Over the last 17 years or so, satellite-tracking technology has revolutionised our understanding of not only hen harrier ecology, but also the persistent, illegal killing of these birds on driven grouse moors across the UK.
Two organisations have been at the forefront of hen harrier satellite tracking – Natural England and the RSPB (with significant help from raptor study groups and others).
Satellite-tagged hen harrier. Photo by RSPB
For several years now, Natural England has been intermittently publishing the fates of the hen harriers it’s team has tagged (see here), but only with vague explanations about its definition of the category, ‘Missing, Fate Unknown’ (e.g. see here).
Of course, since then, a significant academic paper published in 2019 demonstrated what we all already knew – that patterns of satellite-tagged hen harrier disappearances suggested widespread illegal killing on British grouse moors (see here).
A further paper, published in 2023 and this time analysing the fates of hen harriers tagged by the RSPB, reached the same conclusion (see here).
Since 2018, I have been publishing details about the confirmed/suspected deaths of satellite-tagged (and a few untagged) hen harriers using data from both Natural England and the RSPB (this list currently stands at 130 illegally killed/’missing’ hen harriers although there are still more to add; those data are currently being withheld from the public – see here).
Now, for the first time, the RSPB has launched an interactive map hub showing the fates of hen harriers its team has satellite-tagged since 2014 (currently up to October 2024).
The RSPB’s interactive database includes the fates of 178 of the 226 hen harriers satellite-tagged so far. Some dead hen harriers are not included as they are subject to ongoing police investigations. The hen harriers that are still alive and are currently being tracked are also not included, for what should be obvious reasons.
Screen grab of the RSPB’s new interactive HH map hub
The interactive map hub allows users to filter the ‘fates’ of the RSPB’s tagged hen harriers into five different categories:
Confirmed Illegal persecution
Stop no malfunction (where the bird has disappeared in suspicious circumstances)
Natural
Unknown
Tag failure/expired
Detailed explanations of each of these categories are provided on the hub.
Users are also able to zoom in to the map to show the general area where a harrier died and you can manipulate the map to show terrain etc.
This facility is a useful and welcome addition to the public record on the fates of individual satellite-tracked hen harriers in the UK. I’m not sure it provides us with any wider, big-picture information that we don’t already know but that’s probably not the intention behind this interactive hub anyway. What it does do is provide the public with a level of detail to help them understand the scale of satellite-tagging efforts on the UK’s hen harriers and thus the veracity of the extent of the ongoing illegal killing of this species on many driven grouse moors.
Last month conservation campaign group Wild Justice published a detailed report on the impact of the mis-use and abuse of second generation rodenticides (SGARs) on red kites and buzzards in England and the failure of the Government’s Rodenticide Stewardship Scheme, which had been set up in 2016 to reduce the amount of rodenticides in wildlife (see here for press release and a copy of the Wild Justice report, ‘Collateral Damage‘).
Brodifacoum bait station illegally set on the edge of a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Photo by Ruth Tingay
Brodifacoum. Photo by Ruth Tingay
On the back of the publication of Wild Justice’s report, Scottish Greens MSP Ariane Burgess lodged the following parliamentary question on 19th November 2024:
Question reference S6W-31459
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the latest report, Collateral Damage, by the UK campaign group, Wild Justice, which states that the Rodenticide Stewardship Scheme in England “is a failed scheme”, and other reports that have indicated increased exposure to anticoagulant rodenticides in common buzzards in Scotland, whether it has assessed the effectiveness of the rodenticide scheme in Scotland.
The question was answered by Agricultural Minister Jim Fairlie on 3rd December 2024:
The Scottish Government continues to contribute to UK-wide monitoring of rodenticide use and exposure in wildlife. There is evidence that many users of rodenticides are complying with the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use’s (CRRU) Rodenticide Stewardship Scheme (RSS), and that in Scotland rodenticide use in agriculture has substantially declined since the introduction of the scheme. But, despite this, recent environmental data for Scotland indicate that it has not yet achieved the aim of significantly reducing wildlife exposure.
Both the UK Government Oversight Group, which includes Scottish Government representation, and CRRU have acknowledged that rodenticide residues in UK wildlife have not declined as hoped. The RSS is being updated firstly to ban the use of second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) bromadiolone and difenacoum for open area use from the end of this year. This means no SGARs will be available for open area use; this is also intended to reduce accidental or deliberate misuse of other products in open areas. Secondly, training requirements for the farming sector are also being brought in line with other sectors from end 2025 to ensure a consistent level of professional training across all sectors and reduce the risk of poor practice.
Whilst it’s true that legal authorisation is being rescinded for the use of the SGARs Bromadiolone and Difenacoum in open areas (see press release on this from June 2023, here), it is very clear from the Wild Justice report that the total increase of SGAR exposure in red kites and buzzards in England is being driven by a dramatic increase in the use/mis-use of Brodifacoum, not by Bromadiolone or Difenacoum.
Fig 3 from Wild Justice’s Collateral Damage report (p8) showing the percentage of buzzards and red kites analysed by the WIIS that contained different concentrations of Brodifacoum, Bromadiolone and Difenacoum.
Brodifacoum is the dominant SGAR being found in birds of prey and is more toxic than Bromadiolone and Difenacoum. It used to be restricted to internal use only, until the Government decided to relax that regulation and permit its use ‘in and around buildings’ – a regulation that is obviously being breached routinely given the high levels of exposure in birds of prey (e.g. here).
From January 2025, Bromadiolone and Difenacoum will also be permitted for use ‘in and around buildings’, but there are no proposed tighter rules on the use of Brodifacoum.
Minister Fairlie suggests that a restriction against any use in open areas of any SGAR is intended to reduce accidental or deliberate mis-use of other products in open areas and that new training requirements for all users (not just professional pest controllers) will ‘reduce the risk of poor practice’.
I suppose he’s thinking that this standardisation will remove any supposed ‘confusion’ between the use of different products. However, given that Brodifacoum is already supposedly restricted to use only ‘in and around buildings’, yet has been used with increasing frequency by gamekeepers for targeting birds of prey, Wild Justice argues that the new legal restrictions are unlikely to improve things significantly.
The Wild Justice report suggests that a better option is to return Brodifacoum to its pre-April 2016 approval status, so that it can be used in strict ‘internal areas’ within buildings, and to limit its use to professional pest control companies.
For those who might have missed it, Wild Justice’s Collateral Damage report can be read/downloaded here:
At the recent REVIVE conference in Perthshire I met a couple of people from a relatively new Scottish-based charity called the KITH Trust, who, along with the University of Edinburgh, had earlier this year bought the Glen Turret Estate in Strathbraan, Perthshire.
Approximate location of Glen Turret Estate in Perthshire
Regular blog readers will know that Strathbraan is dominated by a number of estates with driven grouse moors and the area has been identified in a Government-commissioned report as being a hotspot for raptor persecution. It’s also the area where NatureScot (formerly SNH) licensed a controversial raven cull in 2018 (see here) but then came under fire from its own scientific advisory committee who stated the scientific rigour of the licence was “completely inadequate“.
Glen Turret Estate has been at the centre of police investigations into alleged wildlife crime over a period of many years (no prosecutions or General Licence restrictions, natch) so the news that it is under new management and no longer operating as a driven grouse moor is very welcome indeed.
This should mean an end to the use of things like crow-cage traps, commonly deployed [legally!] on grouse moors in all seasons, where non-target species like this Long-eared owl can no longer be caught and held for over 24 hrs in appalling weather conditions (photo by RSPB).
This screengrab shows the new ownership details, from Andy Wightman’s brilliant website, Who Owns Scotland:
This map shows the boundary of the area under Kith Trust management, in addition to the Barvick Burn Wood, now under the management of the University of Edinburgh:
The Kith Trust has kindly provided some information about its plans, for publication on this blog:
The KITH Trust (SC049902), a small Scottish family run charity, took on stewardship of Glenturret Estate in January 2024 in partnership with the Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability at The University of Edinburgh to facilitate their similar goals of ecological restoration.
KITH Trust is dedicated to restoring and protecting natural ecosystems and supporting biodiversity as well as supporting local community activities and enterprise.
The University intends to fence off part of the estate for a mixed tree planting scheme. They have carried out a community engagement project, archaeological surveys and ecological surveys to ensure any activities are undertaken to work with the natural environment and local communities.
KITH Trust has stewardship of the remainder, mainly hill ground. This land has historically been dedicated to the preservation of red grouse. This practice is no longer a primary aim of Glenturret Estate and it no longer operates as a driven grouse moor. There is a farming enterprise on Glenturret that has been in operation for many years. One of the aims of KITH is to reduce, over time, grazing pressure through farming practices that look after both agriculture and the environment. Another is to restore peatland areas. As a result natural regeneration is supported. Active deer management will be undertaken in collaboration with other members of the South Perthshire Deer Management Group and in conjunction with Nature Scot.
ENDS
The University of Edinburgh has a useful website outlining its plans for the restoration of Barvick Burn Wood here.
No doubt certain organisations from the grouse shooting sector will be very unhappy at the loss of another driven grouse moor and over the coming months/years will be misrepresenting the ecological restoration work, just as they have done with other rewilding efforts (e.g. here).
Some of us don’t want to wait for the buy-out of individual driven grouse moors, we’d like to see a widespread ban on driven grouse shooting sooner rather than later. If you share that view, please sign the new petition from Wild Justice calling for a ban – HERE.
Earlier this year I blogged about the prosecution of a gamekeeper from Ruabon Moor, near Wrexham, Wales in relation to wildlife crime offences alleged to have been committed in 2022: Using a trap to kill or take a wild bird and possession of an article capable of being used to commit a summary offence.
The first court hearing was heard at Wrexham Magistrates Court on 28 March 2024 but by April 2024 the case had been discontinued without public explanation (see here).
The circumstances of this case, and the reason it was discontinued, have now been reported in the RSPB’s 2023 Birdcrime Report (page 25), reproduced here:
Hawk trap in Wales – case discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service
In March 2022, an RSPB Investigations Officer discovered a large cage trap in an area of private woodland bordering Ruabon Moor, near Wrexham, Wales.
The trap consisted of two compartments, one lower section contained two live Magpies and one upper section fitted with a trigger-mechanism door. Decoy birds, such as Magpies, are often used lawfully in cage traps to attract other Magpies which perch on the trigger mechanism, causing the trap door to close on them and they are then dispatched under license by the trap operator. However, the design of this trap gave concern – notably the thickness of the trigger perch – which was considered only capable of being triggered by a large and heavy bird, likely one with a greater mass than a Magpie or Carrion Crow.
It was decided that the cage trap was interesting enough for the RSPB to deploy remote surveillance cameras. Whilst it is unknown who placed the trap, the subsequent footage obtained showed an individual attending the trap and no one else. On the final RSPB visit, all three RSPB cameras and the trap had gone. Interestingly, Goshawks were noted in the area during the RSPB visits, a species that is slowly expanding its range and increasing in numbers, after years of persecution nationally.
The RSPB reported the trap to North Wales Police and shared the footage which had been gathered. A police investigation was launched and the individual in the footage was subsequently identified and charged by the police with offences relating to the possession and use of the trap. The case reached court, but in March 2024 was discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), on the grounds that it was not in the public interest to prosecute, as the penalties for any subsequent conviction were low, there were potential identification issues and that no birds had been seen to have been killed.
RSPB, North Wales Police and the National Wildlife Crime Unit were surprised at this outcome and questioned the decision directly with the Chief Crown Prosecutor for England and Wales. The matter was passed to CPS Wales and Iwan Jenkins, the Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for Wales, who in a letter stated: “I believe that in this case the decision not to proceed should have been the subject of further discussion.” He continued “The matter required more detailed discussion and consideration before arriving at the final decision.” Sadly, by then it was too late.
It is unknown what the trap was being used for, or what the outcome of the case would have been if it had progressed, but as a result of the CPS decision not to prosecute the defendant is now fully cleared of any wrongdoing. Going forward, it is hoped that much better dialogue can be achieved between prosecutors and the specialist agencies who spend valuable resources investigating wildlife related incidents.
ENDS
The RSPB’s 2023 Birdcrime report can be found here.
The South Scotland Golden Eagle Project (SSGEP) has today announced the death of a young golden eagle after it collided with a wind turbine in Galloway in August this year.
The bird was a three-year old male called ‘Sparky’. He wasn’t one of the eagles translocated to south Scotland from the north by the SSGEP, but rather he fledged from one of the few remaining nests in south Scotland prior to the translocation project, but was carrying a satellite tag provided by that project, which helped in the swift recovery of his corpse.
Of course, Sparky’s death from collision with a turbine blade is a tragedy, but it’s important to view it from a broad perspective.
Golden eagle mortality from wind turbine collisions in Scotland is, thankfully, a rare occurrence. That’s not down to luck, or chance. It’s largely to do with detailed wind farm planning and choosing areas for turbines that are not located in habitats preferred by golden eagles.
A group of expert golden eagle ecologists, collaborating under an umbrella organisation called the Golden Eagle Satellite Tag Group (GESTG) has developed several models to predict significant areas of topographical use by golden eagles based on thousands of satellite tag records. The most recent model, called the GET (Golden Eagle Topographical) model, is now commonly used in Environmental Impact Assessments for judging the potential impact on golden eagles by proposed new wind farm sites across Scotland, and it works pretty well.
As an illustrative example, here is an image showing the movements of a satellite-tagged golden eagle that Chris Packham and I are tracking in the Monadhliath Mountains, on the western edge of the Cairngorms National Park. The red lines show the eagle’s movements around the footprint of three large windfarms and you can see that avoidance behaviour by the eagle is quite clear. (Thanks to Dr Alan Fielding for the data analysis and map).
This eagle’s avoidance strategy is not uncommon. Peer-reviewed scientific research papers by the GESTG have demonstrated that both young, dispersing non-territorial satellite-tagged golden eagles (here), as well as older territorial satellite-tagged eagles (here) will generally avoid wind farms if they have not been sited in prime golden eagle habitat.
I don’t know much about the Environmental Impact Assessment undertaken for the Windy Rig Wind Farm in Galloway where Sparky was killed but it’s probably worth noting that it was consented in 2017 (and became operational in 2022) at a time when there were very few golden eagles in south Scotland so perhaps golden eagle collision risk wasn’t assessed to be high.
I fully expect the death of Sparky to be pounced upon by the raptor persecution deniers within the game-shooting industry, who will no doubt be jumping up and down, pointing fingers and announcing, ‘There! See? We told you that wind farms are killing golden eagles, it’s not us gamekeepers“, as they’ve been doing for years, for example this headline from 2017:
Alas, for them, the scientific evidence simply doesn’t support their claims (read the two linked papers above and also see Chapter 8 of the authoritative 2017 report by Drs Fielding & Whitfield: Analysis of the Fates of Satellite Tracked Golden Eagles in Scotland, where the authors examined whether any of the 41 tagged eagles that had ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances were within the vicinity of a wind farm (spoiler alert – no, they weren’t, but illegal killing on a number of grouse moors was indicated).
Raptor collisions at wind farms has been a huge problem in some countries, notably in the USA at Altamont Pass in California where a long network of turbines was installed along the very ridgeline that migrating golden eagles use to take advantage of wind updrafts as they fly south. Anti-wind farm campaigners often point to these sites and assume that just because many golden eagles were killed at sites such as Altamont, it must mean that golden eagles are being killed at other wind farm sites. That’s simplistic nonsense, but some from the grouse-shooting industry have jumped on this to try and deflect attention away from the illegal shooting, trapping and poisoning of golden eagles that goes on in Scotland.
But it doesn’t wash anymore, and thank goodness the Scottish Government saw through the propaganda when it made the decision to introduce a grouse moor licensing scheme a couple of years ago.
That’s not to say that we should be unconcerned about golden eagles colliding with turbines – of course it needs to be monitored and the imminent construction of even more on-shore turbines needs to be carefully curated to ensure they’re built in the most appropriate locations, but thanks to ongoing satellite tag data analysis by experts in the GESTG, those potential impacts can be minimised.
It’s a landmark day in Scotland as the new snare ban commences.
A full ban on the use of snares was passed by the Scottish Parliament in March 2024 as part of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act (here) and the ban finally takes effect today, 25 November 2024.
This is a significant victory for animal welfare campaigners, especially the League Against Cruel Sports, OneKind and Scottish Badgers, but also many others, who have spent decades putting forward evidence that these devices, recently and cynically named ‘humane cable restraints’ by the game-shooting industry, are actually cruel, indiscriminate and inhumane and have no place in modern society.
Campaigners from OneKind & Scottish Badgers join MSPs to celebrate. Photo: OneKind
The game-shooting industry did its best to disrupt the commencement date. A consortium of the usual suspects (Scottish Land & Estates, Scottish Gamekeepers Association, Scottish Countryside Alliance, BASC Scotland, Scotland’s Regional Moorland Groups and the Scottish Association for Country Sports), joined this time by the National Farmers Union of Scotland, wrote an overly-dramatic letter in October to the Convenor of the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs & Islands Committee to complain about the commencement of the ban.
They suggested that the principles behind the snare ban had ‘not been afforded the customary levels of parliamentary scrutiny’ (even though this subject has been a topic of political debate and public consultation for at least 15 years!), and they complained that Ministers hadn’t conducted a Business & Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) prior to the commencement of the snare ban, and they strongly suggested that this should afford a delay to the commencement of the ban.
The Committee duly wrote to Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie, who dismissed the concerns:
As of today, the use of snares in Scotland is unlawful. If you find one, take a photograph of it in situ, record the location and report it immediately to Police Scotland and/or the Scottish SPCA. Ask for a reference code so you can follow up on what action was taken, especially if it was found on a grouse-shooting estate (a set snare is a breach of the new licence).
You might decide you want to cut/destroy the unlawful snare. The law on this is murky and open to interpretation. If you are concerned that the snare will remain set/operational and the police/SSPCA can’t attend for some time, I’d suggest your best option (to protect wildlife and to protect yourself from potential legal action) is to advise the police/SSPCA what you intend to do and the reason for that decision, BEFORE you do it. NB: This is not formal legal advice – you are responsible for your own actions!
Another Silent Spring? A UK Government scheme to prevent the widespread poisoning of wildlife by rodenticides is failing.
Increasingly high levels of rodenticides (Rat poisons) have been found in Buzzards and Red Kites, and the Government is ignoring the evidence.
A report by Wild Justice highlights that the exposure of birds of prey to rodenticides in England has increased since a government scheme was introduced in 2015 to try and combat the problem.
Data from Red Kites and Buzzards, from both before and after the Rodenticide Stewardship Scheme (RSS) was introduced, show that anticoagulant rodenticides are now found in the livers of most dead birds that are tested, often at high levels.
Between 2020 and 2022, almost three quarters of tested Buzzards had been poisoned by rodenticides that are supposed to be restricted for use in and around buildings, including highly toxic Brodifacoum. This shows rodenticides aren’t being used correctly and that the use of these products requires stricter regulation, monitoring and enforcement.
Rodenticides are now being found in the livers of most dead Buzzards and Red Kites tested, according to a new report by conservation campaign group Wild Justice.
Using data obtained through Freedom of Information Requests, Wild Justice’s ‘Collateral Damage’ report presents the results of Government laboratory tests for 366 Buzzards and 173 Red Kites that had been submitted to the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS) in England during the period 2005 to 2022. The report shows that in recent years nearly all these raptors had tested positive for Rat poison, often in high amounts.
A poisoned red kite. Photo by Dr Marc Ruddock
Rat poisons are toxins (Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides, or SGARs) and are used extensively in game-keepering, farming and for pest control. It has been known for many years that these poisons don’t just kill targeted Rats. Poisoned Rats store the toxin in their liver and typically die several days after exposure. However, any animal eating the dying or dead Rat will also receive a dose of the toxin, resulting in the death of many species up the food chain, especially scavenging species such as Buzzards and Red Kites.
In 2012 the UK Health and Safety Executive carried out an environmental risk assessment on the use of SGARs and concluded that, due to the risk of secondary poisoning to wildlife, the poisons should not be used outdoors. However, the UK Government rejected this risk assessment and permitted the continued outdoor use of SGARs outdoors, even relaxing the regime to allow the external use of more toxic poisons such as Brodifacoum. Previously Brodifacoum was only allowed for use indoors.
The continued outdoor use of SGARs was on the condition that professional users complied with guidance known as the Rodenticide Stewardship Scheme (RSS) which was established in 2015. The aim of the RSS was to reduce SGAR exposure in wildlife resulting from improved Rat control working practices. The effectiveness of the RSS would be assessed by monitoring poison levels in wildlife, with a commitment to reduce SGAR exposure by 30% by 2020.
On the contrary, Wild Justice’s results demonstrate that rodenticide poisoning has actually increased during this period, not decreased.
Wild Justice compared data from birds tested before the introduction of the RSS in 2015, to those afterwards. Between 2005 and 2010 over 50% of dead Buzzards tested did not have any rodenticides in their livers. But in those tested between 2020 and 2022, over 90% of dead Buzzards had some level of rodenticide in their livers.
The data also show that in addition to the increasing number of Buzzards testing positive for rodenticide, there’s also been an increase in the number of birds containing very high levels of the poison. In Buzzards tested between 2005 and 2010, less than 2% contained over 0.3mg/kg (milligrams per kilogram) of SGAR poison in their livers, an amount considered to be very high. Yet in those tested between 2020 and 2022, nearly a quarter had over that amount.
An even starker picture was painted when looking at data for Red Kites. 15% of Red Kites tested between 2005 and 2010 contained these very high levels, whereas in those tested between 2020 and 2022, two thirds (66%) of birds had over 0.3mg/kg of SGAR rodenticide in their livers. In 2020-2022, none of the Red Kites tested were rodenticide free, and almost 90% had very high levels of poison.
Rodenticides are readily available, both for use by industry and for domestic purposes. There are different types of poisons available on the market, and many birds had been exposed to more than one type, with twelve of the Buzzards tested exposed to four different poisons. In Buzzards testing positive for rodenticide between 2020 and 2022, almost three quarters involved poisons that are supposed to be restricted for use in and around buildings, including highly toxic Brodifacoum.
Wild Justice believe this is partly the result of poisons being used illegally away from buildings. At the start of the survey period (2005 to 2012) these toxins were restricted to use within buildings only, and were generally marketed to professional pest controllers, rather than to gamekeepers and farmers. Now they appear to be in regular use by these groups, including illegally in open field situations away from buildings. This is the only explanation for such widespread levels of rodenticide found in Buzzards and Red Kites and shows that the use of these products requires stricter regulation, monitoring and enforcement.
Brodifacoum bait station illegally set on the edge of a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Photo by Ruth Tingay
Brodifacoum. Photo by Ruth Tingay
Buzzards and Red Kites serve as indicators of a wider problem that will affect other predators and scavengers, including scarce and declining species. There are lots of species that eat rodents (not just Rats), meaning other birds like Kestrels and Barn Owls are also at risk. Wild Justice is calling for urgent regulatory changes to limit the availability and use of these products for the benefit of wildlife.
A spokesperson for Wild Justice said:
‘The Rodenticide Stewardship Scheme is a failed scheme, which the government should recognise. It is ridiculous that such dangerous, hazardous substances are escaping stricter regulation, especially when the evidence shows they are poisoning wildlife on a widespread scale, and even being used deliberately and illegally to do so. Our report reveals just the tip of the iceberg – such high levels of these poisons being found in birds of prey should be ringing alarm bells’.
ENDS
Wild Justice’s new report can be read/downloaded here:
The Moorland Association (a lobby group for grouse moor owners in northern England) has issued a statement in response to the Channel 4 exclusive last week that featured covertly-filmed RSPB footage showing three gamekeepers on an unnamed grouse moor, plotting to kill, and then apparently killing, an untagged hen harrier.
In its rattled response, the Moorland Association forgot to mention its deep concern about the appalling and seemingly criminal behaviour of those three gamekeepers, as so clearly exposed by the RSPB’s footage, and instead focused on its “deep concern” that the RSPB had passed the footage to Channel 4, claiming that the RSPB’s action “could materially affect a police investigation“.
On the contrary, the RSPB and Channel 4 took great care (a) not to name the grouse moor on which the gamekeepers had been filmed, not even the county in which it had been filmed, and (b) not to reveal the identities of the three gamekeepers caught red-handed. In addition, the Moorland Association was not privy to communications between the RSPB and the police about this footage.
I think it’s very revealing that the Moorland Association seems to be more concerned with protecting the image of the grouse shooting industry than rooting out the criminals within it.
Here’s the MA’s statement in full:
Screen grab from the Moorland Association website
The last line made me laugh out loud:
“The Moorland Association is keen to work closely with the Police to address this issue, but our efforts are being hampered by the actions of the RSPB“.
What efforts are those, then? And how, exactly, are those “efforts” being hampered by the release of that footage?
The Moorland Association should be grateful to the RSPB for its skill and tenacity in securing such clear evidence of what’s going on on that grouse moor, and no doubt on many other grouse moors, too. Surely, if the Moorland Association is so committed, as it claims, to a ‘zero tolerance’ policy against raptor persecution, it should be thanking the RSPB for demonstrating that (a) illegal raptor persecution is still going on, (b) where it’s going on and who’s doing it, and (c) how the crimes are being committed.
But then this is the organisation whose CEO, Andrew Gilruth, was recently booted off the national ‘partnership’ designed to tackle illegal raptor persecution in England and Wales (the Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group – RPPDG), after the Moorland Association had published an inflammatory blog that looked to be an attempt to sabotage the National Wildlife Crime Unit’s (NWCU) new Hen Harrier Taskforce (see here).
That blog wasn’t a one-off incident either – we later learned that Gilruth had been ejected from the group for “wasting time and distracting from the real work” [of tackling raptor persecution] for some time, according to a senior police officer (see here).
I’m not the only one questioning the Moorland Association’s response. The Northern England Raptor Forum (NERF) published this statement about it. Well worth a read.
I suspect what’s really agitating the Moorland Association is the fact that this highly damaging footage/audio has been seen by millions of Channel 4 News viewers, many of whom would have been previously unaware of the damage being caused by the shameful driven grouse shooting industry.
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, an un-tagged hen harrier shot on a grouse moor by one of three gamekeepers secretly being filmed by the RSPB’s Investigations Team (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. This year, the brood meddling trial appears to have collapsed for reasons which are not yet clear (see here).
Brood meddling has been described as a sort of ‘gentleman’s agreement’ by commentator Stephen Welch:
“I don’t get it, I thought the idea of that scheme was some kind of trade off – a gentleman’s agreement that the birds would be left in peace if they were moved from grouse moors at a certain density. It seems that one party is not keeping their side of the bargain“.
With at least 130 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 DEFRA Ministers remain silent.
*n/a – no hen harriers were brood meddled in 2018
‘Partnership working’ according to Natural England appears to include authorising the removal of hen harrier chicks from a grouse moor already under investigation by the police for suspected raptor persecution (here) and accepting a £75k ‘donation’ from representatives of the grouse shooting industry that prevents Natural England from criticising them or the sham brood meddling trial (see here). This is in addition to a £10k ‘donation’ that Natural England accepted, under the same terms, in 2021 (here).
Thankfully, the Scottish Government has 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.
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?
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).
anuary 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).
To be continued…….
Not one of these 130 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 hen harriers, and still Govt ministers remain silent. They appear not to give a monkey’s. And yes, there are other things going on in the world, as always. That is not reason enough to ignore this blatant, brazen and systematic destruction of a supposedly protected species, being undertaken to satisfy the greed and bloodlust of a minority of society.
And let’s not forget the response from the (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 not happening” (here).
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).
It remains to be seen whether DEFRA Ministers under the new Labour Government will be prepared to tolerate such blatant criminality. Watch this space.
Yesterday evening, Channel 4 News featured some incredible footage, secretly filmed by the RSPB’s investigations team, of three gamekeepers on an unnamed grouse moor in northern England, first plotting to kill, and then apparently killing, a hen harrier.
If you didn’t see it, here it is:
The footage was remarkable, not because it showed gamekeepers killing birds of prey – we’ve all seen plenty of secretly filmed footage catching gamekeepers committing these crimes.
What was different about this particular footage was the audio quality – so acutely clear that we could hear the radio comms between the three gamekeepers, one in view (the estate’s Head gamekeeper, according to the RSPB) and the other two strategically placed elsewhere on the grouse moor but taking clear direction about what not to shoot (a hen harrier with a satellite tag) and what to shoot (an untagged hen harrier, whose death would not be revealed to the wider world, or so they thought). They were also heard discussing what else they’d casually shot that afternoon – a buzzard and a raven, both protected species.
I daresay their conversation probably revealed much more, but the full audio transcript is not being released by the RSPB, at least not yet, but it may come to light either as evidence in a prosecution trial or as a stand alone release once any criminal proceedings have concluded.
I hope there is a prosecution – actually, I hope there are three of them – and three convictions with appropriately severe sentences, although I’m not holding my breath. We’ve been here many times before, with what is often clear and compelling video evidence of raptor persecution offences, only for the case to be thrown out on a technicality.
I imagine the very well paid defence lawyers are already circling the wagons, ready to argue that the video/audio evidence should be deemed inadmissible if the landowner’s permission wasn’t granted in advance of filming.
Can you imagine an abattoir owner, or the national trade body of abattoir owners, using this defence if someone had secretly filmed their employees inflicting gratuitous cruelty to animals? No, me neither because it’d not only be ludicrous and provoke justifiable public revulsion, but it could also be argued that it looked like a clear indication that the owner and the abattoir trade association condoned the crimes of those employees.
But prosecuting those three gamekeepers, important as that is, isn’t all that’s at stake in this particular case.
The bigger picture here is what that RSPB footage has exposed about the grouse shooting industry. For years, the representative bodies of that industry have insisted, time and time again, that gamekeepers are not ‘at it’, that the RSPB has fabricated the evidence, that gamekeepers are being unfairly attacked, and that any of us who report on such crimes to raise awareness are nothing more than ‘anti-shooting extremists’ whose opinions should be disregarded as ‘lies’.
In recent years, they’ve mobilised to deliver a unified propaganda missive designed to hide what they actually get up to and to instead present themselves as raptor-loving, law-abiding members of society.
I’m sure, in fact I know, that there are some decent members in that industry who abhor the illegal killing of raptors as much as many of us do. But there are not enough of them and they don’t speak out often enough against the criminals within their industry. The time is fast approaching when they may regret that.
The wider significance of this RSPB footage is what it reveals about the grouse-shooting industry’s propaganda campaign on hen harriers and the utter futility of the brood meddling sham.
It seems pretty clear to me from the footage, given the time of day and the number of harriers present, that those three gamekeepers were staking out a hen harrier roost. It’s been common knowledge for years amongst raptor fieldworkers that gamekeepers sit out on the hill to target harriers coming in to roost, and if they don’t manage to kill them when they’re flying in, then they’ll take their dogs, guns and thermal imagers through the roost site under the cover of darkness to get the job done.
I thought it was interesting that these three gamekeepers didn’t want to kill any harriers that were carrying satellite tags because that would draw unwanted attention to the estate but any without a satellite tag were fair game, because those hen harriers, if killed cleanly, could be disposed of, probably stamped into the peat, without anyone being any the wiser, so the industry can maintain the charade that hen harriers are welcome on grouse moors.
It’s clear from the high number of satellite-tagged hen harriers that have been illegally killed in recent years that not all gamekeepers are as devious as these three, but how many more gamekeepers are out there targeting non-tagged harriers? We know of 129 hen harriers (now 130 if we include the one shot in this footage) that have been killed or have vanished in suspicious circumstances since 2018. Every time another one is reported, there’ll be voices from the industry desperately trying to cast doubt about the fate of the bird in an attempt to cover up the appalling truth.
And that’s the significance of this latest footage. It delivers that appalling truth with such clarity that there’s nowhere left for the grouse shooting industry to hide.
There’s also nowhere left for Natural England to hide. The evidence couldn’t be any clearer – the brood meddling sham has not changed the attitude of the grouse shooting industry towards hen harriers and any thought that Natural England might have about rolling out brood meddling as a so-called annual ‘conservation licence’ should be as dead and cold in the water as that shot hen harrier.
Kudos to the team at Channel 4 News and especially chief correspondent Alex Thomson for their willingness, once again, to broadcast the atrocities of the grouse shooting industry with such lucidity.
Our biggest thanks needs to go to the RSPB’s Investigations Team, whose dedication, ingenuity, professionalism and sheer tenacity, despite the daily foul, vitriolic abuse they’re subjected to from the criminals and their benefactors, continues to provide us with such insight.
If you want to demonstrate your support please consider making a donation to keep the team in the field – see here.
UPDATE 24 October 2024: 130 hen harriers confirmed ‘missing’ or illegally killed in UK since 2018, most of them on or close to grouse moors (here)
UPDATE 31 October 2024: Moorland Association’s response to THAT damaging video/audio aired on Channel 4 News last week (here)
UPDATE 14 April 2025: Gamekeeper from a Yorkshire Dales grouse moor charged in relation to alleged shooting of a hen harrier (as featured on Channel 4 News last October) here
UPDATE 2 May 2025: Gamekeeper Racster Dingwall pleads not guilty to two charges relating to alleged conspiracy to kill a Hen Harrier on grouse moor in Yorkshire Dales National Park (here)
UPDATE 4 May 2025: News coverage about first court appearance of Yorkshire Dales gamekeeper Racster Dingwall in relation to alleged conspiracy to shoot a Hen Harrier (here)
UPDATE 9 September 2025: Gamekeeper Racster Dingwall back in court today for case relating to Hen Harrier shooting on a grouse moor in Yorkshire Dales National Park (here)
UPDATE 9 September 2025: Judge rules RSPB covert video surveillance is admissible evidence in prosecution of gamekeeper Racster Dingwall (here)
UPDATE 25 September 2025: More detail on court ruling accepting admissibility of RSPB’s covert surveillance in prosecution of gamekeeper accused of conspiracy to kill a Hen Harrier (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 