One of the translocated Golden Eagles in southern Scotland has bred with one of ‘our’ wild satellite-tagged eagles, resulting in the successful fledging of a male eaglet.
This is the first fledging event from a nest of one of the translocated eagles and marks a major milestone for the South Scotland Golden Eagle Project.
The chick has been named ‘Princeling’ by Sir David Attenborough.
Golden Eagle chick ‘Princeling’ having a satellite tag fitted (Photo copyright Ian Georgeson)
The breeding pair got together in 2024 and built up a nest but didn’t breed. That’s not unusual behaviour for young Golden Eagles who can take up to six years to mature, although in areas where there’s little competition for territories (e.g. through depletion of the population by persecution, as in south Scotland), breeding can happen much earlier.
Emma, the female, had been translocated to south Scotland in 2021 and was named by the Scottish Government’s then Biodiversity Minister, Lorna Slater MSP, in memory of the women’s rights and equality advocate, Emma Ritch.
Keith, the male, fledged from a wild nest in Dumfries & Galloway in 2018 and was named Keith after a member of the local Raptor Study Group. He was satellite-tagged as part of a project run by RPUK and Chris Packham in association with experts from the Scottish Raptor Study Group and we’ve been tracking his movements ever since.
Here he is prior to fledging in 2018 (Keith is on the right, one of his parents on the left). This is footage from a nest camera which are routinely installed (under licence) at nest sites to help researchers monitor young eagles after they’ve been fitted with a satellite tag to ensure the tag/harness is not causing any health or welfare issues.
Photo copyright Scottish Raptor Study Group
After dispersing from his natal territory in November 2018, Keith hung around in Dumfries & Galloway for a few months before then suddenly making a beeline for the border and in to England. He stayed in Northumberland for a while (and was joined by at least one other tagged Golden Eagle that had been translocated to south Scotland) before heading back in to Scotland and heading over to his old haunts in SW Scotland before eventually finding his own territory and settling there in October 2023.
After their unsuccessful breeding attempt in spring 2024, Keith and Emma were photographed together in October 2024 on a camera trap at a food platform provided by the South Scotland Golden Eagle Project. They looked to be in excellent condition:
Keith on the right, with the much larger female Emma. Photo copyright South Scotland Golden Eagle Project
The location of their successful breeding attempt this year has had to remain a secret because, as we’ve seen, (here and here) Golden Eagles, along with many other raptor species, still face the threat of illegal persecution in this region and beyond.
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard that gamebird shooting, whether it be Red Grouse, Pheasant or Red-legged Partridge shooting, and all its associated ‘management’ is vital for rural community cohesion and it’s only so-called ‘Townies’ that don’t understand and want to protest about it.
As with most things claimed by the gamebird shooting industry, it’s not true.
Over recent years a number of local rural communities in England (particularly across Yorkshire) and Scotland have rejected this fictional romanticism of their lives and have found the courage, often in the face of intimidation from dark powerful forces, to voice their dissent.
Now it’s happening in Wales, too.
The following article was published by The Telegraph last week:
A village is locked in dispute with wealthy tourists who pay more than £3,000 for a day’s pheasant shooting.
Residents in Pennal, a community of 404 in Snowdonia, North Wales, claim the shoots have set “neighbour against neighbour”, and led to claims of intimidation and harassment.
Some villagers have even complained of dead foxes dumped in their gardens.
But others, who support shooting, said “incomers” to the village were behind the complaints, and told them to “move back to where they came from” if they don’t like it.
The shoots, run by Cambrian Birds on the Pennal Estate, are marketed as “the most talked-about in the UK” for their “high-quality driven pheasants and partridges along with top class hospitality”.
Guests are promised at least four drives a day, and a two-course meal or afternoon tea.
But an anonymous survey in the village uncovered anger at what some locals see as a “takeover” by “large commercial shoots”.
One resident said: “Disharmony and division within our once peaceful village. Most people I speak to in the village hate what’s happening but are afraid to publicly voice their concerns for fear of retribution or escalating the division further.
“These fears are evident in that a local lady in her seventies living alone has now had two healthy looking but dead foxes put in her garden with loud bangs on her windows in the night. Police were informed, but little action.”
Another villager said there had been “no consultation with village residents” before it was “taken over”.
The same resident complained of “acts of intimidation towards people who speak up”, alleging there had been “shooting across gardens late at night” and even “dead foxes dumped on one person’s land”.
It is not known who is behind these alleged “acts of intimidation”.
Other residents said they felt pressured to take sides.
“Several residents asked me to declare whether I was with or against the shooting,” complained one, adding: “One person even told me who I should talk to and who not.”
They claimed that some villagers were now considering “moving away” as a result of the disputes.
But supporters argued the shoots bring vital income to the rural economy, and accused critics of being “incomers”, and part of the “anti-shooting brigade”.
A lifelong resident, who described themselves as “Pennal born and bred”, said: “Cambrian Birds pays a decent rent to the hill farmers of Pennal, helping in many cases, young families to stay and work the land. Young families move into the area, helping the local school.”
The resident said that if the “anti-shooting brigade” didn’t like it they should “move back to where they came from”.
They likened it to “buying a house next door to a pub and then complaining about the noise of throwing-out time”.
Cambrian Birds has been approached for comment.
ENDS
The Telegraph article was likely inspired by an article in Cambrian News on 23 July 2025 about a village protest held against the Cambrian Birds shoot at Pennal.
Local villagers protest about the Pheasant shoot. Photo supplied to Cambrian News
This isn’t the villagers’ first protest against Cambrian Bird’s game-rearing and shooting business. In January this year they featured in an article in the Powys County Times about how they’d erected banners and sprayed ‘crime-scene’-type silhouettes of Pheasants on village roads as part of their protest:
Image supplied to Powys County Times
Some of you may recognise the name ‘Cambrian Birds’. Its associated business, ‘Cambrian Shooting’, hit the headlines in January 2022 when the League Against Cruel Sports published covert video footage showing someone from the shoot at Dyfi Falls (one of six shoots managed by Cambrian Sporting) chucking at least 45 shot Pheasant and Red-legged Partridge carcasses down a mineshaft (here).
A statement from the company later confirmed that the person filmed was one of their gamekeepers. They said he had been ‘severely reprimanded‘ and that ‘he no longer works for the company‘ (here).
Natural Resources Wales launched an investigation into the possible pollution and contamination of the river close to the site where the mass gamebird dumping took place but as far as I can tell, nothing ever came of it.
To read more about the Dyfi Falls shoot, this blog by Jeremy Moore, a leading Welsh environmental photographer, is fascinating.
Robbie Marsland is the Director of the League Against Cruel Sports for Scotland & Northern Ireland. He’s also a founding member of REVIVE, the coalition for grouse moor reform.
Here’s his opinion piece published in The Herald today.
Here we go again. The opening of the grouse shooting season is upon us. It used to be called the “Glorious Twelfth”. More often than not, the name is now preceded by the word, “controversial”.
Why the controversy? For decades, the shooting of wild grouse for entertainment flew under the radar. But now, there’s much better public understanding about what’s going on in our uplands.
No matter what your views are about killing an animal for fun, recent research has revealed the circle of destruction that surrounds grouse shooting in Scotland.
This circle of destruction isn’t just a catchy phrase, it’s a systematic assault on natural ecosystems where each destructive practice enables the next, creating an interconnected web of environmental damage that stretches across the grouse moors, that, in total, comprise around 12% of Scotland’s land.
On this land, hundreds of thousands of grouse are shot in a “good year”. A good year means there’s a high density of grouse on the moor, allowing substantial numbers of birds to be shot while still ensuing a sustainable breeding stock. To achieve a “good year”, then, that population of grouse needs to be “managed” by the shooting estates to be unnaturally high.
Population sizes are naturally increased by access to food and shelter and are decreased by exposure to disease and predators, what is commonly understood to be “the balance of nature”. The balance of nature ensures a sustainable ecosystem that looks after itself. But a balanced ecosystem obviously doesn’t produce an over-abundance of grouse that can produce a “good year” for the annual shooting season. To achieve that “good year”, an imbalance needs to be created; the balance of nature is turned on its head.
Extra food and shelter are provided by burning heather in the winter months. This provides new green shoots for the birds in the spring. It also releases C02 in to the atmosphere, encourages wildfires and stops trees from growing. This systematic burning creates the artificial habitat foundation upon which the entire circle of destruction depends.
Birds of prey perch in trees. Of course, birds of prey are protected species, but breeding pairs are mysteriously absent from many Scottish grouse moors. Their natural diet includes grouse.
Foxes, stoats, weasels and crows also naturally control the numbers of grouse. But as they have no legal protection, they can be killed to ensure there are more grouse to shoot. The largest scientific assessment so far revealed that around 200,000 foxes, stoats and weasels are killed by gamekeepers each year in Scotland to ensure artificially high numbers of grouse.
There are compelling reasons why estates invest so heavily in maintaining those high populations of grouse. A report to the Scottish Government from the Independent Grouse Moor Management Group revealed the capital value of an estate can be increased by £5,000 for every pair of grouse shot. Economic rewards such as these may go some way to explain why landowners will go to such lengths to maintain this artificially imbalanced system.
The natural balance of ecosystems isn’t entirely dependent on predation. A disease that regularly reduces grouse numbers is carried by a small worm, the strongyle worm. To reduce its impact, shooting estates deploy tens of thousands of grit-filled trays medicated with flubendazole in an attempt to kill the worms in the guts of the grouse.
This is despite the medical and veterinary industry’s concerns about the over-prescription of such chemicals. This mass chemical medication completes the circle of destruction. The inflated grouse populations created by habitat manipulation and predator slaughter then require pharmaceutical intervention to remain viable, yet this intensive management system operates without meaningful oversight.
Scotland introduced grouse moor licensing in 2024 under the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Act, supposedly to deter wildlife crime and ensure sustainable management. The reality has proven farcical. The grouse shooting industry threatened legal action against NatureScot’s interpretation of the legislation. Rather than stand firm, NatureScot capitulated, weakening the licences by changing coverage from entire estates to tiny areas around shooting butts. It’s still unclear how this mess will be resolved.
Polling shows that 60% of Scots oppose grouse shooting, with 76% against the predator control that kills hundreds of thousands of mammals annually. Even in the most remote rural areas – the supposed heartland of shooting support – opposition still outweighs support.
Turning the balance of nature on its head goes on year in, year out on Scottish shooting estates. But “good grouse years” do not. When you look at historical trends, the last time there was a “good grouse year” was 2018. Predictions, in Scotland, for 2025 suggest that too will be a “bad year”.
That means, even if you think it’s ok to kill a bird for fun, over that period of time more than a million foxes, stoats, weasels and crows will have been killed for nothing. Thousands of square miles of heather will have been needlessly burned and tons upon tons of chemicals will have been ineffectively strewn across the countryside. The economic incentives that drive this destruction continue to operate regardless of whether or not a “good year” for grouse emerges.
The circle of destruction surrounding grouse shooting reveals the true cost of allowing privileged minorities to treat Scotland’s land as their private playground. Until we break this interconnected system of destruction entirely, Scotland’s uplands will continue to serve private interests rather than the public good, and our wildlife will continue to pay the price for a democracy that has forgotten who it’s supposed to serve.
Meanwhile, the circle of destruction grinds on, crushing Scotland’s wildlife and ecosystems beneath the weight of economic interests that benefit the few while imposing costs on the many. For those of us who think its unethical and cruel to shoot a bird out of the sky – it’s always a crying shame.
Journalist, broadcaster and Sunday Times columnist Rod Liddle hosted a 20 minute segment on the pros and cons of grouse shooting during his Saturday morning show on Times Radio last Saturday (9th August 2025), as pre-advertised in a blog here last week.
You can listen back to the discussion via the Times Radio website (here: starts at 02:04.05) and you can read / download the transcript here:
There were three interviewees – conservationist Dr Mark Avery, who was the instigator of the now 11-year old campaign to ban driven grouse shooting as detailed in his book, The Inglorious 12th: Conflict in the Uplands; Ben Macdonald, founder and director of a rewilding organisation called Restore; and Andrew Gilruth, CEO of The Moorland Association, the lobbying organisation for grouse moor owners in England.
I won’t comment much on Mark’s contribution – his thoughts on driven grouse shooting will be well known to regular readers of this blog and were characteristically robust.
It was the first time I’d heard Ben Macdonald speak on grouse shooting and although I found his opening remarks quite condescending towards those of us in the conservation sector who have spent years calling out the criminal elements of the driven grouse shooting industry and their unsustainable practices (does Ben think we should all have turned a blind eye?), I found his comments on restoring the ‘fundamentally depleted two-dimensional grouse moor landscape’ to be thoughtful and interesting.
The comments I really want to focus on, though, are those of Andrew Gilruth.
I’ve written previously about Andrew’s predisposition for what I’d call grossly misrepresenting scientific opinion when he worked for the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), by cherry-picking information that helped present a favourable view of driven grouse shooting (e.g. see here, here and especially here). Whether he did this deliberately or whether he’s just incapable of interpretating scientific output is open to question.
This behaviour of spreading misinformation has continued, though, since he joined the Moorland Association in 2023, and last year resulted in his expulsion from the police-led Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG – a partnership to tackle the illegal killing of birds of prey in England & Wales).
Andrew’s opening line in his conversation with Rod Liddle didn’t bode well if you were hoping for a straight, undistorted conversation:
“… I also welcome, you know, Ben’s point, that Mark could only highlight what’s wrong …”
We don’t know what Rod Liddle asked Mark at the start of the discussion because it wasn’t included in the recording, but given Mark’s response it’s quite likely that he was asked to outline the problems with driven grouse shooting, to set the scene. We don’t know whether Rod asked Mark to speak about how to resolve those issues, but if he did, it wasn’t included in the programme, so for Andrew to argue that, “Mark could only highlight what’s wrong” was the first misrepresentation of many.
Rod moved the conversation swiftly on to the illegal killing of Hen Harriers on grouse moors and Andrew lost his composure within seconds. The sudden increase in his voice pitch was a dead giveaway.
I’ve written before about how the illegal killing of birds of prey is one of the most difficult issues for the driven grouse shooting to defend – because it’s indefensible. And Andrew couldn’t defend the persecution figures so instead he resorted to accusing the RSPB of publishing “unproven, unverified smears“. The irony wasn’t lost on me.
Those so-called “unproven, unverified smears” (actual crime incidents to you and me) have been accepted by everyone, including the Government, Police, Natural England, peer-reviewed journal editors – everyone except the grouse-shooting industry, some of whose members are the ones carrying out these crimes.
There’s now even a dedicated police-led taskforce that has been set-up to tackle these crimes (the Hen Harrier Taskforce), based on clear-eyed evidence, that is specifically targeting certain grouse moor estates in persecution hotspots, because that’s where the crimes are taking place, repeatedly.
To continue to deny that these crimes happen on many driven grouse moors, and to instead claim that they’ve been fabricated by the RSPB, is just absurd, but very, very telling.
Andrew then tried to use some tightly-selected prosecution data (produced by the RSPB – which, er, he’d just accused of being an unreliable source) to demonstrate that gamekeepers weren’t responsible for killing birds of prey. He chose a single year of data (last year’s) that just happened to not include any prosecutions of gamekeepers, and he used that as his sole evidence base to support his argument.
Had he picked any other year from the last fifteen or so, there’d quite likely be a gamekeeper conviction or two in there. However, selecting just a single year of data is wholly misrepresentative when you’re looking at trends, and a trend is exactly what we’re looking at when discussing which profession is most closely linked with the illegal persecution of birds of prey. To reliably identify a long-term trend you need to look at several years worth of data, and when you do that, here’s what the data tell us – it couldn’t be clearer:
Andrew’s not averse to using long-term trend data when it suits his argument though – he stated that, “Hen Harriers are now at a 200-year high“. The problem with that argument is that he forgot to mention what the baseline was for that trend – Hen Harriers were virtually extirpated (locally extinct) in England as a breeding species by the late 19th Century, primarily due to persecution, so any increase since then is bound to look impressive!
He also forgot to mention that last year the Hen Harrier breeding population in England was in decline again; this year’s figures have not yet been released but the word on the ground is that the numbers have dropped further, and notably on driven grouse moors. The illegal killing continues – at least 143 Hen Harriers have ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances or have been found illegally killed since 2018, most of them on or close to driven grouse moors, with at least 14 more cases yet to be publicised (see here).
I find it endlessly fascinating that the grouse shooting industry will claim ownership of a (short-lived) increase in the Hen Harrier breeding population on driven grouse moors and yet will absolve itself from any responsibility for the illegal killing of Hen Harriers on, er, driven grouse moors.
Rod moved the discussion on to heather burning and Andrew’s contortions were unceasing. He argued that moorland burning has been happening in the UK for 6,000 years, as though a reference to the slash and burn agriculture of the Neolithic period justifies the continued burning of moorland in the 21st Century.
Society, and science, has moved on, and we now know that the repeated burning of blanket bog is inconsistent with the UK’s international responsibilities to maintain/restore blanket bog to favourable conservation status. We know that only 16.4% of the UK’s SAC blanket peatlands are in good conservation condition, and we also know that burning on deep peat grouse moors continues, despite recent legislation that makes it illegal inside protected areas.
In 2023, two grouse moor owners were convicted for burning on deep peat in protected areas, one in the Peak District (here) and one in Nidderdale; embarrassingly, that estate was owned by a Board member of the Moorland Association (here) and that’s perhaps why Andrew failed to mention it.
All in all, I’m thankful that Rod Liddle hosted this discussion. Not because it moved the conversation on – it didn’t, at all – but because I think it demonstrated that The Moorland Association is still utterly incapable of moving with the times. Its grotesque and snide distortion of reality is laid bare for all to see. Negotiation remains futile against such perverse denial.
The campaign to ban driven grouse shooting will continue. Watch this space.
Documents released under a Freedom of Information request show that the Scottish Government’s nature advisory agency, NatureScot, has been procrastinating for 16 months on whether to impose a sanction on an estate in relation to the ‘shooting and killing’ of a sleeping Golden Eagle called Merrick.
Merrick was a young satellite-tagged Golden Eagle, released in south Scotland in 2022 as part of the South Scotland Golden Eagle Project, a lottery-funded conservation initiative which translocated young Golden Eagles from various sites across north Scotland to boost the tiny remnants of the Golden Eagle breeding population in south Scotland that had previously been decimated by illegal persecution and had become isolated by geographic barriers.
Camera trap photo of golden eagle Merrick in 2022, from South Scotland Golden Eagle Project
A year after her release, which had seen her fly around south Scotland and down into northern England and back, on 12 October 2023 Merrick’s satellite tag suddenly and inexplicably stopped transmitting from a roost site in the Moorfoot Hills in the Scottish Borders where she’d been sleeping overnight.
A project officer from the South Scotland Golden Eagle Project went to her last known location where he found Merrick’s feathers and blood directly below her roost tree. Police Scotland later determined from the evidence that she’d been ‘shot and killed’ and that someone had then ‘removed her body and destroyed her satellite tag’ (see here).
Evidence from the crime scene – photo via South Scotland Golden Eagle Project
As with every single other case of satellite-tagged Golden Eagles whose transmitters had suddenly stopped sending data and who seemingly vanished in to thin air (a Scottish Government-commissioned report in 2017 showed that almost one third of 131 satellite-tagged Golden Eagles had disappeared in such circumstances, most of them on or close to driven grouse moors), the person(s) responsible for ‘shooting and killing’ Merrick and then disposing of her body and her satellite tag was not arrested, charged or prosecuted.
It was this lack of enforcement, largely due to the difficulties of identifying the actual individuals responsible and securing sufficient evidence to meet the threshold for a criminal prosecution, that led to the Scottish Parliament voting to pass the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, which introduced grouse moor licences that could be withdrawn by NatureScot if gamekeepers and/or estates were found, based on the lower burden of civil proof (the balance of probability), to have been involved in the illegal killing of birds of prey.
Grouse moor licensing hadn’t been introduced at the time Merrick was ‘shot and killed’ and can’t be applied retrospectively so in the absence of a grouse shoot licence withdrawal, and the absence of a prosecution, that leaves a General Licence restriction as the only possible sanction that NatureScot could impose.
Not that I’d describe a GL restriction as an effective sanction, for reasons that have been explored previously on this blog (e.g. here and here). Nevertheless, it’s still something and, given the high-profile of Merrick’s death, you might think that making a decision on whether to impose a GL restriction would be a high priority for NatureScot.
But apparently, it’s not.
In June this year, I submitted an FoI to NatureScot to find out what was happening in relation to this potential GL restriction, as we head towards the two-year anniversary of Merrick’s killing. NatureScot replied in July with this:
‘We have received an information package from Police Scotland to this case, and it is currently under consideration‘ (see here for earlier blog).
I submitted another FoI in July and asked Naturescot:
‘Please can you advise the date on which NatureScot received the information package from Police Scotland?‘.
NatureScot responded this month, as follows:
‘We can confirm that we received an initial information package from Police Scotland on 18 April 2024, then additional information on 3 May 2024‘.
April 2024?? That’s 16 months (and counting) that NatureScot has been procrastinating on this. It hardly inspires confidence, does it?
And the shooting and killing of a sleeping Golden Eagle isn’t the only raptor persecution case that’s awaiting a potential GL restriction decision. There are at least two others that I’m aware of – I’ll write about those in a separate blog because the cause of the delays in those two cases appears to lie at the feet of Police Scotland.
UPDATE 30 September 2025: 17 months (&waiting) for NatureScot to make decision on General Licence restriction relating to ‘shooting & killing’ of a sleeping Golden Eagle called Merrick (here)
A short article appeared on the BBC News website on 5 August 2025 as follows:
The disappearance of two tracked pine martens is being treated as suspicious, police said.
Cumbria Police and South Cumbria Pine Marten Recovery Project are appealing for information to help trace the rare animals that were released near Grizedale Forest earlier this year.
It is believed one of the mammals has two dependent kits.
Tracking them is part of a University of Cumbria-led scheme to reintroduce the species to south Cumbria and the loss “could compromise their recovery”, Cumbria Police said.
Pine martens are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and it is an offence to intentionally or recklessly kill, injure or take them.
It is also an offence to damage their habitat.
Anyone with information has been urged to contact the force.
The South Cumbria Pine Marten Recovery Project is a dynamic regional partnership led by the University of Cumbria and includes the Upper Duddon Landscape Recovery Project led by the University of Leeds, Natural England, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Lake District National Park Authority, Forestry England and the Graythwaite Estate.
The Project is translocating Pine Martens from Scotland to south Cumbria as part of a coordinated national recovery scheme for this species.
Released Pine Martens are fitted with VHF-radio collars for tracking, and the team also uses camera traps, den boxes and scat analysis for monitoring.
Stand by to read the usual excuses for these suspicious disappearances, from the usual suspects – windfarms, faulty tags, it’s all a set up by anti-game-shooting extremists, the Pine Martens never existed in the first place, tag data serve no other purpose than to entrap gamekeepers etc etc.
The police-led Hen Harrier Taskforce was launched in 2024 to tackle the ongoing illegal persecution of Hen Harriers on UK grouse moors.
The Taskforce was set up specifically in response to the ‘all time high’ level of Hen Harrier persecution crimes in 2022/2023 (at least 21 known incidents in 2022 and at least 33 known incidents in 2023). The extent of the criminality had become a major source of embarrassment for the police and for the government and they needed to be seen to be doing something.
The main premise of the HH Taskforce is summarised in this excerpt from the press release announcing the launch:
‘The Hen Harrier Task Force is an initiative led by the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit and supported by seven police forces (Cumbria, Derbyshire, Durham, Northumbria, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire), DEFRA, the RSPB, National Gamekeepers’ Organisation, British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), The Wildlife Trusts, GWCT, national parks, Country Land and Business Association (CLA), Natural England and The Moorland Association to combat the persecution of hen harriers in the UK. The taskforce aims to detect, deter, and disrupt offenders involved in wildlife crime by using technology and improving partnership working’.
You’ll note the heavy over-representation of game shooting organisations in this so-called ‘partnership’, including the National Gamekeepers Organisation and the Moorland Association (lobby group for England’s grouse moor owners).
However, several months after the launch, the Moorland Association (or at least its Chief Executive, Andrew Gilruth) was expelled from the Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG) and presumably that includes the Hen Harrier Taskforce, for ‘wasting time and distracting from the real work‘ of the RPPDG (see here).
After reading what I’m about to write in this blog, you might be wondering how the National Gamekeepers Organisation can be viewed as a credible ‘partner’ in the RPPDG and on the Hen Harrier Taskforce.
On 26 June 2025, the RSPB published its latest damning report about the extent of Hen Harrier persecution on driven grouse moors across the UK. Called ‘Hen Harriers in the Firing Line‘, the report demonstrated that record numbers of Hen Harriers were illegally killed or went ‘missing’ in suspicious circumstances during the years 2020-2024.
The following day, the National Gamekeepers Organisation posted this response in the News section of its website:
The article starts off well with a statement of truth. That is, that wildlife crimes are ‘non-notifiable’, in England & Wales at least, which means that wildlife crime figures are not officially collected at a national level by the Home Office. (In Scotland, wildlife crime recording became a statutory obligation under the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011).
Most wildlife crimes in England & Wales are recorded as ‘miscellaneous’ offences and are therefore invisible in police records, with no duty to be reported upon. This problem has been the subject of a long-running campaign by Wildlife & Countryside LINK (e.g. here), and others, who for several years now have been urging the Home Office to make at least certain wildlife crimes (i.e. those associated with the National Wildlife Crime Priorities) notifiable so that there’s a better record of offences, allowing police resources to be applied appropriately. If the scale of a crime isn’t known, Police and Crime Commissioners are hardly going to allocate what are already tight police budgets towards tackling a crime that doesn’t look like it has any significance.
So having recognised and acknowledged that police forces don’t have to keep records of wildlife crime offences, the National Gamekeepers Organisation (NGO) then inexplicably announces that it has sent FoIs to all UK police forces to seek information on Hen Harrier persecution incidents.
Eh??!! Where’s the logic in that??
The stupidity doesn’t end there. It gets worse.
Let’s assume that the NGO did write FoIs to all 48 UK police forces and received responses from all of them (highly unlikely to get a 100% return rate but let’s go with it for now). Take a look at this particular statement in the NGO’s news article:
The NGO states that, ‘Having carried out Freedom of Information requests the NGO can state that from 2020 through to 2023, the police across all UK forces recorded eight Hen Harrier investigations in total. One was in Cumbria and the other 7 in Northumberland. Foul play was not cited by the police in any investigation‘. [Emphasis is mine].
Really? According to my data on Hen Harrier persecution recorded between 2020 – 2023, there were 82 recorded incidents across eight UK regions (North Yorkshire & Cumbria: 45; Northumberland: 12; County Durham: 11; Scotland: 7; South Yorkshire: 3; Lancashire: 3; Isle of Man: 1).
That’s quite a few more incidents, and is far more widespread, than the NGO’s claim of 8 incidents in just two police force areas.
The vast majority of those 82 incidents involved the suspicious ‘disappearance’ of satellite-tagged Hen Harriers. The number doesn’t include tags that have been listed as no longer transmitting as a result of possible tag failure, or birds that are known to have died a natural death. The National Wildlife Crime Unit, which leads the Hen Harrier Taskforce (on which the NGO serves so should be fully aware), explicitly uses satellite tag data to identify crime hotspots, i.e. locations where Hen Harriers repeatedly disappear in suspicious circumstances. Here’s another relevant excerpt from the Hen Harrier Taskforce launch press release:
‘Rather than purely focusing on the wildlife aspect of the crime, DI Harrison has tasked his team with taking a holistic view of the criminality and considering all types of offences. Criminals will often steal and destroy the satellite tags to conceal their offending. This could constitute criminal damage, theft and fraud. In the last few years alone, £100,000 worth of satellite tags have been lost in circumstances suspected to be criminal. The apparent use of firearms adds a further level of seriousness to these cases’. [Emphasis is mine].
For the NGO to use the line, ‘Foul play was not cited by the police in any investigation‘ is misleading at best.
Further, in amongst those 82 incidents recorded between 2020 – 2023 are a number of Hen Harriers where police investigations and post mortems explicitly detected ‘foul play’ (I prefer to call it crime, because that’s what this is). These are:
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 while he was still alive. One leg had also been torn off whilst he was still alive (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).
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 (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).
29 July 2023: Hen Harrier female (brood meddled in 2020, R2-F2-20) ‘disappeared’ at a confidential site in the North Pennines. Later notes from the NE spreadsheet: “Dead. Recovered – awaiting PM results. Final transmission location temporarily withheld at police request“ (here). Later report stated she’d been found dead with 3 shotgun pellets in corpse (here).
So, clearly the police forces that allegedly responded to the National Gamekeeper Organisation’s FoI requests haven’t been accurately recording Hen Harrier persecution crimes (because they don’t have to) but regardless of that, for the NGO to take that misinformation at face value, when (a) it knows that these crimes are not notifiable so individual police force records have to be viewed as unreliable, and (b) the NGO would have been fully aware of these high profile crimes (because they were all over the press and they’d also have been raised at the RPPDG meetings in which the NGO is a participant) can be viewed as either a measure of the NGO’s stupidity or what I see as an indication of its willingness to deceive.
What’s even more revealing is the lengths the NGO will go in its efforts to tarnish the RSPB’s reputation. Why submit FoI requests to 48 UK police forces to ask for Hen Harrier persecution data when you’re already a member of the RPPDG and the Hen Harrier Taskforce, where those persecution data are reliably recorded and readily available?
The whole premise of the NGO’s ‘news article’ seems to me to be using obviously unrepresentative data it received from an unspecified number of police forces to smear and undermine the reputation of the RSPB. You could paraphrase the NGO’s whole article as:
‘Aha! The RSPB’s Hen Harrier persecution data are clearly fabricated because all UK police forces only recorded eight Hen Harrier persecution incidents in two force areas between 2020 and 2023. There, we told you the RSPB make up the data just to make us gamekeepers look bad. You can’t believe a word the RSPB says. We love all raptors and especially Hen Harriers‘.
It’s half-baked nonsense and exposes the National Gamekeepers Organisation’s real intentions.
The NGO suggests that the RSPB is fabricating persecution data “to damage the public perception of gamekeepers” when actually it’s the NGO mispresenting information to damage the reputation of the RSPB. The NGO is right to suggest that the public’s perception of gamekeepers is poor, but that’s because gamekeepers are consistently linked to raptor persecution crimes. If gamekeepers want to improve their reputation it’s quite simple – stop killing birds of prey.
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 two most recently reported victims: an RSPB-satellite-tagged male called ‘Dynamo’ who vanished whilst hunting on a nearby grouse moor close to his nest site on United Utilities-owned land in the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire in May 2025 (here) and another male, this time-untagged, who also vanished from another active nest site on United Utilities-owned land in the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire, in May 2025 (here).
I’ve been compiling this list only since 2018 because that is the year that the grouse shooting industry ‘leaders’ would have us believe that the criminal persecution of Hen Harriers had stopped and that these birds were being welcomed back on to the UK’s grouse moors (see here).
This assertion was made shortly before the publication of a devastating new scientific paper that demonstrated that 72% of satellite-tagged Hen Harriers were confirmed or considered likely to have been illegally killed, and this was ten times more likely to occur over areas of land managed for grouse shooting relative to other land uses (see here). A further scientific paper published in 2023 by scientists at the RSPB, utilising even more recent data, echoed these results – see here.
2018 was also the year that Natural England issued a licence to begin a Hen Harrier brood meddling trial on grouse moors in northern England. For new blog readers, Hen Harrier brood meddling was a conservation sham sanctioned by DEFRA as part of its ludicrous ‘Hen Harrier Action Plan‘ and carried out by Natural England (NE), in cahoots with the very industry responsible for the species’ catastrophic decline in England.
For more background see here and for a critical evaluation of the trial after 5 years see this report by Wild Justice. In 2024 the brood meddling trial appeared to collapse for reasons which are not yet clear (see here) and the licence for the so-called ‘scientific trial’ expired. In March 2025 Natural England announced the end of the brood meddling trial (here) and in April 2025 announced that a licence application to continue brood meddling, submitted by the Moorland Association, had been refused (here).
Brood meddling was earlier described as a sort of ‘gentleman’s agreement’ by commentator Stephen Welch:
“I don’t get it, I thought the idea of that scheme was some kind of trade off – a gentleman’s agreement that the birds would be left in peace if they were moved from grouse moors at a certain density. It seems that one party is not keeping their side of the bargain“.
With at least 143 Hen Harriers gone since 2018, and 31 of those being brood meddled birds, there is no question that the grouse shooting industry was simply taking the piss. Meanwhile, Natural England pretended that ‘partnership working’ was the way to go and consecutive Tory DEFRA Ministers remained silent for all those years.
*n/a – no hen harriers were brood meddled in 2018. **Post mortem reports on a further seven hen harriers found dead in 2024/2025 are awaited. Those seven individuals are not included in this table.
‘Partnership working’ according to Natural England appeared to include authorising the removal of Hen Harrier chicks from a grouse moor already under investigation by the police for suspected raptor persecution (here) and accepting a £75k ‘donation’ from representatives of the grouse shooting industry with a contract clause that prevented Natural England from criticising them or the sham brood meddling trial (see here). This was in addition to a further £10k ‘donation’ that Natural England accepted, under the same terms, in 2021 (here).
Thankfully, the Scottish Government finally decided to act by introducing a grouse moor licensing scheme under the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024. The intention behind this new legislation is that grouse shooting estates could have their licences suspended/revoked if, on the balance of probability, it is shown that any raptor persecution crimes (& some other associated offences) are linked with grouse moor management on that estate. There, are, however, ongoing issues with the licence as it’s been significantly watered-down after an intervention from the grouse shooting industry (see here). Work is underway to address this.
In England a new Hen Harrier Taskforce was established in 2024, led by the National Wildlife Crime Unit, to use innovative techniques to target Hen Harrier persecution hotspots (locations where Hen Harriers repeatedly ‘disappear’ or are found illegally killed). It’s too early to judge the Taskforce’s success/failure and it’s been met with considerable resistance from the Moorland Association, the grouse moor owners’ lobby group (e.g. see here). So far though, it’s quite clear that the the illegal killing continues.
So here’s the latest gruesome list of ‘missing’/illegally killed hen harriers since 2018. Note that the majority of these birds (but not all) were fitted with satellite tags. How many more [untagged] harriers have been killed? We now have evidence that gamekeepers are specifically targeting untagged Hen Harriers, precisely to avoid detection (see here for extraordinary footage/audio captured by the RSPB’s Investigations Team as featured on Channel 4 News in October 2024).
February 2018: Hen Harrier Saorsa ‘disappeared’ in the Angus Glens in Scotland (here). The Scottish Gamekeepers Association later published wholly inaccurate information claiming the bird had been re-sighted. The RSPB dismissed this as “completely false” (here).
5 February 2018: Hen Harrier Marc ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Durham (here).
9 February 2018: Hen Harrier Aalin ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Wales (here).
March 2018: Hen Harrier Blue ‘disappeared’ in the Lake District National Park (here).
March 2018: Hen Harrier Finn ‘disappeared’ near Moffat in Scotland (here).
18 April 2018: Hen Harrier Lia ‘disappeared’ in Wales and her corpse was retrieved in a field in May 2018. Cause of death was unconfirmed but police treating death as suspicious (here).
8 August 2018: Hen Harrier Hilma ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Northumberland (here).
16 August 2018: Hen Harrier Athena ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here).
26 August 2018: Hen Harrier Octavia ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Peak District National Park (here).
29 August 2018: Hen Harrier Margot ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here).
29 August 2018: Hen Harrier Heulwen ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Wales (here).
3 September 2018: Hen Harrier Stelmaria ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here).
24 September 2018: Hen Harrier Heather ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here).
2 October 2018: Hen Harrier Mabel ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
3 October 2018: Hen Harrier Thor ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in Bowland, Lanacashire (here).
23 October 2018: Hen Harrier Tom ‘disappeared’ in South Wales (here).
26 October 2018: Hen Harrier Arthur ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the North York Moors National Park (here).
1 November 2018: Hen Harrier Barney ‘disappeared’ on Bodmin Moor (here).
10 November 2018: Hen Harrier Rannoch ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Scotland (here). Her corpse was found nearby in May 2019 – she’d been killed in an illegally-set spring trap (here).
14 November 2018: Hen Harrier River ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Nidderdale AONB (here). Her corpse was found nearby in April 2019 – she’d been illegally shot (here).
16 January 2019: Hen Harrier Vulcan ‘disappeared’ in Wiltshire close to Natural England’s proposed reintroduction site (here).
28 January 2019: Hen Harrier DeeCee ‘disappeared’ in Glen Esk, a grouse moor area of the Angus Glens (see here).
7 February 2019: Hen Harrier Skylar ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in South Lanarkshire (here).
22 April 2019: Hen Harrier Marci ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (here).
26 April 2019: Hen Harrier Rain ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Nairnshire (here).
11 May 2019: An untagged male Hen Harrier was caught in an illegally-set trap next to his nest on a grouse moor in South Lanarkshire. He didn’t survive (here).
7 June 2019: An untagged Hen Harrier was found dead on a grouse moor in Scotland. A post mortem stated the bird had died as a result of ‘penetrating trauma’ injuries and that this bird had previously been shot (here).
5 September 2019: Wildland Hen Harrier 1 ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor nr Dalnaspidal on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park (here).
11 September 2019: Hen Harrier Romario ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (here).
14 September 2019: Hen Harrier (Brood meddled in 2019, #183704) ‘disappeared’ in the North Pennines (here).
23 September 2019: Hen Harrier (Brood meddled in 2019, #55149) ‘disappeared’ in North Pennines (here).
24 September 2019: Wildland Hen Harrier 2 ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor at Invercauld in the Cairngorms National Park (here).
24 September 2019: Hen Harrier Bronwyn ‘disappeared’ near a grouse moor in North Wales (here).
10 October 2019: Hen Harrier Ada ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the North Pennines AONB (here).
12 October 2019: Hen Harrier Thistle ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Sutherland (here).
18 October 2019: Member of the public reports the witnessed shooting of an untagged male Hen Harrier on White Syke Hill in North Yorkshire (here).
November 2019: Hen Harrier Mary found illegally poisoned on a pheasant shoot in Ireland (here).
November 2019: Hen Harrier Artemis ‘disappeared’ near Long Formacus in south Scotland (RSPB pers comm).
14 December 2019: Hen harrier Oscar ‘disappeared’ in Eskdalemuir, south Scotland (here).
December 2019: Hen Harrier Ingmar ‘disappeared’ in the Strathbraan grouse moor area of Perthshire (RSPB pers comm).
27 January 2020: Members of the public report the witnessed shooting of a male Hen Harrier on Threshfield Moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
23 March 2020: Hen Harrier Rosie ‘disappeared’ at an undisclosed roost site in Northumberland (here).
1 April 2020: Hen Harrier (Brood meddled in 2019, #183703) ‘disappeared’ in unnamed location, tag intermittent (here).
5 April 2020: Hen Harrier Hoolie ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (here)
8 April 2020: Hen Harrier Marlin ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (here).
19 May 2020: Hen Harrier Fingal ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Lowther Hills, Scotland (here).
21 May 2020: Hen Harrier (Brood meddled in 2019, #183701) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Cumbria shortly after returning from wintering in France (here).
27 May 2020: Hen Harrier Silver ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor on Leadhills Estate, Scotland (here).
2020: day/month unknown: Unnamed male Hen Harrier breeding on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve, Cumbria ‘disappeared’ while away hunting (here).
9 July 2020: Unnamed female Hen Harrier (#201118) ‘disappeared’ from an undisclosed site in Northumberland (here).
25 July 2020: Hen Harrier Harriet ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
14 August 2020: Hen Harrier Solo ‘disappeared’ in confidential nest area in Lancashire (here).
7 September 2020: Hen Harrier Dryad ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
16 September 2020: Hen Harrier Fortune ‘disappeared’ from an undisclosed roost site in Northumberland (here).
19 September 2020: Hen Harrier Harold ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
20 September 2020: Hen Harrier (Brood meddled in 2020, #55152) ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in North Yorkshire (here).
24 February 2021: Hen Harrier Tarras ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in Northumberland (here)
12th April 2021: Hen Harrier Yarrow ‘disappeared’ near Stockton, County Durham (here).
18 May 2021: Adult male Hen Harrier ‘disappeared’ from its breeding attempt on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve, Cumbria whilst away hunting (here).
18 May 2021: Another adult male Hen Harrier ‘disappeared’ from its breeding attempt on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve, Cumbria whilst away hunting (here).
24 July 2021: Hen Harrier Asta ‘disappeared’ at a ‘confidential site’ in the North Pennines (here). We learned 18 months later that her wings had been ripped off so her tag could be fitted to a crow in an attempt to cover up her death (here).
14th August 2021: Hen Harrier Josephine ‘disappeared’ at a ‘confidential site’ in Northumberland (here).
17 September 2021: Hen Harrier Reiver ‘disappeared’ in a grouse moor dominated region of Northumberland (here)
24 September 2021: Hen Harrier (Brood meddled in 2021, R2-F-1-21) ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland (here).
15 November 2021: Hen Harrier (brood meddled in 2020, #R2-F1-20) ‘disappeared’ at the edge of a grouse moor on Arkengarthdale Estate in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
19 November 2021: Hen Harrier Val ‘disappeared’ in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria (here).
19 November 2021: Hen Harrier Percy ‘disappeared’ in Lothian, Scotland (here).
12 December 2021: Hen Harrier Jasmine ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor (High Rigg Moor on the Middlesmoor Estate) in the Nidderdale AONB in North Yorkshire (here).
9 January 2022: Hen Harrier Ethel ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland (here).
26 January 2022: Hen Harrier Amelia ‘disappeared’ in Bowland (here).
10 February 2022: An unnamed satellite-tagged Hen Harrier ‘disappeared’ in a grouse moor dominated area of the Peak District National Park (here). One year later it was revealed that the satellite tag/harness of this young male called ‘Anu’ had been deliberately cut off (see here).
12 April 2022: Hen Harrier ‘Free’ (Tag ID 201121) ‘disappeared’ at a ‘confidential site’ in Cumbria (here). It later emerged he hadn’t disappeared, but his mutilated corpse was found on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. A post mortem revealed the cause of death was having his head twisted and pulled off. One leg had also been torn off whilst he was still alive (here).
April 2022: Hen Harrier ‘Pegasus’ (tagged by the RSPB) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor at Birkdale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
May 2022: A male breeding Hen Harrier ‘disappeared’ from a National Trust-owned grouse moor in the Peak District National Park (here).
May 2022: Another breeding male Hen Harrier ‘disappeared’ from a National Trust-owned grouse moor in the Peak District National Park (here).
14 May 2022: Hen Harrier ‘Harvey’ (Tag ID 213844) ‘disappeared’ from a ‘confidential site’ in the North Pennines (here).
20 June 2022: Hen harrier chick #1 stamped to death in nest on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
20 June 2022: Hen Harrier chick #2 stamped to death in nest on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
20 June 2022: Hen Harrier chick #3 stamped to death in nest on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
20 June 2022: Hen Harrier chick #4 stamped to death in nest on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
17 August 2022: Hen Harrier (brood meddled in 2022, #R1-M1-22) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
September 2022: Hen Harrier ‘Sullis’ (tagged by the RSPB) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in Cumbria (here).
5 October 2022: Hen Harrier (brood meddled in 2022, #R3-M2-22) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
10 October 2022: Hen Harrier ‘Sia’ ‘disappeared’ near Hamsterley Forest in the North Pennines (here).
October 2022: Hen Harrier (brood meddled in 2021, #R1-F1-21) ‘disappeared’ in the North Sea off the North York Moors National Park (here).
1 December 2022: Hen Harrier male (brood meddled in 2021, #R1-M1-21) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
7 December 2022: Hen Harrier female (brood meddled in 2020, #55144) ‘disappeared’ from winter roost (same as #R3-F1-22) on moorland in North Pennines AONB (here).
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 (here).
15 December 2022: Hen Harrier female (brood meddled in 2022, #R2-F1-22) ‘disappeared’ on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
30 March 2023: Hen Harrier female (brood meddled in 2022, #R1-F3-22) ‘disappeared’ in Yorkshire (here). Notes from NE Sept 2023 spreadsheet update: “Final transmission location temporarily withheld at police request“.
1 April 2023: Hen Harrier male (brood meddled in 2022, #R2-M1-22) ‘disappeared’ in Yorkshire (here). Notes from NE Sept 2023 spreadsheet update: “Final transmission location temporarily withheld at police request“.
April 2023: Hen Harrier ‘Lagertha’ (tagged by RSPB) ‘disappeared’ in North Yorkshire (here).
April 2023: Hen Harrier ‘Nicola’ (Tag ID 234078) ”disappeared’ in North Yorkshire (here).
April 2023: Untagged male Hen Harrier ‘disappeared’ from an active nest on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve in Cumbria (here).
April 2023: Another untagged male Hen Harrier ‘disappeared’ from an active nest on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve in Cumbria (here).
April 2023: Untagged male Hen Harrier ‘disappeared’ from an active nest in Durham (here).
4/5 May 2023: Satellite-tagged male Hen Harrier called ‘Rush’ ‘disappeared’ from a grouse moor in Bowland AONB in Lancashire (here).
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, 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). Later found dead with 3 shotgun pellets in corpse (here).
9 August 2023: Satellite-tagged Hen Harrier called ‘Martha’ ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor (Westburnhope Moor) near Hexham in the North Pennines (here).
11 August 2023: Satellite-tagged hen harrier called ‘Selena’ ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor (Mossdale Moor) in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
11 August 2023: Hen Harrier female (brood meddled in 2023, tag #201118a, name: R3-F1-23) ‘disappeared’ in Co. Durham (grid ref: NZ072136) (here).
15 August 2023: Satellite-tagged Hen Harrier called ‘Hepit’ ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor (Birkdale Common) near Kirkby Stephen in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
24 August 2023: Hen Harrier female (brood meddled in 2023, tag #55155a, name: R1-F2-23) ‘disappeared’ at a confidential site in Northumberland. Notes from the NE spreadsheet: “Final transmission location temporarily withheld at police request“ (here).
August-Sept 2023: Satellite-tagged Hen Harrier called ‘Harmonia’ ‘disappeared’ in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).
September 2023: Hen Harrier female ‘Saranyu’, tagged by the RSPB in Cumbria in June 2023, ‘disappeared’ in Durham in September 2023 (no further details available yet – just outline info provided in 2022 Birdcrime report) (here).
September 2023: Hen Harrier female ‘Inger’, a female tagged by the RSPB in Perthshire in July 2022, ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Angus Glens in September 2023 (here).
15 September 2023: Hen Harrier male called ‘Rhys’, tagged in Cumbria on 1st August 2023, ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Grid ref: SD798896 (here).
24 September 2023: Hen Harrier female (brood meddled in 2023, name: ‘R2-F2-23’) ‘disappeared’ in the North Pennines, grid ref: NY888062 (here).
25 September 2023: Hen Harrier female (brood meddled in 2022, name: ‘R1-F4-22’) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, grid ref: SE077699 (here).
26 September 2023: Hen Harrier female called ‘Hope’, tagged in Cumbria on 21 July 2023, ‘disappeared’ next to a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, grid ref: SD801926 (here).
4 October 2023: Hen Harrier male (brood meddled in 2020, name: ‘R1-M3-20’) ‘disappeared’ in Co Durham, grid ref: NY935192 (here).
4 October 2023: Hen Harrier female (brood meddled in 2023, name: ‘R4-F1-23’) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, grid ref: SE003981 (here).
14 October 2023: Hen Harrier male called ‘Cillian’, tagged in Cumbria on 1 August 2023, ‘disappeared’ in south west Scotland, grid ref: NY051946 (here).
15 November 2023: Hen Harrier female called ‘Hazel’, tagged in Cumbria on 21 July 2023, ‘disappeared’ on the Isle of Man, grid ref: SC251803 (here).
27 November 2023: Hen Harrier female called ‘Gill’, tagged in Northumberland on 10 July 2023, ‘disappeared’ at a confidential location in Teeside (here).
12 February 2024: Hen Harrier female called ‘Susie’, Tag ID 201122, found dead at a confidential location in Northumberland and the subject of an ongoing police investigation (here).
15 February 2024: Hen Harrier female called ‘Shalimar’, tagged on the National Trust for Scotland’s Mar Lodge estate in 2023, ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances on a grouse moor in the notorious Angus Glens (here).
7 March 2024: Hen Harrier male (brood meddled in 2023, name R2-M1-23) found dead in Devon. According to an FoI response from Natural England in June 2024 this death is the subject of an ongoing police investigation (here).
24 April 2024: Hen Harrier male called ‘Ken’, Tag ID 213849a, ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances close to a grouse moor in Bowland, grid ref SD 684601 (here).
17 May 2024: Hen Harrier male (brood meddled in 2023, name R2-M2-23) ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances next to Middlesmoor grouse moor in Nidderdale, grid ref SE043754 (here).
25 June 2024: Hen Harrier female (brood meddled in 2023, name R2-F1-23) ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances on a grouse moor in Yorkshire Dales National Park, grid ref NY985082 (here).
July 2024: Hen Harrier female named ‘Helius’ satellite tagged by the RSPB ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances in Bowland (here).
October 2024: An un-tagged Hen Harrier was seemingly shot on a grouse moor by one of three gamekeepers being secretly filmed by the RSPB (here).
1 October 2024: Hen Harrier female named ‘Dreich’, Tag ID: 254842, ‘disappeared’ in Lanarkshire. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown, site confidential – ongoing investigation‘ (here).
15 October 2024: Hen Harrier male named ‘Baldur’, Tag ID: 240291, ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown, site confidential – ongoing investigation‘ (here).
19 October 2024: Hen Harrier female named ‘Margaret’, Tag ID: 254844, ‘disappeared’ in Northumberland. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown, site confidential – ongoing investigation‘ (here).
12 January 2025: Hen Harrier female named ‘Dina’, Tag ID: 254837, ‘disappeared’ near a grouse moor in the Lammermuirs, south Scotland (grid ref: NT 681512). Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown’ (here).
15 January 2025: Hen Harrier female named ‘Red’, hatched on the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve in 2024, ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in County Durham in the North Pennines, in the same area another tagged Hen Harrier (Sia) vanished in 2022 (here).
3 February 2025: Hen Harrier female (brood meddled in 2022, name R3-F2-22) ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the North York Moors National Park. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown’ (here).
27 February 2025: Hen Harrier female named ‘Sita’, satellite-tagged on behalf of Hen Harrier Action in Bowland in 2024 and tracked by the RSPB, ‘disappeared’ from a roost site on an unnamed grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here). More details published on 1 October 2025 (here).
4 April 2025: Hen Harrier female named ‘Bonnie’, Tag ID: 254841, ‘disappeared’ in Scotland. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown. Site confidential – ongoing investigation’ (here).
10 April 2025: Hen Harrier female named ‘Gill’, Tag ID: 240294, ‘disappeared’ in Scotland. Listed by NE as ‘Missing Fate Unknown. Site confidential – ongoing investigation’ (here).
May 2025: Male Hen Harrier (with active nest on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve in Cumbria) ‘disappeared’. Strongly suspected to have been shot whilst away hunting on nearby grouse moor (here).
May 2025: Another male Hen Harrier (with another active nest on RSPB Geltsdale Reserve in Cumbria) ‘disappeared’. Strongly suspected to have been shot whilst away hunting on nearby grouse moor (here).
May 2025: Male Hen Harrier called ‘Dynamo’, satellite-tagged by the RSPB and 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).
May 2025: Another male Hen Harrier (untagged) 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).
To be continued…….
Of these 143 incidents, only one has resulted in an arrest and a subsequent prosecution (ongoing – after a ‘not guilty plea’ a gamekeeper is due in court again in September 2025, see here).
I had thought that when we reached 30 dead/missing Hen Harriers then the authorities might pretend to be interested and at least say a few words about this national scandal. We’ve now reached at least ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY THREE Hen Harriers, and still Govt ministers remain silent on the illegal persecution issue. They appear not to give a monkey’s. And yes, there are other things going on in the world, as always. That is not reason enough to ignore this blatant, brazen and systematic destruction of a supposedly protected species, being undertaken to satisfy the greed and bloodlust of a minority of society.
And let’s not forget the response from the (now former) Moorland Association Chair (and owner of Swinton Estate) Mark Cunliffe-Lister, who told BBC Radio 4 in August 2023 that, “Clearly any illegal [Hen Harrier] persecution is nothappening” (here), in the year when a record 33 Hen Harriers had been confirmed ‘missing’ and/or illegally killed.
Nor should we forget the response from the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s (GWCT) Director of Policy Dr Alistair Leake who wrote a letter to the Guardian newspaper in November 2023 stating that the Hen Harrier brood management [meddling] scheme “is surely a shining example of human / wildlife conflict resolution that would be the envy of other countries trying to find similar solutions“ (I kid you not – here).
In addition to the seven outstanding cases from 2024/2025, which are not included on the 143 list above because post-mortems are apparently ‘still pending’ (they’re not pending at all, they’ve been completed but Natural England and the Hen Harrier Task Force are refusing to publicise the results – why is that?), I’m aware of at least anotherseven cases from 2025 that are still to be publicised. There may be others of which I’m not yet aware.
The alleged incident took place on 12 February 2024 on a shooting estate near Blairgowrie.
Police Scotland, with the assistance of partners from the RSPB and Scottish SPCA, executed a search warrant on the estate on 29 February 2024, leading to the arrest of the gamekeeper and subsequent charge.
The trial will begin on 22 September 2025.
NB: As this case is live, comments are turned off until legal proceedings have ended.
UPDATE 17 September 2025: Change of trial date for Scottish gamekeeper accused of killing a goshawk on a Perthshire shooting estate (here)
Perhaps the most surprising pro-grouse shooting voice at Monday’s Westminster Hall debate on driven grouse shooting was Sam Rushworth, the Labour MP for Bishop Auckland.
Wild Justice described Rushworth’s arguments in the debate as being ‘less coherent’ than his Labour colleague’s (Olivia Blake MP):
‘Mr Rushworth’s arguments were less coherent, stating firmly his dedication to animal welfare and his stance against fox hunting, whilst also defending an industry known for its illegal persecution of birds of prey and its legal, yet unethical, killing of wildlife such as the routine killing of foxes, referred to by the industry as ‘vermin’‘.
Here’s what I wrote earlier today about Rushworth’s contribution to the debate:
‘Sam Rushworth MP (Labour, Bishop Auckland), whose constituency includes some notorious grouse moors in the North Pennines, which is another well-known raptor persecution hotspot, spoke about attending a recent ‘Lets Learn Moor’ event with primary-age schoolchildren. He also mentioned being “disgusted by the criminality that sometimes occurs on the moorland“. I wonder if he realises that these events, funded by BASC, are facilitated by the Regional Moorland Groups, many of whose members have been under police investigation into suspected and confirmed raptor persecution crimes? Awkward’.
It was all a bit odd.
But now things have become a whole lot clearer.
Here’s an excerpt from Rushworth’s list of Registered Interests on the Parliamentary website:
Well, well, well. Rushworth’s pro-shooting stance no longer looks surprising, does it?
This entry reveals that Rushworth received a £10,000 donation from the North Pennine Moorland Group in October 2023, for ‘campaign support’. Imagine that!
For those who might not know who the North Pennine Moorland Group is, it’s basically one of a large number of regional grouse moor groups that sprang up across England and Scotland several years ago, presenting themselves as ‘grassroots community groups’, purporting to represent ‘downtrodden country folk’ who were being unfairly attacked by some nasty people from the cities who didn’t understand country ways.
In reality, these groups appear to be part of a well-funded and co-ordinated astroturfing campaign for the driven grouse shooting industry, closely associated with the vile and abusive Campaign for the Protection of Moorland Communities (C4PMC) website, which specialises in publishing personal attacks and smears on anyone who dares to raise questions about the environmental unsustainability and criminality associated with driven grouse moor management. Indeed, the Chair of the North Pennines Moorland Group was listed as being one of ‘Our People’ when C4PMC lurched on to the scene in 2020 (see here).
Funny, I don’t recall hearing Rushworth making a declaration of interest about this £10,000 donation prior to his speech in the debate. As I understand it, ‘politicians must declare relevant interests that could be perceived as influencing their views or actions. This includes financial interests, gifts, hospitality, and any other interests that might create a perception of bias‘.
Perhaps, as this £10,000 donation was received in October 2023, prior to Rushworth’s election in July 2024, it doesn’t count as something he needed to declare before his speech? But then the donation is included on his official Registered Interests page on the parliamentary website so it does appear to be something he should have declared in the debate. Perhaps it was just an oversight and he’ll no doubt be grateful for the clarification here.
The donation raises a lot of questions.
The timing of it is interesting, as it was made around the same time as a £10,000 donation was made to the then Conservative MP for Hexham, Northumberland, Guy Opperman, by a company called GMS Partnership Ltd, whose sole director just happened to be one Andrew Gilruth, the Chief Executive of the Moorland Association, the lobby group for England’s grouse moor owners (see here) and prior to that he was Chair of the Regional Moorland Groups.
Opperman lost his seat in the July 2024 election.
Were these two £10,000 donations linked in any way? Are we uncovering a wider strategy of ‘donations’ from the grouse shooting industry, given to MPs in grouse moor dominated constituencies? I don’t know, I’m just speculating, but I think it’d be worth investigating the Registered Interests of other MPs in northern England, just to see if there’s a pattern.
It also raises the question of who is funding the regional moorland groups? Or are we supposed to believe that the gamekeepers in the North Pennines Moorland Group have been saving up their tips in a jam jar to then happily hand them over to support a prospective MP’s election campaign?
There have been rumours circulating for several months about who might be the actual financial backer(s) of these moorland groups, and I also have my own suspicions, but a bit more work is needed to be certain.
Meanwhile, if any of Rushworth’s constituents reading this are minded to make a formal complaint to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority about Rushworth’s failure to declare an interest during the driven grouse shooting debate (alleged breach of Code D (6) of the House of Commons Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament), you can find out how to do it here.
Many thanks to the blog reader who provided the tip off.
Raptor Persecution UK 