NatureScot has today announced a three-year General Licence restriction on two shooting estates: Milton of Drimmie Estate, near Blairgowrie, Perthshire, and Invermark Estate in the Angus Glens.
MILTON OF DRIMMIE ESTATE, PERTHSHIRE
The Milton of Drimmie restriction relates to the conviction earlier this year of gamekeeper and ex-sex offender Russell Mason, after he was caught on camera battering to death a Goshawk that had been caught inside a Crow cage trap on the Pheasant-shooting estate in February 2024.
Screen grab from RSPB covert footage showing gamekeeper Mason beating the Goshawk to death inside a Crow cage trap on the Milton of Drimmie Estate, Perthshire
Mason received a derisory 200-hour Community Payback Order for killing the Goshawk (even though his crime passed the custodial threshold) and he was also fined £890 for firearms offences (see here).
As far as I’m aware, NatureScot delayed its decision to apply a three-year General Licence restriction on this estate whilst criminal proceedings against Mason were ongoing.
The General Licence restriction on Milton of Drimmie relates to Cochrage Muir (outlined in red on the map below), which is owned by Milton of Drimmie Estate, and prohibits the use of General Licences 01, 02 and 03 on that land from 7th August 2026 up to and including 7th August 2029.
INVERMARK ESTATE, ANGUS GLENS
The Invermark Estate restriction relates to the discovery of a Peregrine with shotgun injuries on 3 September 2024, close to grouse butts in the Glen Esk area of the notorious Angus Glens. The Peregrine was later euthanised due to the extent of its injuries.
This incident, and the subsequent decision to impose a three-year General Licence restriction, but not a revocation of a grouse-shooting licence, deserves its own blog, which I’ll try and write in the coming days.
The General Licence restriction on Invermark Estate relates to Dalbrack Farm (outlined in red on the map below), which is owned by Invermark Estate, and prohibits the use of General Licences 01, 02 and 03 on that land from 7th August 2026 up to and including 7th August 2029.
Here is NatureScot’s announcement today:
7 August 2026
NatureScot has today restricted the use of general licences for three years on land at Milton of Drimmie Estate, Perthshire, and Invermark Estate, Angus.
The decision was made based on evidence provided by Police Scotland of wildlife crime against birds.
In the case of Milton of Drimmie, this relates to the conviction of former gamekeeper Russell Mason at Perth Sheriff Court on 17 March 2026 for killing a goshawk. The restriction will apply to the area of Cochrage Muir, where the offence took place.
In the case of Invermark Estate, the restriction will apply to the Dalbrack Farm area of the estate. NatureScot received robust evidence from Police Scotland in relation to the shooting of a peregrine which was discovered in this area.
Chris Dailly, NatureScot’s Head of Licensing, said: “We have decided, in discussion with Police Scotland, to suspend the use of general licences on these two areas of land for three years until August 2029.
“We are committed to using all the tools we have available to tackle wildlife crime. These measures will help to protect wild birds in these areas, while still allowing necessary land management activities to take place.
“We believe this is a proportionate response to protect wild birds and prevent further wildlife crime. We will continue to work closely with Police Scotland and consider information they provide on cases which may warrant restricting general licences.”
Individual licences may still be applied for, but these will be subject to strict record-keeping and reporting requirements and will be closely monitored to ensure licence conditions are met.
General licences allow landowners or land managers to carry out control of common species of wild birds, such as crows and magpies, to protect crops or livestock, without the need to apply for an individual licence.
In addition to these restrictions, there are currently three other restrictions in place in Scotland: on Lochindorb Estate in the Highlands and Raeshaw Estate and Watherston Wood in the Scottish Borders.
ENDS
General Licence restrictions, which have been available to NatureScot since 2014, are based on the civil burden of proof and are issued when NatureScot receives information from Police Scotland about wildlife crimes but where there is insufficient evidence to identify an individual offender for prosecution. Although, General Licence restrictions can also be imposed on estates where gamekeepers have been convicted of wildlife crimes, as in the Milton of Drimmie Estate case.
General Licence restrictions do not prevent an estate from game-shooting, nor do they prevent an estate from carrying out [lawful] predator control – this can still be undertaken if the estate applies for an ‘individual licence’ which may restrict the amount of predator control, the estate may be subject to compliance spot checks, and the licence holder must provide NatureScot with licence returns (i.e. indicate how many birds were killed, where, and when etc).
General Licence restrictions are not perfect as an effective sanction – they are nowhere near, as I’ve written about many times before (e.g. see here and links within). They do, however, work as a ‘reputational driver’, although in some cases reputation is apparently not an issue of concern.
I’ll come back to the shot Peregrine on Invermark Estate in a separate blog…
On Monday 20 July 2026, at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, all charges were dropped against two gamekeepers who had been on trial for the alleged shooting of Red Kites, as well as alleged firearms offences, in the Cairngorms National Park.
What follows is my understanding of the case, based on material published by the media, court documents, and conversations I’ve had with people who attended the trial. As far as I’m aware, the outcome of this case has not been reported formally, either by journalists, Police Scotland or the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service. It’s pointless me asking for case details from the Crown Office or Police Scotland because they are protected by data protection regulations. For this reason, the following account should be treated with caution, i.e. it is not provided as a definitive account of the legal proceedings.
CASE BACKGROUND
On 4 February 2025 a member of the public notified the RSPB that a dead Red Kite had been found on private property in the Glenbuchat area of Strathdon, in Aberdeenshire, and the finder said that he had concerns that it might have been poisoned. The RSPB’s Investigations team collected the kite carcass and submitted it to Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) lab for examination, notifying Police Scotland of their action. A short time later a post mortem revealed the kite had been shot, which led Police Scotland to open a wildlife crime investigation.
As part of that investigation, an appeal for information was issued by Police Scotland on 28 February 2025. Shortly afterwards another member of the public, William Johnstone, came forward with footage that had been captured on a night vision trail camera that he and local landowner, Roderick McGilvary, had installed in Knockie Wood (owned by Mr McGilvary) to monitor wildlife. Although the footage was not properly date/time stamped, Mr Johnstone and Mr McGilvary both stated that the footage had been captured over the preceding three weeks.
Location of Knockie Wood, Strathdon, in the Cairngorms National Park
Knockie Wood & surrounding grouse moor area, screen grabbed from a land sale brochure Aug 2026
The footage showed two armed individuals, with night vision equipment, carrying the body of a(nother) Red Kite. Mr Johnstone and Mr McGilvary both said they recognised the two armed men and named them as Graeme Rankin and Steven Hague, the Head Gamekeeper and underkeeper from nearby Glenbuchat Estate.
Mr Johnstone said he recognised the two men from shooting events he’d attended and from living in the local area. Mr McGilvary said he’d previously given Mr Rankin permission to kill ‘vermin’ on his land.
The trail camera footage was passed to Police Scotland and after examination, several officers, including a Firearms Licensing Officer, also said they recognised the two armed men as gamekeepers Graeme Rankin and Steven Hague.
On 1 May 2025 the Police executed a search warrant at the addresses of the two suspects and firearms were seized.
Following police interviews, to which both suspects gave ‘no comment’ replies, they were reported to the Procurator Fiscal and subsequently charged as follows:
Charge 1(GraemeRankin & Steven Hague) – Between 1 – 26 Feb 2025 at Knockie Wood, Strathdon, intentionally or recklessly killed a wild bird (Red Kite) with a firearm, contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981;
Charge 2 (Graeme Rankin & Steven Hague) – Between 1 – 26 Feb 2025 at Knockie Wood, Strathdon, were in possession and control of a dead wild bird (Red Kite), contrary to Section 1(2)(a) of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981;
Charge 3 (Graeme Rankin & Steven Hague) – On 3 or 4 February 2025 at [REDACTED], Glenbuchat, Strathdon, intentionally or recklessly killed a wild bird (Red Kite) with a firearm, contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981;
Charge 4 (Steven Hague) – On 1 May 2025 at [REDACTED], Glenbuchat, Strathdon, failed to keep keys for gun cabinets in a secure place, failed to ensure the key safe lock was secure and worked properly, and failed to secure ammunition, contrary to Section 1(2) of the Firearms Act 1968.
THE TRIAL
Both defendants pleaded not guilty to all charges so a two-day trial was scheduled to begin in Aberdeen on 9 December 2025. The defendants were each represented by an advocate of Kings Counsel (KC) status. Brian McConnachie KC, one of Scotland’s leading criminal lawyers, represented Graeme Rankin, and Shelagh McCall KC, also highly experienced, represented Steven Hague. Karen Rollo, an experienced Procurator Fiscal from the Wildlife and Environmental Crime Unit at the Crown Office, appeared for the prosecution.
Before proceedings really got going, the Sheriff made a declaration of being a monthly subscriber to the RSPB, which resulted in the two defence KCs lodging a motion that the Sheriff should consider recusing himself because the ‘public might perceive some bias’.
After giving the motion some consideration, the Sheriff agreed to stand down because this case involved RSPB staff members as witnesses for the prosecution.
Unfortunately, no other Sheriff was available immediately to hear the case so it was adjourned and rescheduled as a four-day hearing in April 2026, this time in front of Sheriff Peter Hammond.
Due to the large number of witnesses called by the prosecution in the first four days, the trial was further extended to another two days on 15-16 June 2026.
Prosecution witnesses included the finder of the first dead Red Kite (that was later confirmed shot), RSPB Investigations staff who had collected the kite carcass, William Johnstone who had installed the trail camera at Knockie Wood (landowner Robert McGilvary had since passed away but had previously provided a statement to Police Scotland), the SRUC vet who had performed the post mortem examination of the first dead Red Kite, a ballistics expert who could comment on the weapons and ammunition seen on the footage compared to what was seized during the search warrant, and multiple police officers who had been involved in viewing the captured footage, identifying the individuals (and their equipment) in the footage, and those involved in the execution of the search warrant.
There were significant delays at the start of the trial due to technical challenges in getting the video evidence to be shown in court; this seemed to be due to formatting issues regarding the ‘stitch video’ (a single film of various clips knitted together to make it easier to view). These were eventually resolved, although prosecution witnesses noted that the quality of the video shown in court was poorer than the raw footage they had been able to view at the police station.
A number of witnesses told the court that they couldn’t identify the suspects based on the poor quality of the footage shown in court but reiterated that they’d been able to identify them from the original footage at the police station.
Police Firearms Officer Tomas Spracklen told the court he’d attended Steven Hague’s cottage on 1 May 2025, alongside other officers executing the search warrant. He said he found that a safe, which stored keys to a gun cabinet, was not secure as he was able to access it and remove the key without having to use a code. He said that the key to a second gun locker was hanging on a hook behind a table leg just yards away in the same room where shotguns were kept. He also told the court that other Police Officers had found an unsecured pouch of ammunition in the gun room.
The two defence KCs challenged the provenance of the video footage, focusing on the fact that it wasn’t properly time/date stamped. They also challenged whether there had been procedural errors by the Police Officers during the execution of the search warrant.
The defence then lodged a motion to the Sheriff that on all charges, there was no case to answer. With respect to the charges of the killing of the second kite, they contended that the prosecution had failed to demonstrate that their witnesses had identified the defendants on the basis of the(poor quality)footage played in court, and that the prosecution had also failed to demonstrate that the footage captured was consistent with the dates of the charges libelled. They suggested, therefore that all these witnesses’ evidence should subsequently be disregarded.
The defence further suggested that the prosecution’s reliance on the established Scots Law ‘Moorov principle’ that allows for the use of similar factual evidence to corroborate multiple charges, should also mean that despite apparent similar circumstances surrounding the killing of the first Red Kite, if the charges above were dismissed, then charge 3 should also be dismissed.
The defence also argued that the fourth charge, relating to unsecure ammunition, should also be dismissed as they suggested that there was no corroboration of the lack of security of the accused’s gun room (i.e. the key to the gun cabinet hidden behind a table leg, shown to one Police Officer by the accused).
On 20 July 2026, the Prosecution made a lengthy submission in response to the defence’s motion, countering all of the above points, including giving examples of case law to support its case. However, although the Sheriff agreed that the footage captured was within the dates of the charges libelled, he accepted all of the other points made by the defence and made a ruling that there was no case to answer on all four charges. The defendants were then told they were free to go.
MY COMMENTARY
What follows is my opinion. It does not infer any guilt on the two defendants, but rather focuses on the mechanics of the case.
To start, it’s worth mentioning Police Scotland’s early appeal for information after they’d received confirmation from a post mortem that the first Red Kite had been shot. It was a direct result of that appeal that two witnesses came forward with their trail camera footage showing two armed men carrying a(nother) dead Red Kite, in the same area, and around the same time as the discovery of the first dead Red Kite. Some police forces don’t bother putting out appeals for information when birds of prey have been persecuted – this case highlights the value of issuing timely appeals, so plaudits to Police Scotland for making the effort to do so, and quickly.
On to the case itself…
It’s really difficult to comment on the legal complexities because (a) I wasn’t in court to hear the evidence; (b) I’m unsighted on any written submissions made to the court by both the prosecution and defence; (c) I didn’t hear, and nor have I seen, the Sheriff’s detailed explanation for his decision-making; and (d) I’m not a lawyer.
Nevertheless, the information that is available about the case raises some obvious, and in my view, serious, questions about the course of justice.
My main concern centres on the Sheriff’s ruling that the prosecution had not been able to establish, in court, the identities of the two armed men. That failure to identify them seems to be based entirely on the poor quality of the footage shown in court, even though multiple witnesses, including Police Officers, had given testimony (in sworn witness statements and in person before the court) that they had been able to identify them from the raw footage viewed at the police station.
If the video evidence in court was of such obvious poor quality, why wasn’t the trial adjourned until such time that better quality footage, which was known to exist, could be shown in court? I don’t know if a request for an adjournment was made and the Sheriff refused it, or whether it just simply wasn’t raised. It seems an absurdity to me that a trial can stand or fall on a technical failure that could have been so easily resolved.
Related to this, I don’t understand why the Sheriff was willing to accept the testimony of Mr Johnstone and Mr McGilvary that although their trail camera footage wasn’t properly time/date stamped, the footage related to the time period they’d said it related to, but then he wasn’t willing to accept the testimonies of serving Police Officers who’d stated that they’d been able to identify the suspects from footage they’d viewed at the police station. That makes no sense to me.
Another question I have relates to the apparent lack of corroboration about the alleged lack of security in the gun room. I thought that all Police Officers wore body-worn cameras these days, and that that footage is considered acceptable as ‘real evidence’ in court. Was body-worn camera footage available in this case and if so, why wasn’t it accepted? If no body-worn footage was worn, then it sounds like a fundamental cock-up was made by the Police Officers executing the search warrant, making easy pickings for the defence KCs.
From what I understand, I think the Crown Office can appeal ‘no case to answer’ decisions if it chooses to, but has to lodge an appeal within a relatively short time scale following the judgement. It’ll be interesting to see whether that happens in this case.
What we’re left with is the knowledge that two Red Kites were illegally killed in the Glenbuchat area of Strathdon during February 2025, one confirmed shot and the other one more than likely to have been shot. This area in the north-east part of the Cairngorms National Park has long been recognised as a raptor persecution hotspot but once again, the raptor killers, whoever they are, are getting away with it.
NB: For anyone considering leaving a comment on this particular blog, please remember that all charges were dropped against the two defendants. Any libellous comments, either direct or inferred, won’t be published.Comments about the legal process are welcome.
Earlier this year, retired Scottish gamekeeper David Campbell was found guilty of murdering his former colleague from the Edradynate Estate in Perthshire, Brian Low, in February 2024.
During a 13-day murder trial, the jury at Glasgow High Court heard that Campbell had held a ‘festering grudge’ against Mr Low and set out to ‘ambush’ and ‘execute’ him by lying in wait with a shotgun on a quiet country lane near Aberfeldy where Mr Low regularly walked his dog.
A couple of days ago I blogged about a forthcoming BBC documentary series, Murder Trial, which will feature the February 2026 trial of David Campbell (see here).
There’s also now a forthcoming book about the case, called Prelude to Murder: Revenge Killing on a Highland Sporting Estate, written by former Police Wildlife Crime Officer Alan Stewart and Lindsey Hamilton, Chief Reporter at The Courier.
The two authors are uniquely placed to provide first-hand accounts.
The book tracks the many police investigations into raptor persecution crimes at Edradynate Estate, in Perthshire, over a four-decade period that just happened to coincide with David Campbell’s employment as the Head Gamekeeper (1984-2018). Co-author Alan Stewart was involved in many of those investigations, as this notorious estate was on his patch as Police Wildlife Crime Officer for what was then Tayside Police.
Cleverly intertwined with Alan’s detailed, and frankly, chilling chronicle of events at Edradynate, is Lindsey Hamilton’s account of her involvement as a seasoned journalist, first sent to Aberfeldy to report on the police investigation into the murder of Brian Low, and then later attending Glasgow High Court to report on the trial of prime murder suspect, David Campbell.
Much has been written over the years about raptor persecution at Edradynate Estate and the failure to hold anyone to account, but this book contains more detail than I’ve seen published before. Similarly, the murder, the police investigation and the subsequent trial and conviction have also received extensive media coverage, but Lindsey’s first-hand experience brings insight and a real sense of the reaction within the local community.
If you want to know why sadistic gamekeeper David Campbell thought he could get away with murder, and why a local community had lived in fear of him for decades, this compelling account provides some answers. The warning signs were all there, in plain sight. It’s disturbing that a reign of terror was allowed to continue for so long, with such tragic consequences for Brian Low.
The book will be published in September 2026 and is available for pre-order, either directly from the publisher (ThirstyBooks) or if you want a signed copy, directly from Alan Stewart.
Note – the pre-publication flyer says the book is 284 pages, but it’s actually 184 pages.
Earlier this year, retired Scottish gamekeeper David Campbell was found guilty of murdering his former colleague from the Edradynate Estate in Perthshire, Brian Low, in February 2024.
During a 13-day murder trial, the jury at Glasgow High Court heard that Campbell had held a ‘festering grudge’ against Mr Low and set out to ‘ambush’ and ‘execute’ him by lying in wait with a shotgun on a quiet country lane near Aberfeldy where Mr Low regularly walked his dog.
Convicted murderer & former Head Gamekeeper David Campbell (photo by Police Scotland)
Campbell’s conviction was not a surprise to many in the local community who’d lived in fear of him for years. He’d previously been a suspect in multiple police investigations into alleged raptor persecution crimes and other offences, with traces of poison found in pockets of his clothing and in his Land Rover, as well as dead raptors found concealed under the seat of his vehicle, but he was never convicted and often not even prosecuted, due to evidential difficulties, although in one case the Crown Office’s decision not to prosecute was not supported by Police Scotland.
The BBC’s award-winning documentary series Murder Trial was given permission to film inside the High Court during Campbell’s murder trial and the two-part programme, called Death of a Dog Walker, will air in August.
‘In 2024, the body of 65-year-old groundsman Brian Low is discovered on a country track in rural Aberfeldy, his beloved black Labrador Millie by his side. Police assume that Brian has suffered a medical episode, but six days later, the post-mortem reveals the shocking truth – Brian has been shot dead. His former colleague and gamekeeper on the estate where he worked, David Campbell, now stands trial for his murder.
With the site of the murder exposed to the elements for days, police are unable to forensically link anyone to the deceased. The prosecution builds a case against the accused around smaller, individual strands of circumstantial evidence while working to convince the jury that he is guilty beyond reasonable doubt’.
‘With Brian’s family desperately seeking justice and answers, the fate of the accused hangs in the balance. Witnesses unearth more shocking revelations, and the defendant takes the stand before the jury answer the ultimate question: guilty or not guilty?
As the police investigation team finally close in on their suspect, the court are shown dramatic footage from Campbell’s custody interview where tempers flare when allegations are put to him. The prosecution point to a guilty man on the ropes, while the defence argue it shows a police force under pressure to get their man.
As the case builds to a climax, with persuasive and gripping closing speeches from both sides, Campbell awaits his fate whilst Brian’s grieving family anxiously await justice – either way, lives will change forever’.
This programme will air on BBC 2 Scotland at 9pm on Tuesday 11 August 2026 and will be available on BBC iPlayer shortly afterwards.
UPDATE 2 August 2026: Book Review – Prelude to Murder: Revenge Killing on a Highland Sporting Estate (here)
Natural England has finally, after many months of delay, published its formal review of the Hen Harrier Brood Management (Meddling) trial that ran from 2018-2024.
For new blog readers, the Hen Harrier Brood Meddling trial was a conservation sham sanctioned by DEFRA as part of its ludicrous ‘Hen Harrier Action Plan‘ and carried out by Natural England between 2018 – 2024, in cahoots with the very industry responsible for the species’ catastrophic decline in England. In general terms, the plan involved the removal of Hen Harrier chicks from grouse moors, they were reared in captivity, then released back into the uplands just in time for the start of the grouse-shooting season where many were illegally killed. It was plainly bonkers. For more background see here and here.
Male Hen Harrier (photo by Pete Walkden)
In March 2025, Natural England announced the end of the Hen Harrier brood meddling sham and noted that the so-called ‘partnership’ had now closed, although NE also said that no decision had yet been made about the potential annual roll-out of brood meddling (here).
In April 2025, Natural England announced that it had turned down a licence application from the Moorland Association for a brood meddling licence for 2025, mainly because the Moorland Association wanted to remove the licensing requirement that all brood meddled Hen Harriers must be satellite tagged (hmm, can’t think why), and also because the MA wanted a single release site for brood meddled Hen Harriers, presumably to get around the problem of there not being sufficient receptor sites/estates willing to take the young brood meddled birds on their release (see here).
This afternoon, Natural England has published three final reports as part of its review of the brood meddling trial. These are:
Hen Harrier Brood Management Trial Evaluation: The effectiveness of brood management as a mechanism for supporting Hen Harrier recovery.
Hen Harrier Brood Management Trial: Interim social science evaluation.
Hen Harrier Brood Management Trial: Findings from the social science survey of moorland managers Authors: National Centre for Social Research.
The three reports are available for download at the end of this blog. I haven’t read them yet – and probably won’t have time to do that until next week at the earliest, so will comment further once I’ve read them, if I find anything of interest.
Natural England has published a blog today, to accompany the publication of the three reports. Here’s the most relevant part:
This suggests that NE will consider brood meddling in the future, on the basis the same licence conditions used during the trial are in place (i.e. sat tagging, release site must be within the SPA from where the Hen Harriers are brood meddled etc).
Two of these paragraphs don’t make sense to me, as one contradicts the other. NE says that, “Such projects [i.e. brood meddling] should be for the explicit aim of increasing Hen Harrier numbers by reducing illegal killing and disturbance” but then in the next paragraph, it says, “It [brood meddling] is not a substitute for tackling wildlife crime“.
Eh?
The final sentence of NE’s blog is also relevant – “These views….will be kept under review as new evidence emerges“.
I don’t know if Natural England is aware, but significant new evidence on the extent of Hen Harrier persecution on UK grouse moors is on its way shortly, and if that doesn’t put an end to any idea about continuing the ludicrous brood meddling sham, I don’t know what will.
Meanwhile, here are NE’s three final reports on the Hen Harrier brood meddling trial:
The charity Restoring Upland Nature (RUN), now home to the South Scotland Golden Eagle Project, is recruiting for the new position of North of England Golden Eagle Project Manager.
This position has been created following a Government announcement earlier this year that funding of £1 million would be made available to explore the feasibility of re-establishing Golden Eagles in England.
Here’s an overview of the job spec:
Location – Home based, ideally in Northern England, or potentially based in a partnership agency hub office.
Contract – full time to end of March 2029 with likely extension to 2032.
Salary – £35,000 – 40,000 depending on experience
Role – The role will focus on exploring, developing, and, subject to formal approval, supporting the potential reintroduction of Golden Eagles to Northern England. You will help shape the project from planning through to delivery, ensuring strong partnership working, effective community and stakeholder engagement, and high standards of project management throughout.
Closing date – 21 August 2026.
Interview date – first interview 31 Aug; second interview 4 Sept.
This is a controversial project, as discussed previously. There is an urgent need to restore long-lost native species to England (and the rest of the British Isles) but in this case, the cause of this particular species’ demise – illegal persecution – has not, and is not, being addressed with sufficient effectiveness to bring it to an end.
Many will argue that it’s ethically questionable to release Golden Eagles in to a landscape where they are undoubtedly going to be killed by gamekeepers on many of the intensively-managed driven grouse moors in the region. Large parts of the north of England have long been recognised as raptor persecution hotspots, most notably for Hen Harriers, Red Kites, Peregrines and Buzzards, and it won’t be any different for Golden Eagles, as demonstrated by the recent shooting of a young eagle that travelled down on its own from south Scotland. There’s also been the recent suspicious disappearance of a satellite-tagged White-tailed Eagle in the same region.
However, others will argue that the same issues faced the South Scotland Golden Eagle Project when it started to release translocated Golden Eagles in 2018, and even though some of those eagles have inevitably fallen victim to illegal persecution, and more are expected to, other individuals are now thriving and have paired up, are holding territories and are either attempting to breed or have bred successfully, some of them on nest platforms provided by supportive land managers.
Eagle conservation is a slow game. They generally have to survive for four or five years before they’re mature enough to attempt to reproduce, and they generally only produce one or two offspring at a time, uncommonly three. The biology of the species means that population restoration takes many, many years, and that’s even with the support of local landowners. If you add in the seemingly intractable culture of illegal persecution, along with the very low chance of being caught and so offending continues because the risk is seen to be worth it, then releasing Golden Eagles in to northern England to restore the population is not going to be quick and it certainly won’t be easy.
Applicants for the job would do well to read this authoritative feasibility report on Golden Eagle Recovery in England, authored by Dr Phil Whitfield and Dr Alan Fielding:
More detail has emerged from the ongoing trial of two Scottish gamekeepers, accused of offences relating to the alleged shooting and killing of Red Kites in the Cairngorms National Park in February 2025 and alleged firearms offences.
Head gamekeeper Graeme Rankin, 40, and assistant gamekeeper Steven Hague, 43, both of Glenbuchat Estate, have both denied the charges.
Red Kite photo by Ronnie Gilbert
The trial began at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in April 2026 and ran for four days (here), before it resumed again in June for several days (here). The case was then further adjourned until July, after the defence KCs lodged a motion calling for the dismissal of all charges for alleged procedural irregularities.
The trial will continue again next week. In the meantime, following on from a write-up from the trial in April, here’s a write-up from the June court proceedings, written by journalist Jamie Ross of the Press and Journal and published on 16 June 2026:
MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING RED KITE KEPT SHOTGUNS IN INSECURE CONDITIONS, COURT TOLD
A man accused of killing a red kite in the Cairngorms kept the keys to his shotguns in a broken safe and behind a table leg, a court has been told.
On Monday, Aberdeen Sheriff Court continued to hear evidence in the trial against Steven Hague, 43, and Graeme Rankin, 40, who each stand accused of shooting and killing a protected bird species on land in Knockie Wood.
The Glenbuchat Estate employees are also facing a charge of shooting a second red kite, while Hague is further charged with breaching the conditions of a firearms certificate and ammunition storage rules.
And yesterday, Sheriff Peter Hammond heard from a firearms officer who attended Hague’s cottage home and found that any combination of numbers could be entered into a safe for it to give up the key to one of his shotguns.
Another gun locker was accessed with a key the gamekeeper hung on a hook behind a table leg, just yards away in the same room where the weapons were kept.
Constable Tomas Spracklen told the court that he attended Hague’s Strathdon home on May 1 2025 alongside other officers who cautioned and arrested him in connection with the animal’s death.
The trial had previously been told that the red kite was discovered by a member of the public in the Glenbuchat area on February 26 last year before staff from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds got involved.
Experts concluded that the animal had been shot and the police were contacted.
Constable Spracklen, a firearms licensing officer, said he attended Hague’s property to carry out a “suitability review” for firearms certificates as colleagues carried out a search warrant.
He walked the court through the home, noting that the gun room had two cabinets where Hague kept his weapons.
On a previous visit to renew his certificates, Hague had provided the officers with a code to a safe, which was meant to securely store the key to his firearms.
“They need to be safely secured at all times,” Constable Spracklen explained.
“We asked him where his keys for the cabinets were kept. On our previous renewal, he indicated they were within a utility cupboard. I asked Mr Hague if that was still the same situation, if the code was the same as we had previously been given.
“Mr Hague advised that the actual safe for storing the keys didn’t work properly. We attended at the utility closet, where it was, and, as Mr Hague stated, I was just able to take the keys without entering the code.”
Hague would also tell the officer that the key to the second cabinet was on a hook on a table leg opposite the locker.
As part of keeping firearms, Hague is required to ensure that both weapons and ammunition are stored securely and are not accessible.
Asked for his opinion on whether what he found at Hague’s home meant he was in breach of that rule, Constable Spracklen said: “In my opinion, it did breach that condition. Anybody that was within that house could gain access to the keys and therefore gain access to the firearm cabinets.”
Fellow officers, he added, would allegedly go on to find an unsecured pouch of ammunition within the gun room.
Lawyer Shelagh McCall KC, representing Hague, queried the officer about her client’s property.
She asked: “Does it sit by itself, or is it adjoined to any other properties?”
“It sits by itself,” the constable replied.
She added: “In terms of the nearest neighbour, what do you reckon?”
“Well over a kilometre,” Constable Spracklen said, agreeing that the cottage was in “the back of beyond” and there was no one else living in the home other than Hague and his wife.
Joanna Murray, a forensic scientist at the Scottish Crime Campus, also gave evidence on Monday.
Shown the shotguns seized by police, she said it was her opinion that there were “similarities” between a Beretta A400 Lite — a left-handed weapon — and the weapon seen in trail camera footage from Knockie Wood.
The clips had previously been played to the court, which allegedly showed two men appearing to fire a shotgun before walking off screen and later returning with a bird in hand.
“That noise that occurred could have been caused by a discharge of a gun,” she told fiscal depute Karon Rollo.
“I am unable to determine what make and model the shotguns are from those videos.”
Queried on how rare a left-handed shotgun is, Mrs Murray added: “I do know, roughly, they make up 5% of the buying and selling market.”
Mrs Murray also concluded that, upon receiving a vet report on the deceased red kite, it was her opinion that its death was “consistent” with a shotgun pellet wound.
“It is my opinion,” she told the court. “Any of the shotguns could have discharged. Or any other shotgun”.
The quality of the video evidence again came under scrutiny during the trial.
At its last hearing, special constable Michael Flacherty said he had been able to identify Rankin, whose address was given as a croft on the Glenbuchat Estate, from the trail cam footage which he saw in better resolution.
“I cannot identify Mr Rankin from this resolution,” he said of the video when it was played back to him at court.
“In the original footage I viewed, I could identify Mr Rankin.”
Mrs Murray had similar issues when she attempted to point to features of the weapons she had referenced in her report as she struggled to find them when the videos were played back in the courtroom.
A video prepared by the defence, however, had no such problems.
Asked to view a piece of film which Ms McCall said showed a man shooting a shotgun 35 metres away from a camera to provide a comparison of the alleged shooting witnessed in the Crown’s footage, Mrs Murray said: “It’s noticeably louder.
“The pick-up on it seemed quite loud compared to the pick-up on the [trail cam].
“If I was to do a like-for-like comparison, I would like to see that testing done in the same area as well.”
The defence’s footage also showed a muzzle flash, which the trail camera does not appear to pick up.
Mrs Murray said “one explanation” for that was a tree causing a physical obstruction.
The red kite is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, making it illegal for them to be killed.
It is believed red kites scare grouse, making it harder for them to be driven towards shooting parties.
The trial was originally due to be heard last December, but the presiding Sheriff Robert Vaughan recused himself because he is an RSPB subscriber.
The trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court continues.
ENDS
The trial will resume at Aberdeen Sheriff Court next week.
NB: Comments are turned off as legal proceedings are still live.
UPDATE 6 August 2026: Trial collapses against two Scottish gamekeepers accused of killing Red Kites in Cairngorms National Park (here)
ITV News ran a five minute feature yesterday on the continued illegal killing of birds of prey in North Yorkshire, and the RSPB’s calls for a gamebird shooting licensing scheme to tackle these crimes.
The film highlights the recent convictions earlier this year of gamekeeper Thomas Munday, who was caught battering to death a Buzzard that he’d trapped on a Pheasant shoot at Hovingham (here), and gamekeeper Racster Dingwall, who was caught conspiring to shoot a Hen Harrier on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Both cases relied on video footage captured on hidden cameras installed on the estates by the RSPB’s Investigations Team.
Two members of the RSPB’s Investigations Team are interviewed (Mark Thomas and Howard Jones) and discuss how satellite tags have helped detect the locations where Hen Harriers are being killed, and the level of ongoing threat to this and other species, including White-tailed Eagles.
A counter-argument against gamebird shoot licensing is provided by Dr Marnie Lovejoy from the British Association of Shooting & Conservation (BASC). She admits that grouse shoot licensing in Scotland has not prevented the illegal killing of raptors (she’s right about that) but then claims, counter-intuitively, that licensing wouldn’t be a deterrent because, “They could lose their licence even though they have done nothing wrong“.
I’m not aware of any grouse shooting estate in Scotland losing its licence yet, even though there have been multiple raptor persecution crimes detected since licensing was introduced in 2024, although several cases are still making their way through the slow judicial process.
Nor has anyone had their grouse shooting licence revoked ‘when they’ve done nothing wrong’. Given the level of evidence required just for a General Licence restriction in Scotland, let alone a grouse shooting licence, it is highly unlikely that an innocent estate would ever be penalised. And even if it did happen, estates have several rights of appeal, first through the regulator, NatureScot, and then through the Sheriff Courts.
It’s clear that BASC doesn’t want further regulation, perhaps because it’s obvious that many gamebird shoots will struggle to comply, but using an unevidenced argument against it just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
Press release from Police Scotland (26 June 2026), followed by my commentary:
POLICE APPEAL AFTER SQUEAGLE THE GOLDEN EAGLE FOUND WITH SHOTGUN INJURIES
Police Scotland is appealing for information after a golden eagle was found to have been shot.
Squeagle, a four-year-old female golden eagle, was moved from the Outer Hebrides to the Lammermuir Hills in the Scottish Borders in February 2026 as part of a translocation project run by Restoring Upland Nature (RUN). She is fitted with a satellite tag which allows her movements to be monitored.
Low resolution map showing Squeagle’s satellite tracking data from Feb – May 2026. Image from Restoring Upland Nature (RUN)
After her release, Squeagle travelled through parts of northern England, including Northumberland, the Pennines and the Yorkshire Dales. A photograph taken in Northumberland on Monday, 4 May, 2026, showed significant damage to her wing feathers.
Squeagle photographed in Northumberland on 4 May 2026 with extensive feather damage (photo via RUN)
On Monday, 1 June, 2026, gamekeepers on an estate in the Lammermuirs became concerned after noticing the bird behaving unusually and contacted RUN. Squeagle was collected and taken to the Scottish SPCA’s National Wildlife Rescue Centre at Fishcross for assessment.
Scans and treatment revealed she had been shot and had at least 17 shotgun pellets lodged in her body and wings. Experts believe the injuries were not recent, as the wounds had already healed.
Detective Sergeant David Lynn, National Wildlife Crime Coordinator said:
“This was a serious attack on a protected bird of prey which I utterly condemn. Thanks to the quick actions of those who reported concerns, the golden eagle was able to receive specialist treatment and has since been returned to the wild. We are working with partners across Scotland and northern England to establish where and when she was shot.
“Following treatment by veterinary specialists at the Scottish SPCA, Squeagle was released back into the wild on Saturday, 6 June, 2026. Her condition will continue to be monitored through observations and detailed analysis of satellite tracking.
“Enquiries remain ongoing, and we are working alongside our colleagues in Northumberland, Durham, Cumbria and North Yorkshire, supported by the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit to establish who was responsible“.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Police Scotland, quoting incident number 1361 of 5 June 2026.
ENDS
Squeagle being released in south Scotland February 2026 after translocation from the Western Isles (photo by John Wright)
My commentary:
First of all, plaudits to all those involved with the recovery of this injured eagle and her subsequent release back to the wild – the gamekeepers who found her and chose to raise the alarm instead of their guns, RUN staff for a quick response and rescue, and the SSPCA staff who provided urgent and expert veterinary care and rehabilitation.
Plaudits also to Police Scotland for a fairly fast and detailed press release.
What struck me most about this latest persecution incident is that this Golden Eagle had survived for four-years in the relatively persecution-free Uists, but within three months of being translocated and released in south Scotland, and venturing into northern England, someone had shot her, presumably with the intention of killing her.
This happened just a few short months after another young translocated Golden Eagle, ‘Hamlet’, was found with shotgun injuries on a grouse moor in the Scottish Borders in January this year (see here).
These crimes, along with the shooting of Golden Eagle Merrick in the Moorfoot Hills in 2023 (here), the suspicious disappearances of Golden Eagles Tarras and Wren in the Langholm area in 2025 (here), the suspicious disappearance of a White-tailed Eagle in the Moorfoot Hills in 2025 (here), and the suspicious disappearance of White-tailed Eagle G834 in the North York Moors National Park in 2026 (here) are a stark reminder of the difficulties faced by those trying to re-establish eagle populations in the region, against a residual Victorian culture of zero tolerance for raptors on large areas of land that is managed for gamebird shooting.
The police and others are undertaking a detailed analysis of Squeagle’s satellite tracking data to try and pinpoint the location where she was shot, which looks likely to have been somewhere in northern England. I don’t doubt that they’ll be able to find it, given the quality and accuracy of the tag data available to them, but even if they can determine the location, it won’t result in a prosecution / conviction, or indeed any sanction, because unlike in Scotland, General Licence restrictions and/or grouse shoot licence revocations are not available in England.
So for those who continue to target these eagles, and other raptors, especially Hen Harriers, the risk of getting caught is almost negligible so in their minds it’s still worth committing the offence.
The RSPB and some others will argue that gamebird licensing is the way ahead, so that licences can be revoked where offences have been detected, providing at least some sort of sanction against those who continue to think the law doesn’t apply to them. There’s some merit in that argument, although personally I see licensing as only a step in the right direction and we’re still to see any licence revocations in Scotland, despite multiple raptor persecution offences taking place since licensing was introduced two years ago.
I’d like to see the Westminster Government put up funding to establish a national, multi-agency response unit to investigate raptor persecution crimes, and all other crimes that are listed as National Wildlife Crime priorities. It’s all very well putting up £1 million to explore the re-establishment of Golden Eagles in northern England (see here), but without also investing in wildlife crime enforcement capabilities, many eagles that are translocated are simply going to be shot, or trapped, or poisoned, or bludgeoned to death, with zero consequences for the offenders, just as they have been for the last 70+ years.
For anyone who still wants to pretend that the grouse shooting industry isn’t responsible for the systematic extermination of Hen Harriers on grouse moors across the UK, here’s the latest catalogue of crime that suggests otherwise.
This male hen harrier died in 2019 after his leg was almost severed in an illegally set trap that had been placed next to his nest on a Scottish grouse moor (see here). Photo by Ruth Tingay
This is the blog I now publish after every reported killing or suspicious disappearance.
“They disappear in the same way political dissidents in authoritarian dictatorships have disappeared” (Stephen Barlow, 22 January 2021).
Today the list has been revised to reflect updates revealed in this morning’s blog (here) about two more ‘disappearing’ Hen Harriers on Ruabon Moor in North Wales whose satellite tags were found and assessments concluded they’d been ‘deliberately cut off’.
There isn’t a one-stop shop (apart from this list) where you can find information about ‘missing’ or illegally killed Hen Harriers – the information for this list is sourced and cross-referenced from various places, including Natural England’s database, the RSPB’s database, the HSE’s database, police reports, RSPB Birdcrime reports and FoIs to various agencies. This list doesn’t include any Hen Harriers that have been listed as having a natural cause of death (e.g. known/suspected predation), or listed as ‘likely tag failure’, or known to have been lost abroad, or where the cause of death is inconclusive, unless there is additional information (e.g. from satellite tag data) which indicates suspicious or illegal activity. It is painstaking work that takes a lot of time to complete, but I consider it to be as accurate and comprehensive as it can be at the time of writing.
I’ve been compiling this list only since 2018 because that is the year that the grouse shooting industry ‘leaders’ would have us believe that the criminal persecution of Hen Harriers had stopped and that these birds were being welcomed back on to the UK’s grouse moors (see here).
This assertion was made shortly before the publication of a devastating new scientific paper that demonstrated that 72% of satellite-tagged Hen Harriers were confirmed or considered likely to have been illegally killed, and this was ten times more likely to occur over areas of land managed for grouse shooting relative to other land uses (see here). A further scientific paper published in 2023 by scientists at the RSPB, utilising even more recent data, echoed these results – see here.
2018 was also the year that Natural England issued a licence to begin a Hen Harrier brood meddling trial on grouse moors in northern England. For new blog readers, Hen Harrier brood meddling was a conservation sham sanctioned by DEFRA as part of its ludicrous ‘Hen Harrier Action Plan‘ and carried out by Natural England (NE), in cahoots with the very industry responsible for the species’ catastrophic decline in England.
For more background see here and for a critical evaluation of the trial after 5 years see this report by Wild Justice. In 2024 the brood meddling trial appeared to collapse for reasons which are not yet clear (see here) and the licence for the so-called ‘scientific trial’ expired. In March 2025 Natural England announced the end of the brood meddling trial (here) and in April 2025 announced that a licence application to continue brood meddling, submitted by the Moorland Association, had been refused (here).
Brood meddling was earlier described as a sort of ‘gentleman’s agreement’ by commentator Stephen Welch:
“I don’t get it, I thought the idea of that scheme was some kind of trade off – a gentleman’s agreement that the birds would be left in peace if they were moved from grouse moors at a certain density. It seems that one party is not keeping their side of the bargain“.
With at least 149 Hen Harriers gone since 2018, and 28 of those being brood meddled birds, there is no question that the grouse shooting industry was simply taking the piss. Meanwhile, Natural England pretended that ‘partnership working’ was the way to go and consecutive Tory DEFRA Ministers remained silent for all those years.
*n/a – no Hen Harriers were brood meddled in 2018.
‘Partnership working’ according to Natural England appeared to include authorising the removal of Hen Harrier chicks from a grouse moor already under investigation by the police for suspected raptor persecution (here) and accepting a £75k ‘donation’ from representatives of the grouse shooting industry with a contract clause that prevented Natural England from criticising them or the sham brood meddling trial (see here). This was in addition to a further £10k ‘donation’ that Natural England accepted, under the same terms, in 2021 (here).
Thankfully, the Scottish Government finally decided to act by introducing a grouse moor licensing scheme under the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024. The intention behind this new legislation is that grouse shooting estates could have their licences suspended/revoked if, on the balance of probability, it is shown that any raptor persecution crimes (& some other associated offences) are linked with grouse moor management on that estate. There were, however, ongoing issues with the licence as it was significantly watered-down after an intervention from the grouse shooting industry (see here). The loophole was eventually closed off via an amendment in the Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2026 (see here).
In England a new Hen Harrier Taskforce was established in 2024, led by the National Wildlife Crime Unit, to use innovative techniques to target Hen Harrier persecution hotspots (locations where Hen Harriers repeatedly ‘disappear’ or are found illegally killed). It’s too early to judge the Taskforce’s success/failure and it’s been met with considerable resistance from the Moorland Association, the grouse moor owners’ lobby group (e.g. see here). So far though, it’s quite clear that the the illegal killing continues.
So here’s the latest gruesome list of ‘missing’/illegally killed Hen Harriers since 2018. Note that the majority of these birds (but not all) were fitted with satellite tags. How many more [untagged] harriers have been killed? We now have evidence that gamekeepers are specifically targeting untagged Hen Harriers, precisely to avoid detection (see here for extraordinary footage/audio captured by the RSPB’s Investigations Team as featured on Channel 4 News in October 2024).
2018
February 2018: Hen Harrier Saorsa ‘disappeared’ in the Angus Glens in Scotland (here). The Scottish Gamekeepers Association later published wholly inaccurate information claiming the bird had been re-sighted. The RSPB dismissed this as “completely false” (here). Tagged by RSPB.
5 February 2018: Hen Harrier Marc ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Durham (here). Tagged by RSPB.
9 February 2018: Hen Harrier Aalin ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Wales (here). Tagged by RSPB.
March 2018: Hen Harrier Blue ‘disappeared’ in the Lake District National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
March 2018: Hen Harrier Finn ‘disappeared’ near Moffat in Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
18 April 2018: Hen Harrier Lia ‘disappeared’ in Wales and her corpse was retrieved in a field in May 2018. Cause of death was unconfirmed but police treating death as suspicious (here). Tagged by RSPB.
8 August 2018: Hen Harrier Hilma ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Northumberland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
16 August 2018: Hen Harrier Athena ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
26 August 2018: Hen Harrier Octavia ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Peak District National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
29 August 2018: Hen Harrier Margot ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
29 August 2018: Hen Harrier Heulwen ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Wales (here). Tagged by RSPB.
3 September 2018: Hen Harrier Stelmaria ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
24 September 2018: Hen Harrier Heather ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
2 October 2018: Hen Harrier Mabel (Tag ID 34342) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref NY851059. Tagged by NE.
3 October 2018: Hen Harrier Thor ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in Bowland, Lanacashire (here). Tagged by RSPB.
23 October 2018: Hen Harrier Tom (Tag ID 161144) ‘disappeared’ in South Wales (here). Grid ref SS906698. Tagged by NE.
26 October 2018: Hen Harrier Arthur ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the North York Moors National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
1 November 2018: Hen Harrier Barney (Tag ID 34343) ‘disappeared’ on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall (here). Grid ref SX140720. Tagged by NE.
10 November 2018: Hen Harrier Rannoch ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here). Her corpse was found nearby in May 2019 – she’d been killed in an illegally-set spring trap (here). Tagged by RSPB.
14 November 2018: Hen Harrier River ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Nidderdale AONB (here). Her corpse was found nearby in April 2019 – she’d been illegally shot (here). Tagged by RSPB.
2019
16 January 2019: Hen Harrier Vulcan ‘disappeared’ in Wiltshire close to Natural England’s proposed reintroduction site (here). Tagged by RSPB.
28 January 2019: Hen Harrier DeeCee ‘disappeared’ in Glen Esk, a grouse moor area of the Angus Glens (see here). Tagged by RSPB.
7 February 2019: Hen Harrier Skylar ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in South Lanarkshire (here). Tagged by RSPB.
22 April 2019: Hen Harrier Marci ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
26 April 2019: Hen Harrier Rain ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Nairnshire (here). Tagged by RSPB.
11 May 2019: An untagged male Hen Harrier was caught in an illegally-set trap next to his nest on a grouse moor in South Lanarkshire. He didn’t survive (here).
7 June 2019: An untagged Hen Harrier was found dead on a grouse moor in Scotland. A post mortem stated the bird had died as a result of ‘penetrating trauma’ injuries and that this bird had previously been shot (here).
5 September 2019: Wildland Hen Harrier 1 ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor nr Dalnaspidal on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park (here). Tagged by Wildlands.
11 September 2019: Hen Harrier Romario ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
14 September 2019: Hen Harrier R1-M2-19 (Brood meddled in 2019, Tag ID 183704) ‘disappeared’ in the North Pennines (here). Grid ref SD920943. Tagged by NE.
23 September 2019: Hen Harrier R1-M4-19 (Brood meddled in 2019, Tag ID 55149) ‘disappeared’ in North Pennines (here). Grid ref NY952103. Tagged by NE.
24 September 2019: Wildland Hen Harrier 2 ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor at Invercauld in the Cairngorms National Park (here). Tagged by Wildlands.
24 September 2019: Hen Harrier Bronwyn ‘disappeared’ near a grouse moor in North Wales (here). Tagged by RSPB.
10 October 2019: Hen Harrier Ada ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the North Pennines AONB (here). Tagged by RSPB.
12 October 2019: Hen Harrier Thistle ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Sutherland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
18 October 2019: Member of the public reports the witnessed shooting of an untagged male Hen Harrier on White Syke Hill in North Yorkshire (here).
November 2019: Hen Harrier Mary found illegally poisoned on a pheasant shoot in Ireland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
November 2019: Hen Harrier Artemis ‘disappeared’ near Long Formacus in south Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
14 December 2019: Hen harrier Oscar ‘disappeared’ in Eskdalemuir, south Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
December 2019: Hen Harrier Ingmar ‘disappeared’ in the Strathbraan grouse moor area of Perthshire (here). Tagged by RSPB.
Unknown date in 2019: Hen Harrier Erin tagged on Isle of Man ‘disappeared’ (Stop No Malfunction) – location unknown (see here). Tagged by RSPB.
2020
27 January 2020: Members of the public report the witnessed shooting of a male Hen Harrier on Threshfield Moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
5 April 2020: Hen Harrier Hoolie ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
8 April 2020: Hen Harrier Marlin ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
19 May 2020: Hen Harrier Fingal ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Lowther Hills, Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
21 May 2020: Hen Harrier R1-M1-19 (Brood meddled in 2019, Tag ID 183701) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Cumbria shortly after returning from wintering in France (here). Grid ref SD770877. Tagged by NE.
27 May 2020: Hen Harrier Silver ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor on Leadhills Estate, Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
2020: day/month unknown: Unnamed male Hen Harrier breeding on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve, Cumbria ‘disappeared’ while away hunting (here).
14 August 2020: Hen Harrier Solo (Tag ID 201119) ‘disappeared’ in confidential nest area in Lancashire (here). Tagged by NE.
7 September 2020: Hen Harrier Dryad ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
16 September 2020: Hen Harrier Fortune (Tag ID 162150a) ‘disappeared’ from a confidential roost site in Northumberland (here). Tagged by NE.
19 September 2020: Hen Harrier Harold (Tag ID 57272) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref NY830036. Tagged by NE.
20 September 2020: Hen Harrier R1-M4-20 (Brood meddled in 2020, Tag ID 55152) ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in North Yorkshire (here). Grid ref SE103956. Tagged by NE.
19 December 2020: Hen Harrier Lagertha (Tag ID 201126a) ‘disappeared’ in Christchurch, Dorset close to winter roost. Not to be confused with RSPB-tagged bird also called Lagertha (2023). Grid ref SZ161924. Tagged by NE.
2021
24 February 2021: Hen Harrier Tarras ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in Northumberland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
12th April 2021: Hen Harrier Yarrow ‘disappeared’ near Stockton, County Durham (here). Tagged by RSPB.
18 May 2021: Untagged breeding male Hen Harrier (Geltsdale 1) ‘disappeared’ from its breeding attempt on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve, Cumbria whilst away hunting (here).
18 May 2021: Another untagged breeding male Hen Harrier (Geltsdale 2) ‘disappeared’ from its breeding attempt on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve, Cumbria whilst away hunting (here).
24 July 2021: Hen Harrier Asta (Tag ID 201117) ‘disappeared’ in the North Pennines after establishing a home range around Gilmonby Moor (here). We learned 18 months later that her wings had been ripped off so her tag could be fitted to a crow in an attempt to cover up her death (here). Grid ref SE206937. Tagged by NE.
14th August 2021: Hen Harrier Josephine (Tag ID 213850) ‘disappeared’ at a ‘confidential site’ in Northumberland (here). Grid ref NY592841. Tagged by NE.
17 September 2021: Hen Harrier Reiver ‘disappeared’ in a grouse moor dominated region of Northumberland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
24 September 2021: Hen Harrier R2-F1-21 (Brood meddled in 2021, Tag ID 213918) ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland (here). Grid ref NZ022667. Tagged by NE.
15 November 2021: Hen Harrier R2-F1-20 (Brood meddled in 2020, Tag ID 203003) ‘disappeared’ at the edge of a grouse moor on Arkengarthdale Estate in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref NY959039. Tagged by NE.
12 December 2021: Hen Harrier Jasmine (Tag ID 213848) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor (High Rigg Moor on the Middlesmoor Estate) in the Nidderdale AONB in North Yorkshire (here). Grid ref SE034733. Tagged by NE.
Unknown date in 2021: Hen Harrier Maiden, tagged in Lancashire in 2021, ‘disappeared’ at unknown location (here). Tagged by RSPB.
Unknown date in 2021: Hen Harrier Awyr, tagged in Conwy in 2021, ‘disappeared’ on Ruabon grouse moor. Her tag/harness was recovered and an expert assessment concluded it had been cut off (here). Tagged by the RSPB.
2022
9 January 2022: Hen Harrier Ethel (Tag ID 213852) ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland (here). Grid ref NY936632. Tagged by NE.
10 February 2022: An unnamed satellite-tagged Hen Harrier ‘disappeared’ in a grouse moor dominated area of the Peak District National Park (here). One year later it was revealed that the satellite tag/harness of this young male called ‘Anu’ had been deliberately cut off (see here). Tagged by RSPB.
12 April 2022: Hen Harrier Free (Tag ID 201121) ‘disappeared’ at a ‘confidential site’ in Cumbria (here). It later emerged he hadn’t disappeared, but his mutilated corpse was found on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. A post mortem revealed the cause of death was having his head twisted and pulled off. One (ringed) leg had also been torn off whilst he was still alive (here). Tagged by NE.
April 2022: Hen Harrier Pegasus ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor at Birkdale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
May 2022: An untagged breeding male Hen Harrier (Peak District 1) ‘disappeared’ from a National Trust-owned grouse moor in the Peak District National Park (here).
May 2022: Another untagged breeding male Hen Harrier (Peak District 2) ‘disappeared’ from a National Trust-owned grouse moor in the Peak District National Park (here).
14 May 2022: Hen Harrier Harvey (Tag ID 213844) ‘disappeared’ in the North Pennines (here). Grid ref NY918019. Tagged by NE.
20 June 2022: Hen harrier chick #1 stamped to death in nest on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
20 June 2022: Hen Harrier chick #2 stamped to death in nest on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
20 June 2022: Hen Harrier chick #3 stamped to death in nest on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
20 June 2022: Hen Harrier chick #4 stamped to death in nest on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
17 August 2022: Hen Harrier R1-M1-22 (Brood meddled in 2022, Tag ID 232637) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref SD804893. Tagged by NE.
September 2022: Hen Harrier Sullis ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Cumbria (here). Tagged by RSPB.
5 October 2022: Hen Harrier R3-M2-22 (Brood meddled in 2022, Tag ID 213920a) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref NY791016. Tagged by NE.
10 October 2022: Hen Harrier Sia ‘disappeared’ near Hamsterley Forest in the North Pennines (here). Tagged by RSPB.
October 2022: Hen Harrier R1-F1-21 (Brood meddled in 2021, Tag ID 213919) ‘disappeared’ in the North Sea off the North York Moors National Park (here). Tagged by NE.
1 December 2022: Hen Harrier R1-M1-21 (Brood meddled in 2021, Tag ID 55145a) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref SD917620. Tagged by NE.
7 December 2022: Hen Harrier R2-F2-20 (Brood meddled in 2020, Tag ID 55144) ‘disappeared’ from winter roost (same as R3-F1-22) on moorland in North Pennines AONB. Later found dead on 26 June 2023 with 3 shotgun pellets in corpse (here). Grid ref NY730372. Tagged by NE.
14 December 2022: Hen Harrier R3-F1-22 (Brood meddled in 2022, Tag ID 213921a) ‘disappeared’ from winter roost (same as R2-F2-20) on moorland in the North Pennines AONB (here). Later found dead on 10 April 2023 with two shotgun pellets in corpse (here). Grid ref NY708423. Tagged by NE.
15 December 2022: Hen Harrier R2-F1-22 (Brood meddled in 2022, Tag ID 213931) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref SD847831. Tagged by NE.
Unknown date in 2022: Hen Harrier Heath, tagged in Lancashire in 2019, ‘disappeared’ at unknown location (here). Tagged by RSPB.
Unknown date in 2022: Hen Harrier Syrcas, tagged in Conwy in 2021, ‘disappeared’ at unknown location (here). Tagged by RSPB.
2023
30 March 2023: Hen Harrier R1-F3-22 (Brood meddled in 2022, Tag ID NY823039) ‘disappeared’ in Yorkshire (here). Grid ref NY823039. Tagged by NE.
March 2023: Hen Harrier (tagged), last transmission/sighting in Lancashire. No tag number provided. Reported in RSPB Birdcrime 2023, Appendix 4 (here).
1 April 2023: Hen Harrier R2-M1-22 (Brood meddled in 2022, Tag ID NY846027) ‘disappeared’ in Yorkshire (here). Grid ref NY846027. Tagged by NE.
April 2023: Hen Harrier Lagertha ‘disappeared’ in North Yorkshire (here). Tagged by RSPB. Not to be confused with Lagertha tagged by NE & disappeared in 2020).
April 2023: Hen Harrier Nicola (Tag ID 234078) ‘disappeared’ in North Yorkshire (here). Grid ref SD831860. Tagged by NE.
April 2023: Untagged male Hen Harrier (Geltsdale 3) ‘disappeared’ from an active nest on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve in Cumbria (here).
April 2023: Another untagged male Hen Harrier (Geltsdale 4) ‘disappeared’ from an active nest on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve in Cumbria (here).
April 2023: Untagged male Hen Harrier ‘disappeared’ from an active nest in Co Durham (here).
4/5 May 2023: Hen Harrier Rush ‘disappeared’ from a grouse moor in Bowland AONB in Lancashire (here). Tagged by RSPB.
9/10 May 2023: Hen Harrier Dagda tagged in Lancashire in June 2022 and who was breeding on the RSPB’s Geltsdale Reserve in 2023 until he ‘disappeared’, only to be found dead on the neighbouring Knarsdale grouse moor in May 2023 – a post mortem revealed he had been shot (here). Tagged by RSPB.
17 May 2023: Hen Harrier Wayland ‘disappeared’ in the Clapham area of North Yorkshire, just north of the Bowland AONB (here). Tagged by RSPB.
31 May 2023: Hen Harrier R2-M3-22 (Brood meddled in 2022, Tag ID 213932) ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland (here). Grid ref NY765687. Tagged by NE.
11 June 2023: Hen Harrier R2-M1-21 (Brood meddled in 2021, Tag ID 213922) ‘disappeared’ in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref NY757000. Tagged by NE.
12 June 2023: Hen Harrier R1-M2-20 (Brood meddled in 2020, Tag ID 203004) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Co. Durham (here). Grid ref NY976322. Tagged by NE.
6 July 2023: Hen Harrier Rubi (Tag ID 201124a) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Co. Durham (here). Grid ref NY911151. Tagged by NE.
23 July 2023: Hen Harrier R1-F1-23 (Brood meddled in 2023, Tag ID 55154a) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Co. Durham (close to where Rubi disappeared) (here). Grid ref NY910126. Tagged by NE.
9 August 2023: Hen Harrier Martha ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor (Westburnhope Moor) near Hexham in the North Pennines (here). Tagged by RSPB.
11 August 2023: Hen Harrier Selena ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor (Mossdale Moor) in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
11 August 2023: Hen Harrier R3-F1-23 (Brood meddled in 2023, Tag ID 201118a) ‘disappeared’ in Co. Durham (here). Grid ref NZ072136. Tagged by NE.
15 August 2023: Hen Harrier Hepit ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor (Birkdale Common) near Kirkby Stephen in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
24 August 2023: Hen Harrier R1-F2-23 (Brood meddled in 2023, Tag ID 55155a) ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland (here). Grid ref NY679863. Tagged by NE.
August-Sept 2023: Hen Harrier Harmonia ‘disappeared’ in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). ‘Stop No Malfunction’. Tagged by RSPB.
September 2023: Hen Harrier Saranyu, tagged in Cumbria in June 2023, ‘disappeared’ in Durham in September 2023 (here). Tagged by RSPB.
September 2023: Hen Harrier Inger, tagged in Perthshire in July 2022, ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Angus Glens in September 2023 (here). Tagged by RSPB.
15 September 2023: Hen Harrier Rhys (Tag ID 213847a), tagged in Cumbria on 1st August 2023, ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref SD798896. Tagged by NE.
24 September 2023: Hen Harrier R2-F2-23 (Brood meddled in 2023, Tag ID 213929) ‘disappeared’ in the North Pennines (here). Grid ref NY888062. Tagged by NE.
26 September 2023: Hen Harrier Hope, tagged in Cumbria on 21 July 2023, ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref SD801926. Tagged by NE.
4 October 2023: Hen Harrier R1-M3-20 (Brood meddled in 2020, Tag ID 55153) ‘disappeared’ in Co Durham (here). Grid ref NY935192. Tagged by NE.
4 October 2023: Hen Harrier R4-F1-23 (Brood meddled in 2023, Tag ID 213925a) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref SE003981. Tagged by NE.
15 November 2023: Hen Harrier Hazel’ (Tag ID 240292) tagged in Cumbria on 21 July 2023, ‘disappeared’ on the Isle of Man (here). Grid ref SC251803. Tagged by NE.
7 December 2023: Hen Harrier R2-M1-20 (Brood meddled in 2020, Tag ID 55146a) ‘disappeared’ in Co Durham. Grid ref NY963211. Tagged by NE.
Unknown date in 2023: Hen Harrier Aurora, tagged in Dumfries & Galloway in 2022, ‘disappeared’ at unknown location (here). Tagged by RSPB.
2024
12 February 2024: Hen Harrier Susie (Tag ID 201122), found dead in Northumberland. Later revealed to have been the victim of shooting (here). Grid ref NY759585. Tagged by NE. Susie’s chicks were stamped to death at nest on moor at Whernside in 2022 (here).
15 February 2024: Hen Harrier Shalimar, tagged on the National Trust for Scotland’s Mar Lodge Estate in 2023, ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances on a grouse moor in the notorious Angus Glens (here). Tagged by RSPB.
24 April 2024: Hen Harrier Ken (Tag ID 213849a) ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances close to a grouse moor in Bowland (here). Grid ref SD684601. Tagged by NE.
17 May 2024: Hen Harrier R2-M2-23 (Brood meddled in 2023, Tag ID 213928) ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances next to Middlesmoor grouse moor in Nidderdale (here). Grid ref SE043754. Tagged by NE.
7 June 2024: Hen Harrier Edna (Tag ID 161143a). Decomposed corpse found next to a wind farm nr Otterburn, Northumberland. Listed as ‘suspected illegally killed’. There has been a suggestion she was killed elsewhere & dumped at the wind farm as a ploy to cover up the crime (here). Grid ref NY910827. Tagged by NE.
25 June 2024: Hen Harrier R2-F1-23 (Brood meddled in 2023, Tag ID 213923) ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances on a grouse moor in Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Grid ref NY985082. Tagged by NE.
July 2024: Hen Harrier Helius, tagged in Lancashire in 2023, ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances in Bowland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
29 July 2024: Hen Harrier (Tag ID 254843) tagged in Northumberland on 5 July 2024, decomposed corpse not suitable for post mortem but forensics work on her satellite tag showed shot damage (here). Grid ref NY824937. Tagged by NE.
October 2024: An un-tagged Hen Harrier was apparently shot on a grouse moor at Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales National Park by one of three gamekeepers being secretly filmed by the RSPB (here).
1 October 2024: Hen Harrier Dreich (Tag ID 254842) ‘disappeared’ in Lanarkshire (here). Grid ref NS826020. Tagged by NE.
15 October 2024: Hen Harrier Baldur (Tag ID 240291) ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland (here). Grid ref NZ038961. Tagged by NE.
19 October 2024: Hen Harrier Margaret (Tag ID 254844) ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland (here). It was later reported that her tag had been found (‘removed’) but no sign of the carcass (here). Grid ref NY878497. Tagged by NE.
2025
15 January 2025: Hen Harrier Red, hatched on the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve in 2024, ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in County Durham in the North Pennines, in the same area another tagged Hen Harrier (Sia) vanished in 2022 (here). Tagged by RSPB.
January 2025: Hen Harrier Ataksak was found poisoned close to a grouse moor in North Yorkshire (here). Apparently a police investigation is ongoing. Tagged by RSPB.
3 February 2025: Hen Harrier R3-F2-22 (Brood meddled in 2022, Tag ID 213924) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the North York Moors National Park (here). Grid ref SE759996. Tagged by NE.
27 February 2025: Hen Harrier Sita, tagged on behalf of Hen Harrier Action in Bowland in 2024 ‘disappeared’ from a roost site on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). Tagged by RSPB.
4 April 2025: Hen Harrier Bonnie (Tag ID 254841) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Moorfoots, Scotland (here). Grid ref NT415575. Tagged by NE.
10 April 2025: Hen Harrier Gill (Tag ID 240294) ‘disappeared’ in south Scotland (here). Grid ref NT440344. Tagged by NE.
1 May 2025: Hen Harrier Pete (Tag ID 213843) ‘disappeared’ in Cumbria (see here). Grid ref NY309418. Tagged by NE.
May 2025: Untagged Hen Harrier male (Geltsdale 5) with an active nest on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve in Cumbria ‘disappeared’. Strongly suspected to have been shot whilst away hunting on nearby grouse moor (here).
May 2025: Another untagged Hen Harrier male (Geltsdale 6) with another active nest on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve in Cumbria ‘disappeared’. Strongly suspected to have been shot whilst away hunting on nearby grouse moor (here).
May 2025: Hen Harrier Dynamo with an active nest on United Utilities-owned land in Bowland, Lancashire, ‘disappeared’. Strongly suspected to have been shot whilst away hunting on a nearby grouse moor (here). Tagged by RSPB.
May 2025: Untagged Hen Harrier with an active nest on United Utilities-owned land in Bowland, Lancashire, ‘disappeared’. Strongly suspected to have been shot whilst away hunting on a nearby grouse moor (here).
31 August 2025: An unnamed Hen Harrier, hatched and tagged on National Trust-owned moorland in the peak District National Park in 2025, ‘disappeared’ from Ruabon grouse moor, north Wales after arriving there three days earlier. Her tag data indicated she was dead on 31 August. Her tag/harness were recovered on 2 September and an expert assessment concluded it had been “intentionally severed” (here). Tagged by RSPB on behalf of National Trust.
9 September 2025: Hen Harrier Maria (Tag ID 281718) tagged in Northumberland on 25 July 2025, ‘disappeared’ near Belford in Northumberland. Grid ref NU125340. Tagged by NE.
17 September 2025: Hen Harrier Beatrix, who fledged from the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve in summer 2025, ‘disappeared’ from an area dominated by grouse moors near Allendale in the North Pennines (here). Tagged by RSPB.
27 September 2025: Hen Harrier Wadrew, who fledged from the RSPB Geltsdale Reserve in Cumbria in summer 2025, ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor near Birkdale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (see here). Tagged by the RSPB.
30 September 2025: Hen Harrier Morrigan ‘disappeared’ in the southern area of the North Pennines National Landscape (here). Tagged by RSPB.
14 October 2025: Hen Harrier Circe, hatched on the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve in 2025 and tagged on behalf of charity Hen Harrier Action, ‘disappeared’ in the Moorfoots, south Scotland (here). Tagged by RSPB.
To be continued…
Of these 149 incidents, only one has resulted in a conviction – Head gamekeeper Racster Dingwall pleaded guilty at York Magistrates Court in January 2026 to conspiracy to kill a Hen Harrier on the Conistone & Grassington Estate in the Yorkshire Dales National Park in October 2024 (see here).
I had thought that when we reached 30 dead/missing Hen Harriers then the authorities might pretend to be interested and at least say a few words about this national scandal. We’ve now reached at least ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY NINE Hen Harriers, and still Govt ministers remain silent on the illegal persecution issue. They appear not to give a monkey’s. And yes, there are other things going on in the world, as always. That is not reason enough to ignore this blatant, brazen and systematic destruction of a supposedly protected species, being undertaken to satisfy the greed and bloodlust of a minority of society.
And let’s not forget the response from the (now former) Moorland Association Chair (and owner of Swinton Estate in North Yorkshire) Mark Cunliffe-Lister, who told BBC Radio 4 in August 2023 that, “Clearly any illegal [Hen Harrier] persecution is nothappening” (here), in the year when a record 32 Hen Harriers had been confirmed ‘missing’ and/or illegally killed.
Nor should we forget the response from the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s (GWCT) Director of Policy Dr Alistair Leake who wrote a letter to the Guardian newspaper in November 2023 stating that the Hen Harrier brood management [meddling] scheme “is surely a shining example of human / wildlife conflict resolution that would be the envy of other countries trying to find similar solutions“ (I kid you not – here).
Detective Inspector Mark Harrison of the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) who leads on the national Hen Harrier Taskforce gave a live online presentation on 27 January 2026 for the charity Friends of the Dales, about the work being undertaken to tackle the ongoing illegal killing of Hen Harriers in the UK. You can watch it on YouTube, here.
For new blog readers, an RSPB report Hen Harriers in the Firing Line, published last year provides a good overview of the illegal persecution of Hen Harriers on UK grouse moors, as does this news reel from Channel 4 News:
Raptor Persecution UK 