free and Asta) and has totally ignored all the harriers listed by Natural England as ‘Missing Fate Unknown’ (i.e. those suspected of being/most likely have been, illegally killed).
This is a very strange approach to take but is absolutely what we’ve come to expect from the grouse shooting industry. Even Natural England acknowledges that illegal persecution is still rampant; the only ones still in denial are those within the grouse shooting industry itself (including the Chair of the Moorland Association, who last month told BBC Radio 4, “Clearly, any illegal [hen harrier] persecution is not happening” (here)). Why Natural England continues to view this industry as a ‘partner’ when that industry so blatantly ignores/denies what’s so obviously going on is beyond me, I’m afraid (although the £75,000 ‘donation’ received by NE might have something to do with it).
I’ve done a quick calculation for C4PMC, as they obviously need some/lots of help. Counting up all the harriers listed by Natural England as ‘Missing Fate Unknown’ (but excluding all those listed as likely to have been predated, or carrying failed tags, or have been found dead outside the UK), there’s a grand total of 34 hen harriers listed as ‘missing’ (in suspicious circumstances and likely to have been illegally killed in the UK), which out of 97 tagged birds amounts to a 35% persecution rate.
That’s over a third of Natural England-tagged harriers suspected to have been killed illegally, which funnily enough closely corresponds with the fates of satellite-tagged golden eagles in Scotland (here) and the fates of hen harriers satellite-tagged by the RSPB (here).
Imagine that, actual data backing up actual science.
And let’s not forget, these are the tagged birds. How many un-tagged hen harriers is the grouse shooting industry also killing?
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 updated to include the nine most recently reported victims, all gone since May 2023 (see here and here).
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). Incidentally, 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 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 and for a critical evaluation of the trial after 5 years see this report by Wild Justice.
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 at least 110 hen harriers gone since 2018, there is no question that the grouse shooting industry is simply taking the piss. Meanwhile, Natural England pretends that ‘partnership working’ is the way to go and DEFRA Ministers remain silent.
Data compiled by RPUK. *No hen harriers brood meddled in 2018
‘Partnership working’ according to Natural England 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 £75k ‘donation’ from representatives of the grouse shooting industry that prevents Natural England from criticising them or the sham brood meddling trial (see here). This is in addition to a £10k ‘donation’ that Natural England accepted, under the same terms, in 2021 (here).
So here’s the latest gruesome list. Note that the majority of these birds (but not all) were fitted with satellite tags. How many more [untagged] harriers have been killed?
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).
28 January 2019: Hen harrier DeeCee ‘disappeared’ in Glen Esk, a grouse moor area of the Angus Glens (see 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 the 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).
November 2019: Hen harrier Artemis ‘disappeared’ near Long Formacus in south Scotland (RSPB pers comm).
14 December 2019: Hen harrier Oscar ‘disappeared’ in Eskdalemuir, south Scotland (here).
December 2019: Hen harrier Ingmar ‘disappeared’ in the Strathbraan grouse moor area of Perthshire (RSPB pers comm).
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).
2020: day/month unknown: Unnamed male hen harrier breeding on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve, Cumbria ‘disappeared’ while away hunting (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).
24 February 2021: Hen harrier Tarras ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in Northumberland (here)
12th April 2021: Hen harrier Yarrow ‘disappeared’ near Stockton, County Durham (here).
18 May 2021: Adult male hen harrier ‘disappeared’ from its breeding attempt on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve, Cumbria whilst away hunting (here).
18 May 2021: Another adult male hen harrier ‘disappeared’ from its breeding attempt on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve, Cumbria whilst away hunting (here).
24 July 2021: Hen harrier Asta ‘disappeared’ at a ‘confidential site’ in the North Pennines (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).
14th August 2021: Hen harrier Josephine ‘disappeared’ at a ‘confidential site’ in Northumberland (here).
17 September 2021: Hen harrier Reiver ‘disappeared’ in a grouse moor dominated region of Northumberland (here)
24 September 2021: Hen harrier (Brood meddled in 2021, R2-F-1-21) ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland (here).
15 November 2021: Hen harrier (brood meddled in 2020, #R2-F1-20) ‘disappeared’ at the edge of a grouse moor on Arkengarthdale Estate in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
19 November 2021: Hen harrier Val ‘disappeared’ in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria (here).
19 November 2021: Hen harrier Percy ‘disappeared’ in Lothian, Scotland (here).
12 December 2021: Hen harrier Jasmine ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor (High Rigg Moor on the Middlesmoor Estate) in the Nidderdale AONB in North Yorkshire (here).
9 January 2022: Hen harrier Ethel ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland (here).
26 January 2022: Hen harrier Amelia ‘disappeared’ in Bowland (here).
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).
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 leg had also been torn off whilst he was still alive (here).
April 2022: Hen harrier ‘Pegasus’ (tagged by the RSPB) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor at Birkdale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
May 2022: A male breeding hen harrier ‘disappeared’ from a National Trust-owned grouse moor in the Peak District National Park (here).
May 2022: Another breeding male hen harrier ‘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’ from a ‘confidential site’ in the North Pennines (here).
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 (brood meddled in 2022, #R1-M1-22) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
September 2022: Hen harrier ‘Sullis’ (tagged by the RSPB) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Cumbria (here).
5 October 2022: Hen harrier (brood meddled in 2022, #R3-M2-22) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
10 October 2022: Hen harrier ‘Sia’ ‘disappeared’ near Hamsterley Forest in the North Pennines (here).
October 2022: Hen harrier (brood meddled in 2021, #R1-F1-21) ‘disappeared’ in the North Sea off the North York Moors National Park (here).
December 2022: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2020, #R2-F2-20) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in Cumbria (here).
1 December 2022: Hen harrier male (brood meddled in 2021, #R1-M1-21) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
14 December 2022: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2022, #R3-F1-22) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the North Pennines AONB (here).
15 December 2022: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2022, #R2-F1-22) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
30 March 2023: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2022, #R1-F3-22) ‘disappeared’ in Yorkshire (here). Notes from NE Sept 2023 spreadsheet update: “Final transmission location temporarily withheld at police request“.
1 April 2023: Hen harrier male (brood meddled in 2022, #R2-M1-22) ‘disappeared’ in Yorkshire (here). Notes from NE Sept 2023 spreadsheet update: “Final transmission location temporarily withheld at police request“.
April 2023: Hen harrier ‘Lagertha’ (tagged by RSPB) ‘disappeared’ in North Yorkshire (here).
April 2023: Hen harrier ‘Nicola’ (Tag ID 234078) ”disappeared’ in North Yorkshire (here).
April 2023: Untagged male hen harrier ‘disappeared’ from an active nest on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve in Cumbria (here).
April 2023: Another untagged male hen harrier ‘disappeared’ from an active nest on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve in Cumbria (here).
April 2023: Untagged male hen harrier ‘disappeared’ from an active nest in Durham (here).
4/5 May 2023: Satellite-tagged male hen harrier called ‘Rush’ ‘disappeared’ from a grouse moor in Bowland AONB in Lancashire (here).
17 May 2023: Satellite-tagged hen harrier called ‘Wayland’ ‘disappeared’ in the Clapham area of North Yorkshire, just north of the Bowland AONB (here).
31 May 2023: Hen harrier male (brood meddled in 2022, tag #213932, name: R2-M3-22) ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland (grid ref: NY765687) (here).
11 June 2023: Hen harrier male (brood meddled in 2021, tag #213922, name: R2-M1-21) ‘disappeared’ at a confidential site in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Notes from the NE spreadsheet: “Final transmission location temporarily withheld at police request“ (here).
12 June 2023: Hen harrier male (brood meddled in 2020, tag #203004, name: R1-M2-20) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Co. Durham (grid ref: NY976322) (here).
6 July 2023: Satellite-tagged female hen harrier named ‘Rubi’ (tag #201124a) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Co. Durham (grid ref: NY911151) (here).
23 July 2023: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2023, tag #55154a, name: R1-F1-23) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Co. Durham (close to where ‘Rubi’ vanished), grid ref: NY910126 (here).
29 July 2023: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2020, tag #55144, name: R2-F2-20) ‘disappeared’ at a confidential site in the North Pennines. Notes from the NE spreadsheet: “Dead. Recovered – awaiting PM results. Final transmission location temporarily withheld at police request“ (here).
9 August 2023: Satellite-tagged hen harrier called ‘Martha’ ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor (Westburnhope Moor) near Hexham in the North Pennines (here).
11 August 2023: Satellite-tagged hen harrier called ‘Selena’ ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor (Mossdale Moor) in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
11 August 2023: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2023, tag #201118a, name: R3-F1-23) ‘disappeared’ in Co. Durham (grid ref: NZ072136) (here).
15 August 2023: Satellite-tagged hen harrier called ‘Hepit’ ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor (Birkdale Common) near Kirkby Stephen in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
24 August 2023: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2023, tag #55155a, name: R1-F2-23) ‘disappeared’ at a confidential site in Northumberland. Notes from the NE spreadsheet: “Final transmission location temporarily withheld at police request“ (here).
August-Sept 2023: Satellite-tagged hen harrier called ‘Harmonia’ ‘disappeared’ in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
To be continued…….
Not one of these 110 incidents has resulted in an arrest, let alone a prosecution. 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 ONE HUNDRED AND TEN hen harriers, and still Govt ministers remain silent. 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 Moorland Association Chair (and owner of Swinton Estate) Mark Cunliffe-Lister, who told BBC Radio 4 last month that, “Clearly any illegal [hen harrier] persecution is not happening” (here).
I’ve been passed some very worrying correspondence, sent to Moorland Association members in early August by Moorland Association Director Amanda Anderson, which signals that there may be more trouble brewing for hen harriers beyond the trouble already caused to them by brood meddling.
Male hen harrier. Photo: Pete Morris (RSPB Images)
It appears that the Moorland Association, the grouse moor owners’ lobby group, isn’t content with just brood meddling (removing entire broods of hen harrier chicks from grouse moors, keeping them in captivity hundreds of miles away and then releasing them again several weeks later back in the uplands, supposedly to reduce the number of red grouse that the parent hen harriers might take to feed their young because the grouse moor owners want to be able to shoot the grouse for fun/profit instead).
The Moorland Association is now turning its attention to the alleged ‘disturbance’ caused to driven grouse shoots by hen harriers (and other raptors) flying around during a grouse shoot ‘drive’ which causes the grouse to scatter instead of being forced (‘driven’) by the beating line towards the waiting guns in the grouse butts.
Here’s what Amanda Anderson sent to Moorland Association members just before the opening of the grouse-shooting season this year:
Listening to feedback from the moors last year, early packing up as well as difficulties controlling the grouse were noted. We are therefore encouraging reporting of disturbance in the line from Hen Harriers (and other birds of prey) to inform the Hen Harrier Recovery Plan. A simple to use form will be circulated next week and GWCT will do the analysis. It is our intention to capture the extent of this disturbance and subsequent economic loss. Please look out for this form and do fill it in for each drive on every day that you are affected. The Hen Harrier brood management scheme is to help find a mechanism for co-existence with hen harriers. If the conflict has shifted from predation of grouse chicks to harvesting grouse, we need to measure it and present the evidence.
It’s not clear from this what sort of ‘remedy’ the Moorland Association might be looking for when they’ve ‘presented the evidence’ to DEFRA and/or Natural England (‘evidence’ collected by the grouse shooters and analysed by the GWCT – hmm, that’ll be convincing then!). Amanda’s message mentions “subsequent economic loss” so it may be that they’re gearing up to ask for financial compensation for the perceived economic loss from their over-stocked grouse moors.
Or maybe they’re conspiring to ask for licences to remove those troublesome hen harriers (and other raptors). It wouldn’t surprise me – that is after all what’s going on with the hen harrier brood meddling trial, and there was previously discussion from the Moorland Association about lethal control in relation to Marsh harriers on grouse moors, although Amanda denied the discussion ever took place (see here) but meeting notes later revealed that some others in the room did recall the discussion taking place (see here).
Whatever it is they’re planning, they can expect a strong response from those of us who think, apart from anything else, that if a business can’t operate without damaging protected species then it’s not a viable/sustainable business, and in the case of driven grouse shooting the business certainly shouldn’t be receiving tax payers’ money as compensation whilst the illegal killing continues – that’d be like robbing the public with both hands instead of just one.
The irony of this latest revelation is of course linked to the hen harrier brood meddling sham. Brood meddling results in a (temporary) increase of hen harriers, which surprise, surprise, the grouse moor owners don’t want because they disrupt their grouse shooting drives (now admitted by Amanda).
This is presumably why, since brood meddling began in 2018, at least 101 hen harriers have been killed/gone missing, mostly on driven grouse moors (see here).
Raptor Persecution UK 