Andrew Muir MLA, Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs made the following statement in the Northern Ireland Assembly this week:
“The killing of birds of prey, whether deliberately or through improper use of pesticides or other poisons, is deplorable, it’s a crime, and it diminishes our biodiversity.
I recently met with the Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group, RSPB and Ulster Wildlife last week to discuss this issue and I recognise the need to address bird of prey persecution in Northern Ireland and am determined to take more action to help stamp out this repugnant activity.
My department is exploring ways to strengthen the enforcement and sanctions for the current plant protection product [PPP, also known as pesticides] legislation relating to storage and use of unauthorised plant protection products.
A new working group will also be established to pull together relevant stakeholders and fully consider a potential road map and requirements for any new secondary legislation to prohibit the possession of dangerous pesticides in Northern Ireland in the next Assembly mandate“.
Wow! 14 years of can-kicking by DAERA (Dept of Agriculture, Environment & Rural Affairs) seems to have finally been brought to an end by this decisive commitment to take action from Minister Muir.
Without doubt, this is a direct result of evidence-collecting and campaigning by the Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group (NIRSG), led by the wonderful Dr Eimear Rooney & Dr Marc Ruddock.
Following the discovery in May 2023 of two illegally poisoned White-tailed Eagles at Glenwherry, Northern Ireland’s only driven grouse moor, the NIRSG began a petition calling for Ministers to add a list of proscribed poisons to section 15B of the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985, which has been missing from the legislation since it was last updated in 2011.
That petition attracted over 50,000 signatures (including many RPUK blog readers – thank you) and was handed in by the NIRSG to Minister Muir at Stormont last month, with support from the RSPB and Ulster Wildlife.
A week later, the Police Service of Northern Ireland revealed that a Red Kite had been found illegally poisoned in a raptor persecution hotspot in County Down (here).
Minister Muir’s recognition of this long-standing and ongoing issue, and his pledge to actually do something about it, is very welcome news and is in stark contrast to Defra’s pathetic filibustering on the same issue in England.
Huge congratulations to the Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group and their partners – this is a big win.
Press release from Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group (17 June 2025)
50,000-signature petition, calling for a ban on poison possession, handed into Stormont.
Today (17th June), a petition begun by the Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group (NIRSG), calling for the possession of various toxic pesticides to be made illegal, was handed in to officials at Stormont by representatives of the Group, alongside staff from RSPB NI and Ulster Wildlife.
The eagles died after consuming a bait laced with Bendiocarb, a chemical prohibited from outdoor use in Northern Ireland, and were the latest victims in a series of poisoning incidents here that has claimed the lives of over 60 protected birds of prey in recent years.
The two poisoned White-tailed Eagles found dead on a grouse moor in May 2023. Photo by Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group
NIRSG’s raptor officer, Dr. Eimear Rooney said: “The day we recovered the bodies of those two eagles from the hillside at Glenwherry was one of the most upsetting of my career working with Northern Ireland’s raptors. White-tailed Eagles are only just making a return to our skies after being made extinct on the island of Ireland by past human actions over 100 years ago. But it’s not just eagles that fall victim to the criminals illegally using these poisons – it’s Red Kites, Buzzards and Peregrine Falcons as well as people’s pet cats and dogs.”
Dawn Miskelly, Ulster Wildlife CEO, said “Poisons have devastating impacts on raptor populations. Protecting these birds from poisoning is not just about conserving individual species – it’s about safeguarding and preserving biodiversity for future generations. We urgently call on the Assembly to recognise the significant public concern around this issue and act by resolving to create legislation to make the possession of these toxic pesticides illegal.”
Ian Thomson, RSPB’s Investigations Manager added “Similar legislation in Scotland has led to the successful prosecution of a sizeable number of individuals linked to the illegal poisoning of wildlife. There is no legal reason to hold onto these chemicals, long banned from use, but we repeatedly see Northern Ireland’s birds of prey fall victim to these same substances. Making their possession illegal here will make identifying the perpetrators of these crimes more straightforward, will hopefully create a significant deterrent to the illegal use of poison, and most importantly, will help protect wildlife, domestic pets and people from harm.”
Dr Marc Ruddock, also from NIRSG, continued: “The Wildlife Order already includes legislation banning the possession of pesticides containing a proscribed ingredient, but, in the 14 years since that legislation was passed, lawmakers have never produced the required list of proscribed ingredients. This means that highly toxic poisons such as carbofuran and aldicarb, banned from legal use, are being stored and utilised by those wishing to do harm to our wildlife. It is clear that the intention of the legislature, in passing these laws back in 2011, was for the possession of these awful chemicals to be a crime, but the final step to do so was never completed. It needs to be done, now, with no further delays and recognise the public’s considerable concerns and acts quickly to create a pathway to finally resolve this issue.”
The organisations that attended today at Stormont are all members of the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime and previously met with DAERA officials. They were also able to discuss their concerns with Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Andrew Muir MLA, yesterday.
Dr. Rooney added “Our meeting with the Minster was welcome and constructive, and he acknowledged that the poisoning of our birds of prey is deeply concerning. We are grateful to Minister Muir for meeting us today at Stormont and receiving the petition.”
ENDS
First of all, many thanks to all of you who signed this petition, which reached 50,000 signatures in March this year (see here).
Secondly, well done to the Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group for curating this campaign, supported by the RSPB and Ulster Wildlife. The illegal poisoning of those two White-tailed Eagles, found on Northern Ireland’s only driven grouse moor in May 2023, was both shocking, and yet not shocking. It’s a sad reflection of what we’ve come to expect on many driven grouse moors across the UK.
The groups did well to secure a meeting with Minister Andrew Muir, but it’s surprising to see it described as “constructive”. What does that mean? The Minister was presented with a petition of 50,000 signatures calling for a ban on the possession of these lethal, unlawful chemicals, and he said what, exactly?
‘Oh yeah, thanks, it’s awful isn’t it, let me think about what we can do about it‘?
The remedy is simple, and obvious. Write the list of proscribed poisons and get it added to section 15B of the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985.
It’s not that difficult!
UPDATE 25 June 2025: Police launch investigation after Red Kite killed in poisoning hotspot (here)
UPDATE 6 July 2025: Northern Ireland Minister commits to taking action on illegal poisoning of birds of prey (here)
In April I blogged about Clive Burgoyne, 38, who had pleaded guilty to placing four poisoned baits on the Guynd Estate in Fife in February 2023, which he did in retaliation to try and frame the estate for raptor persecution after the landowner had revoked permission for Burgoyne to shoot on the estate (see here).
Sentencing was deferred until 5 June for reports. Appearing at Forfar Sheriff Court yesterday, Burgoyne was ordered to carry out 135 hours of unpaid work.
That’s a pitiful sentence and won’t act as any sort of deterrent to anyone else thinking of placing poisoned baits in the countryside.
One of the pheasants used as poisoned bait
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has published the following statement following sentencing:
MAN WHO COVERED PHEASANT CARCASSES IN RAT POISON OVER FEUD WITH LANDOWNER SENTENCED
A man who coated pheasant carcasses in rat poison to bait and injure other legally protected wildlife has been ordered to carry out 135 hours of unpaid work.
Clive Burgoyne, 38, of Forfar, carried out the crime as part of an ongoing feud with a local landowner over shooting rights.
He hoped that his actions would cause reputational damage to the landowner’s country estate.
Burgoyne was given the Community Payback Order at Forfar Sheriff Court after he admitted a breach of wildlife legislation between January and February 2023.
Iain Batho, who leads on wildlife and environmental crime for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said:
“It is highly important to preserve Scotland’s natural heritage, including the wildlife that forms part of it. As such, wild birds are given strict protection by our law.
“Clive Burgoyne’s reckless actions put various wildlife, particularly birds of prey, at risk of injury and death.
“COPFS takes offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act seriously and will prosecute individuals where there is sufficient evidence of a crime and where it is in the public interest to do so.
“The result in this case is a testament to the collaborative working between COPFS, Police Scotland, and Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA), who in this case were able to provide vital forensic evidence.”
Prosecutors told how witnesses saw Burgoyne in the front passenger seat of a car travelling towards, and later away, from the Guynd estate near Arbroath on the morning of February 3, 2023.
A short time later, an estate worker discovered a dead pheasant on a footpath within the estate.
The breast had been removed and the bird was covered in a quantity of grain and seed which was then coated in a bright blue liquid.
A further search of the area revealed three more dead pheasants nearby which had been similarly cut open and treated.
Analysis carried out by officials at the Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture confirmed the blue grain was an anticoagulant rodenticide formulation containing the active ingredient difenacoum.
They believed the appearance of the pheasant carcases suggested they had been prepared and set out with the intention of causing harm to birds.
Difenacoum is highly toxic to birds and if consumed causes haemorrhaging. A single feed from a baited carcass would prove fatal to a raptor.
The court heard that the dead pheasants had clearly been left out in the open to attract non-target species such as birds of prey.
After being arrested, a sample of Burgoyne’s DNA was found on all four of the dead birds.
ENDS
It’s worth repeating what I wrote after Burgoyne had pleaded guilty in April.
The irony of this case won’t be lost on many of us. Many within the game-shooting industry have long made unsubstantiated allegations that conservationists and animal rights activists have ‘planted evidence’ of poisoned baits in order to frame estates for alleged raptor persecution but as far as I’m aware, none of these claims have ever been proven.
Now that a ‘framing’ case has been proven, it turns out it was a spurned shooter wot dun it, not a conservationist or an animal rights activist. You couldn’t make it up!
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 three most recently reported victims: a satellite-tagged female called ‘Sita’ who vanished from a roost site on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park on 27 February 2025 (here) and two breeding males who vanished from the RSPB’s Geltsdale Reserve in Cumbria in May 2025 (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). 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 141 hen harriers gone since 2018, and 31 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. **Post mortem reports on a further seven hen harriers found dead in 2024/2025 are awaited. Those seven individuals are not included in this table.
‘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, are, however, ongoing issues with the licence as it’s been significantly watered-down after an intervention from the grouse shooting industry (see here). Work is underway to address this.
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).
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).
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).
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).
1 December 2022: Hen harrier male (brood meddled in 2021, #R1-M1-21) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
7 December 2022: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2020, #R2-F2-20) ‘disappeared’ from winter roost (same as #R3-F1-22) on moorland in North Pennines AONB (here). Later found dead with 3 shotgun pellets in corpse.
14 December 2022: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2022, #R3-F1-22) ‘disappeared’ from winter roost (same as #R2-F2-20) on moorland in the North Pennines AONB (here). Later found dead with two shotgun pellets in corpse.
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).
9/10 May 2023: Hen harrier male called ‘Dagda’, 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).
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).
September 2023: Hen harrier female ‘Saranyu’, tagged by the RSPB in Cumbria in June 2023, ‘disappeared’ in Durham in September 2023 (no further details available yet – just outline info provided in 2022 Birdcrime report) (here).
September 2023: Hen harrier female ‘Inger’, a female tagged by the RSPB in Perthshire in July 2022, ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Angus Glens in September 2023 (here).
15 September 2023: Hen harrier male called ‘Rhys’, tagged in Cumbria on 1st August 2023, ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Grid ref: SD798896 (here).
24 September 2023: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2023, name: ‘R2-F2-23’) ‘disappeared’ in the North Pennines, grid ref: NY888062 (here).
25 September 2023: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2022, name: ‘R1-F4-22’) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, grid ref: SE077699 (here).
26 September 2023: Hen harrier female called ‘Hope’, tagged in Cumbria on 21 July 2023, ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, grid ref: SD801926 (here).
4 October 2023: Hen harrier male (brood meddled in 2020, name: ‘R1-M3-20’) ‘disappeared’ in Co Durham, grid ref: NY935192 (here).
4 October 2023: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2023, name: ‘R4-F1-23’) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, grid ref: SE003981 (here).
14 October 2023: Hen harrier male called ‘Cillian’, tagged in Cumbria on 1 August 2023, ‘disappeared’ in south west Scotland, grid ref: NY051946 (here).
15 November 2023: Hen harrier female called ‘Hazel’, tagged in Cumbria on 21 July 2023, ‘disappeared’ on the Isle of Man, grid ref: SC251803 (here).
27 November 2023: Hen harrier female called ‘Gill’, tagged in Northumberland on 10 July 2023, ‘disappeared’ at a confidential location in Teeside (here).
12 February 2024: Hen harrier female called ‘Susie’, Tag ID 201122, found dead at a confidential location in Northumberland and the subject of an ongoing police investigation (here).
15 February 2024: Hen harrier female called ‘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).
7 March 2024: Hen harrier male (brood meddled in 2023, name R2-M1-23) found dead in Devon. According to an FoI response from Natural England in June 2024 this death is the subject of an ongoing police investigation (here).
24 April 2024: Hen harrier male called ‘Ken’, Tag ID 213849a, ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances close to a grouse moor in Bowland, grid ref SD 684601 (here).
17 May 2024: Hen harrier male (brood meddled in 2023, name R2-M2-23) ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances next to Middlesmoor grouse moor in Nidderdale, grid ref SE043754 (here).
25 June 2024: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2023, name R2-F1-23) ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances on a grouse moor in Yorkshire Dales National Park, grid ref NY985082 (here).
July 2024: Hen harrier female named ‘Helius’ satellite tagged by the RSPB ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances in Bowland (here).
October 2024: An un-tagged hen harrier was seemingly shot on a grouse moor by one of three gamekeepers being secretly filmed by the RSPB (here).
1 October 2024: Hen harrier female named ‘Dreich’, Tag ID: 254842, ‘disappeared’ in Lanarkshire. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown, site confidential – ongoing investigation‘ (here).
15 October 2024: Hen harrier male named ‘Baldur’, Tag ID: 240291, ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown, site confidential – ongoing investigation‘ (here).
19 October 2024: Hen harrier female named ‘Margaret’, Tag ID: 254844, ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown, site confidential – ongoing investigation‘ (here).
12 January 2025: Hen harrier female named ‘Dina’, Tag ID: 254837, ‘disappeared’ near a grouse moor in the Lammermuirs, south Scotland (grid ref: NT 681512). Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown’ (here).
15 January 2025: Hen harrier female named ‘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).
3 February 2025: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2022, name R3-F2-22) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the North York Moors National Park. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown’ (here).
27 February 2025: Hen harrier female named ‘Sita’, satellite-tagged on behalf of Hen Harrier Action in Bowland in 2024 and tracked by the RSPB, ‘disappeared’ from a roost site on an unnamed grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
4 April 2025: Hen harrier female named ‘Bonnie’, Tag ID: 254841, ‘disappeared’ in Scotland. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown. Site confidential – ongoing investigation’ (here).
10 April 2025: Hen harrier female named ‘Gill’, Tag ID: 240294, ‘disappeared’ in Scotland. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown. Site confidential – ongoing investigation’ (here).
May 2025: Male hen harrier (with 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 male hen harrier (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).
To be continued…….
Of these 141 incidents, only one has resulted in an arrest and a subsequent prosecution (ongoing – gamekeeper due in court in September 2025, 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 ONE 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) 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 33 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).
Wild Justice has launched another petition calling for a ban on driven grouse shooting. This latest petition is intended to gauge the view of the new Labour Government, as previous petitions were all lodged under the Conservative Government with its well-documented vested interests. Labour issued an appallingly pathetic interim response to the petition, via DEFRA, in January 2025 after the petition had reached 10,000 signatures, and indicated it had no intention of banning driven grouse shooting (see here).
The petition is live until 22 May 2025. It has already passed the 100,000 signature threshold required to qualify for a debate in Westminster Hall and a date has just been set (announcement due tomorrow) so we’ll see how on earth the Government is going to defend the status quo.
Conservation campaign group Wild Justice has provided an update on how its Raptor Forensics Fund has helped UK police forces investigate suspected crimes against birds of prey.
The fund was established in 2020 to cover the costs of early-stage investigations where there is a suspicion of a crime but insufficient evidence to meet the criteria required to submit a carcass for tests in a Government-funded lab.
Police officers have immediate access to the fund to prevent any delay in progressing a case and typically it covers costs such as x-rays and post-mortems. If a crime is then confirmed, officers can apply for further funds to cover costs such as DNA work or other specialist work. If a case results in a conviction, an application is made to the court to recover the costs and these are returned to the forensic fund.
Photo by Ruth Tingay
The fund is administered by the PAW Forensic Working Group (a sub-group of the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime) and is open to any regional or national statutory agency in the UK. For further details please visit the PAW Forensic Working Group website here.
Additional funding support has been provided by The Northern England Raptor Forum, Tayside & Fife Raptor Study Group, Devon Birds, Rare Bird Alert and a number of individuals who wish to remain anonymous.
Since being established in 2020, the fund has supported 68 police investigations and has been used to pay for 43 post mortems, 29 x-rays, one CT scan and two DNA profilings.
Some of those 68 investigations have now ended, either because, for example, there wasn’t any evidence of criminality, or there was some evidence but it was insufficient to meet the criminal threshold, or because no suspects were identified, or because the carcass tested positive for avian influenza which prevented any further analysis. Some investigations are on-going.
Eight investigations have so far resulted in prosecutions and subsequent convictions. Seven of the eight convictions involved gamekeepers on Pheasant shoots. You can read the details here.
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 most recently reported victims, four female hen harriers (Dina, R3-F2-22, Bonnie, and Gill) who vanished at various locations between January and April 2025 (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). 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 138 hen harriers gone since 2018, and 31 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. **Post mortem reports on a further seven hen harriers found dead in 2024/2025 are awaited. Those seven individuals are not included in this table.
‘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, are, however, ongoing issues with the licence as it’s been significantly watered-down after an intervention from the grouse shooting industry (see here). Work is underway to address this.
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 by the RSPB’s Investigations Team as featured on Channel 4 News in October 2024).
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).
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).
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).
1 December 2022: Hen harrier male (brood meddled in 2021, #R1-M1-21) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
7 December 2022: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2020, #R2-F2-20) ‘disappeared’ from winter roost (same as #R3-F1-22) on moorland in North Pennines AONB (here). Later found dead with 3 shotgun pellets in corpse.
14 December 2022: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2022, #R3-F1-22) ‘disappeared’ from winter roost (same as #R2-F2-20) on moorland in the North Pennines AONB (here). Later found dead with two shotgun pellets in corpse.
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).
9/10 May 2023: Hen harrier male called ‘Dagda’, 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).
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).
September 2023: Hen harrier female ‘Saranyu’, tagged by the RSPB in Cumbria in June 2023, ‘disappeared’ in Durham in September 2023 (no further details available yet – just outline info provided in 2022 Birdcrime report) (here).
September 2023: Hen harrier female ‘Inger’, a female tagged by the RSPB in Perthshire in July 2022, ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Angus Glens in September 2023 (here).
15 September 2023: Hen harrier male called ‘Rhys’, tagged in Cumbria on 1st August 2023, ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Grid ref: SD798896 (here).
24 September 2023: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2023, name: ‘R2-F2-23’) ‘disappeared’ in the North Pennines, grid ref: NY888062 (here).
25 September 2023: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2022, name: ‘R1-F4-22’) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, grid ref: SE077699 (here).
26 September 2023: Hen harrier female called ‘Hope’, tagged in Cumbria on 21 July 2023, ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, grid ref: SD801926 (here).
4 October 2023: Hen harrier male (brood meddled in 2020, name: ‘R1-M3-20’) ‘disappeared’ in Co Durham, grid ref: NY935192 (here).
4 October 2023: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2023, name: ‘R4-F1-23’) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, grid ref: SE003981 (here).
14 October 2023: Hen harrier male called ‘Cillian’, tagged in Cumbria on 1 August 2023, ‘disappeared’ in south west Scotland, grid ref: NY051946 (here).
15 November 2023: Hen harrier female called ‘Hazel’, tagged in Cumbria on 21 July 2023, ‘disappeared’ on the Isle of Man, grid ref: SC251803 (here).
27 November 2023: Hen harrier female called ‘Gill’, tagged in Northumberland on 10 July 2023, ‘disappeared’ at a confidential location in Teeside (here).
12 February 2024: Hen harrier female called ‘Susie’, Tag ID 201122, found dead at a confidential location in Northumberland and the subject of an ongoing police investigation (here).
15 February 2024: Hen harrier female called ‘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).
7 March 2024: Hen harrier male (brood meddled in 2023, name R2-M1-23) found dead in Devon. According to an FoI response from Natural England in June 2024 this death is the subject of an ongoing police investigation (here).
24 April 2024: Hen harrier male called ‘Ken’, Tag ID 213849a, ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances close to a grouse moor in Bowland, grid ref SD 684601 (here).
17 May 2024: Hen harrier male (brood meddled in 2023, name R2-M2-23) ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances next to Middlesmoor grouse moor in Nidderdale, grid ref SE043754 (here).
25 June 2024: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2023, name R2-F1-23) ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances on a grouse moor in Yorkshire Dales National Park, grid ref NY985082 (here).
July 2024: Hen harrier female named ‘Helius’ satellite tagged by the RSPB ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances in Bowland (here).
October 2024: An un-tagged hen harrier was seemingly shot on a grouse moor by one of three gamekeepers being secretly filmed by the RSPB (here).
1 October 2024: Hen harrier female named ‘Dreich’, Tag ID: 254842, ‘disappeared’ in Lanarkshire. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown, site confidential – ongoing investigation‘ (here).
15 October 2024: Hen harrier male named ‘Baldur’, Tag ID: 240291, ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown, site confidential – ongoing investigation‘ (here).
19 October 2024: Hen harrier female named ‘Margaret’, Tag ID: 254844, ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown, site confidential – ongoing investigation‘ (here).
12 January 2025: Hen harrier female named ‘Dina’, Tag ID: 254837, ‘disappeared’ near a grouse moor in the Lammermuirs, south Scotland (grid ref: NT 681512). Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown’ (here).
15 January 2025: Hen harrier female named ‘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).
3 February 2025: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2022, name R3-F2-22) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the North York Moors National Park. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown’ (here).
4 April 2025: Hen harrier female named ‘Bonnie’, Tag ID: 254841, ‘disappeared’ in Scotland. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown. Site confidential – ongoing investigation’ (here).
10 April 2025: Hen harrier female named ‘Gill’, Tag ID: 240294, ‘disappeared’ in Scotland. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown. Site confidential – ongoing investigation’ (here).
To be continued…….
Of these 138 incidents, only one has resulted in an arrest and a subsequent prosecution (ongoing – gamekeeper due in court in May 2025, 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 THIRTY EIGHT 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) 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 33 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).
Wild Justice has launched another petition calling for a ban on driven grouse shooting. This latest petition is intended to gauge the view of the new Labour Government, as previous petitions were all lodged under the Conservative Government with its well-documented vested interests. Labour issued an appallingly pathetic interim response to the petition, via DEFRA, in January 2025 after the petition had reached 10,000 signatures, and indicated it had no intention of banning driven grouse shooting (see here).
The petition is live until 22 May 2025. It has already passed the 100,000 signature threshold required to qualify for a debate in Westminster Hall so now we wait to find out if the Government will call it and if/when it does, how on earth it’s going to defend the status quo.
I’ve read two blogs recently that suggest we might be heading for yet another pointless and futile ‘dialogue’ process, purportedly to find a ‘solution’ to the ongoing illegal killing of hen harriers on grouse moors.
Representatives of the criminals within the driven grouse shooting industry would be on one side of the table and conservationists and the police on the other.
This hen harrier was euthanised after suffering catastrophic leg injuries in an illegal trap set next to its nest on a grouse moor in Scotland in 2019. Photo by Ruth Tingay
The first public indication that this dialogue process was being mooted appeared in a blog published by the charity Hen Harrier Action at the end of January 2025 (here). The charity had interviewed Detective Inspector Mark Harrison of the National Wildlife Crime Unit, who leads on the Hen Harrier Task Force.
In that interview, DI Harrison is quoted as follows:
“We are applying for funding from DEFRA to use the IUCN Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence Guidelines as a tool for building for the future. This funding will bring in independent facilitators to collaborate with key stakeholders to find and implement long term solutions. We hope that this funding will be for three years“.
The second blog which refers to the same dialogue process is this one, posted three days ago on the Northern England Raptor Forum’s website (NERF represents raptor fieldworkers across northern England).
The NERF blog starts off with a response to the suspicious disappearance of satellite-tagged hen harrier ‘Red’, who hatched on the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve last year but then vanished on a grouse moor in the North Pennines in January 2025 (here).
It then moves on to the so-called ‘conflict resolution’ dialogue process, as follows:
“In the meantime, the MA [Moorland Association] are demanding that NE and Defra undertake another round of conflict resolution claiming that the killing of Hen Harriers is the result of human animal conflict as defined by the ICUN Guidelines. This assertion is dismissed by conservation groups, including by NERF, as irrelevant. The so-called conflict is entirely the result of criminals who consistently break the law at will killing Hen Harriers throughout the North of England. It is evident that there are many in the grouse shooting industry who will not be satisfied until Hen Harriers are extinct in the North of England.
“If the rumours are correct and a new round of conflict resolution is being entered into it will be yet another victory for the grouse shooting industry who will have kicked the problem into the long grass, again. Apparently, the plan is for the process to last for 3 years and cost £400, 000. If past experience is anything to go by the process will last longer and cost significantly more than the original estimate. How much of the estimated cost will come from the public purse is not known at the moment, however any intent to squander tax payer’s money on this flawed idea should be resisted. Hardly a day goes by without a Cabinet Minister reminding us that they inherited a £22 billion ‘black hole’. Government Departments are having their budgets slashed and staff numbers are being reduced. Natural England’s Hen Harrier field team is being reduced from 3 to 2. £400k could pay for that field worker to be retained for up to 10 years“.
The earlier conflict resolution process that NERF refers to was known as the ‘Hen Harrier Dialogue’ which began nineteen years ago in 2006 and was hosted by The Environment Council. It dragged on until 2013, by which time the breeding population of hen harriers in England had fallen to just a single, successful pair, the RSPB had walked away from the dialogue (here), later followed by NERF (here) and then the Hawk & Owl Trust (here).
The dialogue process was a complete and utter failure. It achieved absolutely nothing in terms of hen harrier conservation but was used by the grouse shooting industry as a politically-pleasing gesture and a useful delaying ploy.
The sham hen harrier brood meddling trial followed, between 2018 – 2024, which proved that attitudes in the grouse shooting industry towards hen harriers remained firmly in the Victorian era with at least 134 hen harriers ‘disappearing’ or confirmed illegally killed since the trial began, most of them on or close to grouse moors.
*n/a – no hen harriers were brood meddled in 2018. **Post mortem reports on a further six hen harriers found dead in 2024 are awaited.
We are currently awaiting a formal review of the brood meddling sham by Natural England and a decision on whether NE will issue a licence to the grouse shooting industry for further brood meddling this year and in the years ahead (see here).
It’s an oft-repeated phenomenon that whenever someone ‘new’ gets involved in the issue of hen harrier persecution, indeed the issues relating to all raptor persecution, that they call for all ‘sides’ to sit down together, build partnerships and reach a resolution that will end the illegal killing.
It’s an understandable and seemingly sensible idea. That is, until you look back at the history of this issue and realise that one ‘side’, i.e. the criminals within the shooting industry, simply aren’t prepared to tolerate hen harriers / raptors on ‘their’ grouse moors because of the perceived threat to ‘their’ red grouse.
Pseudo ‘partnerships’ with the game-shooting industry have been set-up so many times, only to fail miserably in the face of ongoing illegal persecution and abject denial from the shooting industry’s representatives (e.g. see here, here, here, here, here, here, here).
As far as I can see, nothing has changed to suggest that setting up yet another sham partnership to address the illegal killing of hen harriers on driven grouse moors will do anything other than provide the criminals with yet another opportunity to masquerade in public as law-abiding, responsible custodians whilst in private continuing to shoot, trap, stamp on, and pull the heads and wings off any hen harrier that dares to go anywhere near a driven grouse moor.
The time for talking ended years ago.
Sign the Wild Justice petition calling for a ban on driven grouse shooting HERE. It is currently supported by 69,000 people. It requires 100,000 people to sign it, before 22 May 2025, to trigger a debate in the Westminster parliament.
UPDATE 9 July 2025: Defra refuses funding for another futile ‘dialogue’ process to address ongoing killing of Hen Harriers on grouse moors (here).
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 most recently reported victim, ‘Red’, who hatched on the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve in 2024 and ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the North Pennines in January 2025 (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). 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. Natural England is currently undertaking a review of the ‘trial’ and a report is expected soon.
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 134 hen harriers gone since 2018, and 30 of those being brood meddled birds, 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 consecutive DEFRA Ministers have remained silent.
*n/a – no hen harriers were brood meddled in 2018. **Post mortem reports on a further six hen harriers found dead in 2024 are awaited.
‘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).
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, are, however, ongoing issues with the licence as it’s been significantly watered-down after an intervention from the grouse shooting industry (see here). Work is underway to address this.
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 and it’s been met with resistance from the Moorland Association, the grouse moor owners’ lobby group (here) and so far, illegal persecution 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 brilliant exposure by Channel 4 News).
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).
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).
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).
1 December 2022: Hen harrier male (brood meddled in 2021, #R1-M1-21) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
7 December 2022: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2020, #R2-F2-20) ‘disappeared’ from winter roost (same as #R3-F1-22) on moorland in North Pennines AONB (here). Later found dead with 3 shotgun pellets in corpse.
14 December 2022: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2022, #R3-F1-22) ‘disappeared’ from winter roost (same as #R2-F2-20) on moorland in the North Pennines AONB (here). Later found dead with two shotgun pellets in corpse.
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).
9/10 May 2023: Hen harrier male called ‘Dagda’, 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).
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).
September 2023: Hen harrier female ‘Saranyu’, tagged by the RSPB in Cumbria in June 2023, ‘disappeared’ in Durham in September 2023 (no further details available yet – just outline info provided in 2022 Birdcrime report) (here).
September 2023: Hen harrier female ‘Inger’, a female tagged by the RSPB in Perthshire in July 2022, ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Angus Glens in September 2023 (here).
15 September 2023: Hen harrier male called ‘Rhys’, tagged in Cumbria on 1st August 2023, ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Grid ref: SD798896 (here).
24 September 2023: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2023, name: ‘R2-F2-23’) ‘disappeared’ in the North Pennines, grid ref: NY888062 (here).
25 September 2023: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2022, name: ‘R1-F4-22’) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, grid ref: SE077699 (here).
26 September 2023: Hen harrier female called ‘Hope’, tagged in Cumbria on 21 July 2023, ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, grid ref: SD801926 (here).
4 October 2023: Hen harrier male (brood meddled in 2020, name: ‘R1-M3-20’) ‘disappeared’ in Co Durham, grid ref: NY935192 (here).
4 October 2023: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2023, name: ‘R4-F1-23’) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, grid ref: SE003981 (here).
14 October 2023: Hen harrier male called ‘Cillian’, tagged in Cumbria on 1 August 2023, ‘disappeared’ in south west Scotland, grid ref: NY051946 (here).
15 November 2023: Hen harrier female called ‘Hazel’, tagged in Cumbria on 21 July 2023, ‘disappeared’ on the Isle of Man, grid ref: SC251803 (here).
27 November 2023: Hen harrier female called ‘Gill’, tagged in Northumberland on 10 July 2023, ‘disappeared’ at a confidential location in Teeside (here).
12 February 2024: Hen harrier female called ‘Susie’, Tag ID 201122, found dead at a confidential location in Northumberland and the subject of an ongoing police investigation (here).
15 February 2024: Hen harrier female called ‘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).
7 March 2024: Hen harrier male (brood meddled in 2023, name R2-M1-23) found dead in Devon. According to an FoI response from Natural England in June 2024 this death is the subject of an ongoing police investigation (here).
24 April 2024: Hen harrier male called ‘Ken’, Tag ID 213849a, ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances close to a grouse moor in Bowland, grid ref SD 684601 (here).
17 May 2024: Hen harrier male (brood meddled in 2023, name R2-M2-23) ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances next to Middlesmoor grouse moor in Nidderdale, grid ref SE043754 (here).
25 June 2024: Hen harrier female (brood meddled in 2023, name R2-F1-23) ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances on a grouse moor in Yorkshire Dales National Park, grid ref NY985082 (here).
July 2024: Hen harrier female named ‘Helius’ satellite tagged by the RSPB ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances in Bowland (here).
October 2024: An un-tagged hen harrier was shot on a grouse moor by one of three gamekeepers being secretly filmed by the RSPB (here).
1 October 2024: Hen harrier female named ‘Dreich’, Tag ID: 254842, ‘disappeared’ in Lanarkshire. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown, site confidential – ongoing investigation‘ (here).
15 October 2024: Hen harrier male named ‘Baldur’, Tag ID: 240291, ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown, site confidential – ongoing investigation‘ (here).
19 October 2024: Hen harrier female named ‘Margaret’, Tag ID: 254844, ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown, site confidential – ongoing investigation‘ (here).
15 January 2025: Hen harrier female named ‘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).
To be continued…….
Not one of these 134 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 THIRTY FOUR 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) 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 33 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).
Wild Justice has launched another petition calling for a ban on driven grouse shooting. This latest petition is intended to gauge the view of the new Labour Government, as previous petitions were all lodged under the Conservative Government with its well-documented vested interests. Labour issued an appallingly pathetic interim response to the petition in January 2025, via DEFRA, which indicated it had no intention of banning driven grouse shooting (see here).
The petition is live until 22 May 2025 and needs 100,000 signatures to qualify for a debate in Westminster Hall. It’s currently on 65,000 signatures. If you haven’t yet signed it, it’s here.
UPDATE 14 April 2025: Natural England / DEFRA turns down licence application for hen harrier brood meddling in 2025 (here)
Booking is open for The Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group (NIRSG) conference taking place this Saturday (22 February 2025) at the Killyhevlin Hotel, Enniskillen.
The conference is open to everyone – you don’t need to be a member of the NIRSG to attend. To find out more information and details of how to book, please visit the NIRSG website (here).
You’ll see that Phase 2 of the NIRSG’s campaign to ban dangerous, raptor-killing pesticides will be launched on Saturday morning. I wrote about this campaign a few days ago (see here) and wanted to drum up support to help the petition reach 50,000 signatures before this coming Saturday (it had been stubbornly stuck at 46, 206 signatures for a while).
This petition/campaign was initiated after the discovery of two young white-tailed eagles that were found dead on Northern Ireland’s only driven grouse moor in 2023 – they’d both been illegally poisoned by the toxic pesticide Bendiocarb.
Many, many thanks to the approx 1,500 of you who have signed in the last few days – the current total is 47, 761 signatures. We need a couple more thousand people to pledge their support to reach the target.
Can you help? You don’t need to be a resident of Northern Ireland to sign – the petition is open to anyone, anywhere, who cares about the illegal use of these dangerous poisons to kill birds of prey (and any other wildlife that comes into contact with indiscriminately placed poisonous baits).
If you’d like to sign and/or share the petition with others, please click HERE.
Your help is needed to ensure a petition, calling for a ban on the possession of dangerous, raptor-killing pesticides in Northern Ireland, passes the target of 50,000 signatures before next week.
The petition was launched by the award-winning Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group (NIRSG) in July 2023 following the illegal poisoning of two young White-tailed Eagles that were found dead, side by side, on Northern Ireland’s only driven grouse moor at Glenwherry, in the Antrim Hills.
The two poisoned white-tailed eagles. Photo: Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group
The eagles had both ingested the highly toxic insecticide, Bendiocarb, which is currently only licensed for indoor use in Northern Ireland. This chemical is so dangerous that it’s an offence to even possess it in Scotland, let alone place it out in the open on a bait to attract any passing predators.
The petition calling for a ban on the possession of Bendiocarb and a range of other dangerous chemicals used to illegally target birds of prey currently has 46,206 signatures. The target is 50,000 signatures and ideally this target can be met before next week, when the NI Raptor Study Group will be announcing Phase 2 of its campaign to get these pesticides out of circulation. A petition with 50,000+ signatures will help get the attention of the politicians the NIRSG will be approaching.
You don’t need to be a NI resident to sign the petition; any decent human being with an interest in protecting birds of prey and other wildlife can sign it.
If you haven’t already signed, and want to help this important campaign, please sign the petition HERE.
Raptor Persecution UK 