Tag: hen harrier

RSPB reports six of its satellite-tagged Hen Harriers ‘disappeared’ on or close to grouse moors in England in 2025 & another was illegally poisoned

The RSPB has today issued a press release documenting the suspicious disappearance of six of its satellite-tagged Hen Harriers in 2025, as well as one that had been illegally poisoned. All seven incidents were either on, or close to, grouse moors in England.

These seven birds are in addition to the Hen Harriers that had been satellite-tagged by Natural England and had ‘disappeared’ or were illegally killed in 2025. I’ll publish the updated combined tally list later today.

Hen Harrier (photo by Pete Walkden)

Here is the RSPB’s press release:

SIX MORE RARE HEN HARRIERS VANISH ON OR NEAR GROUSE MOORS WITH ANOTHER CONFIRMED POISONED

  • Seven RSPB satellite tagged Hen Harriers are suspected or confirmed to have been illegally killed in England on or near land managed for grouse shooting in 2025 – with three in just thirteen days.
  • Hen Harriers are a protected, Red-listed species of high conservation concern with illegal killing widely recognised as the main cause for their vulnerable status.
  • To prevent and deter these crimes and ensure the recovery of Hen Harriers in England the RSPB is urgently calling for the introduction of licensing of all gamebird shooting across the UK.

In 2025, it is suspected that a total of seven RSPB satellite-tagged Hen Harriers were illegally killed on or near grouse moors in northern England, with one Hen Harrier confirmed poisoned and six more disappearing in suspicious circumstances – all sending their final transmission on or near land managed for grouse shooting.

All incidents were quickly reported to the police and National Wildlife Crime Unit’s Hen Harrier Taskforce. Obtaining evidence of Hen Harrier killing and bringing prosecutions is extremely difficult but Police investigations continue.

To monitor Hen Harrier movements and survival, RSPB and Natural England have been tagging Hen Harrier chicks for over 15 years. These highly reliable satellite tags normally continue to transmit even when a bird dies. However, as multiple incidents have shown, many tags have suddenly and suspiciously stopped transmitting on or near grouse moors without sign of malfunction.

Evidence – including peer reviewed data, intelligence reports and forensic analysis – indicate that it is highly likely that in these circumstances the Hen Harrier’s tag has been intentionally damaged or destroyed after the bird has been illegally killed. Despite strong indication that a crime has been committed, in the absence of substantive evidence the perpetrator cannot be brought to justice.

In England, in the last 10 years (2016-2025), 72 satellite tagged Hen Harriers – monitored by the RSPB and Natural England – have suddenly and suspiciously disappeared. With 85% of these vanishing on or near land managed for grouse shooting. These incidents indicate a much wider scale of killing as only a fraction of the total Hen Harrier population is fitted with tags.

All six of the satellite tagged Hen Harriers that suddenly disappeared in 2025 sent their final transmission from hotspots – these being areas with previous bird of prey incidents in northern England, all dominated by grouse moors. Intelligence suggests that these crimes are committed in an attempt to maximise the number of grouse available to be commercially shot for profit during the grouse shooting season.

Tragically, three of the six sat-tagged Hen Harriers which disappeared in 2025 all sent their final transmissions in September – just weeks after fledging the nests and within thirteen days of each other. Recent scientific research has shown that human persecution – the main cause for Hen Harriers vulnerable status – has reduced the lifespan of this rare species, with young birds surviving on average for only four months after leaving the nest.

In addition to the six, one Hen Harrier named Ataksak, was confirmed poisoned after its body was recovered close to a grouse moor in North Yorkshire in early January 2025. Toxicological testing revealed that it had died after being exposed to a lethal pesticide mixture, known as the ‘Nidderdale Cocktail’. Since 2011 this poison has been connected to the deaths of 15 birds of prey and one dog, all in North Yorkshire.

Mark Thomas, RSPB UK Head of Investigations said: “Although the suspected persecution of six of our satellite tagged Hen Harriers in one year is extremely concerning, these birds are sadly just the latest in a long trend. Since 2010 over one hundred satellite tagged Hen Harriers are suspected to have been illegally killed in the UK, with the majority disappearing on or near land managed for grouse shooting. As satellite tagged Hen Harriers represent a small proportion of the UK’s total Hen Harrier population the true number of Hen Harriers that are being illegally killed across the uplands of the UK is likely to be significantly greater. What we’re seeing is just the tip of the iceberg“.

The RSPB has been continuously calling for the introduction of a robust licensing system for all gamebird shooting in the UK. Introduced in Scotland for grouse shooting in 2024, this proportionate, low-cost measure would only penalise those shooting estates where crimes are being committed and help ensure that this rare and vulnerable species receives the protection it so urgently needs.

James Robinson, RSPB Chief Operating Officer said: “These latest incidents paint a desperate picture for Hen Harrier recovery in England. To prevent this pattern of killing, and give this vulnerable species a realistic hope of recovery, we urgently need licensing of all gamebird shooting to be introduced in England.

“Under this proportionate legislation if a crime is suspected to have taken place, based on a civil burden of proof, the shooting estate can have their licence to shoot revoked – creating a meaningful deterrent against this type of wildlife crime. Scotland took this welcome step in 2024 when it introduced licensing for grouse shooting. We need to follow their lead and give Hen Harriers in England the safety they desperately need“.

Members of the public are urged to report any suspected incidents of bird of prey persecution by contacting the police on 101 and by submitting a report to the RSPB. This can be done via the RSPB’s online reporting form at www.rspb.org.uk/report-crimes or by calling the RSPB’s confidential Raptor Crime Hotline on 0300 999 0101. Reports via the RSPB’s reporting form and Raptor Crime Hotline can be made anonymously.

ENDS

The RSPB also provided the following additional detail as footnotes to the press release:

Of the 85 confirmed and suspected satellite tagged Hen Harrier persecution incidents recorded in England in the last ten years (2016-2025), 79 (93%) occurred in the area of Northern England shown in the map below.

In total, these include 35 RSPB satellite-tagged Hen Harriers and 44 Natural England satellite-tagged Hen Harriers. All were either confirmed to have been illegally killed or disappeared in suspicious circumstances.

The number in each square on the map is the total number of confirmed and suspected persecution incidents involving RSPB and Natural England satellite tagged Hen Harriers recorded in that area alone. 

The RSPB also provided details of the seven tagged Hen Harriers either missing or illegally poisoned in 2025. I blogged about a number of these individuals in 2025 although the RSPB’s new commentary provides additional context. For those individual Harriers previously reported on this blog, I’ve marked them with an asterisk and provided a link to the specific blog.

  1. *Ataksak was found poisoned close to a grouse moor in North Yorkshire – poisoned with the Nidderdale Cocktail (January 2025). The area where Ataksak’s body was found is recognised as a bird of prey persecution hotspot. In the last ten years 25 confirmed bird of prey persecution incidents have been recorded in this area, including Ataksak. These included four Hen Harriers, 13 Red Kites and five Buzzards. A satellite tagged Hen Harrier also disappeared in this area in 2024. [Previous RPUK blog on Ataksak, here].
  2. *Sita disappeared on 27 February 2025. Her tag sent its final transmission from a moor south of Reeth, in the northeastern area of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. [Previous RPUK blog on Sita, here].
  3. *Dynamo was a six-year-old RSPB satellite tagged Hen Harrier which suspiciously disappeared whilst provisioning a nest in the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire in May 2025. He was one of four breeding male Hen Harriers that disappeared in northern England over a period of eight days – two from RSPB Geltsdale Nature Reserve in Cumbria, and a further two from the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire.  All of these birds vanished whilst foraging for food away from their nest. [Previous RPUK blog on Dynamo, here].
  4. Wadrew was one of three chicks that successfully fledged from RSPB Geltsdale in the summer of 2025, raised with the assistance of RSPB staff and volunteers. When the male parent suddenly disappeared whilst foraging off the reserve (suspected to have been illegally killed) reserve staff and volunteers provided emergency supplementary food under licence. On 27 September 2025, just weeks after fledging, Wadrew disappeared whilst on a grouse moor near Birkdale, in the north-west of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Based on incident data, this area – dominated by grouse moors – is the epicentre for Hen Harrier persecution in the UK. Since 2016, in this area four confirmed persecution incidents involving RSPB and Natural England satellite tagged Hen Harriers have taken place and 13 satellite tagged Hen Harriers have suspiciously disappeared (including Wadrew) – all suspected to have been persecuted (2016-2025).
  5. Morrigan suddenly disappeared on 30 September 2025 just three days after Wadrew’s final transmission and 17 km away, in the southern area of the North Pennines National Landscape – a notorious bird of prey persecution hotspot. In the same area in 2022, concerns were raised when irregular tag data was sent from a satellite tagged Hen Harrier named Asta. A search of the area led to the discovery of Asta’s satellite tag, found fitted to a dead Carrion Crow. The harness was intact. As a tag harness cannot be removed intact without inflicting significant harm to the bird it was clear that Asta had been illegally killed. In the last ten years 13 confirmed and suspected bird of prey persecution incidents have been recorded in this area including one confirmed incident (the sat-tagged Hen Harrier Asta) and the suspicious disappearance of 10 satellite tagged Hen Harriers, including Morrigan, between 2016 and 2025.
  6. Beatrix: Just 10 days before Wadrew and Morrigan disappeared, another young RSPB satellite tagged Hen Harrier, Beatrix, also vanished. Beatrix fledged from the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve in Scotland in the summer and dispersed south into the North Pennines, settling in an area dominated by grouse moor near Allendale. Her sat-tag sent its final transmission from this location on 17 September 2025. This area is another recognised persecution hotspot for Hen Harriers with four satellite tagged Hen Harriers confirmed to have been persecuted and six satellite tagged birds (including Beatrix) suspiciously disappearing in the area (2016-2025).
  7. *Red: In January 2025, eight months earlier, a one-year-old Scottish Hen Harrier that had also fledged from the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve, named Red, disappeared in another part of the North Pennines in County Durham. Another satellite tagged Hen Harrier, named Sia, disappeared in the same area in 2022. [Previous RPUK blog on Red, here].

The RSPB has provided a good amount of detail here, although I note that grid references have not been provided, which is disappointing.

However, the persecution hotspot map covering part of northern England is of particular interest to me. It’s striking that the RSPB has recorded ‘repeat’ incidents in certain areas, whereas Detective Inspector Mark Harrison from the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), who leads the National Hen Harrier Taskforce, is on record (several times) saying that since the Taskforce began its work in 2024, there hasn’t been a single ‘repeat’ incident in any of the Taskforce’s persecution hotspots.

This discrepancy demands more scrutiny and I’ll blog about it soon.

In the meantime, I’ll update the rolling list of missing/dead Hen Harriers since 2018…

Satellite-tagged Hen Harrier Edna “suspected illegally killed”. Was she killed & dumped at a windfarm in Northumberland?

Further to this morning’s blog about a satellite-tagged Hen Harrier (Pete) who has ‘disappeared’ in Cumbria (see here), here’s news of another one, quietly updated in Natural England’s spreadsheet without anybody saying a word.

And there’s quite a bit that could / should be said about this particular case but for some reason the authorities (Natural England, Northumbria Police, National Hen Harrier Task Force) have chosen to keep everyone in the dark.

This one’s called ‘Edna’. She was tagged (Tag ID 161143a) in Cumbria as a nestling on 27 June 2023.

Hen Harrier (photo by Pete Walkden)

Edna featured in three Natural England spreadsheet updates after she’d fledged, listed in September 2023 as ‘Alive – Cumbria’, in December 2023 as ‘Alive – Cumbria’ and in April 2024 as ‘Alive – Yorkshire Dales’.

The next spreadsheet update was published in August 2024 and Edna’s listing was as follows:

Date of last contact: 7 June 2024

Location of last contact: Northumberland

Status: Dead

OS reference: Recovered awaiting PM [post mortem]

That was all we knew about Edna’s fate for the next 14 months. Natural England published two more spreadsheet updates (December 2024 and April 2025) but in both of those updates Edna was still listed as ‘Recovered awaiting PM‘.

In January 2025 I’d blogged about the long delay in releasing Edna’s post mortem results, along with a number of others (here). They weren’t included in my running tally of ‘missing’ or illegally killed Hen Harriers because they could have died from natural causes or have been the victims of illegal persecution.

It took Natural England until October 2025, in its most recent spreadsheet update, to finally inform the public about Edna’s fate but even then, significant information has been withheld.

Edna’s entry on the October 2025 spreadsheet update looks like this:

Date of last contact: 7 June 2024

Location of last contact: Northumberland

Status: Dead

OS reference: NY910827

Notes on loss: Suspected illegally killed. Carcase had been scavenged, plus severe state of autolysis and decomposition.

If you look up that grid reference that Natural England has now provided, it shows a field at the Green Rigg Wind Farm nr Ridsdale, next to the A68, just south of Otterburn in Northumberland.

Hmm.

Edna’s corpse was found next to this wind farm in Northumberland

Now, because Edna’s corpse was too badly decomposed for a pathologist to determine the cause of death, it can be reasonably assumed that her satellite tag data provided sufficient evidence for the police and Natural England to determine that she was “suspected illegally killed“.

This ties in with information I was given by a number of sources in 2024 that a satellite-tagged Hen Harrier was believed to have been found dead at a wind farm in the north of England ‘and the circumstances suggest it didn’t get there of its own accord‘.

That’s a plausible scenario. We’ve seen many examples of the lengths the raptor killers will go to hide their crimes, including moving a tagged Golden Eagle (still alive), with two broken legs (injuries consistent with being caught in an illegally-set trap), some 15km north of the crime scene in the dead of night & leaving it to die in a layby (here), moving a Golden Eagle’s satellite tag (& perhaps the corpse) and dumping it in the North Sea (here), dumping a Golden Eagle’s satellite tag in a loch (here), wrapping a Golden Eagle’s tag in lead sheeting to block the transmission signal & dumping it in a river (here), removing a Hen Harrier’s tag from the victim and attaching it to a live Crow to make it look as though the tagged Harrier is still flying around (here), cutting off a White-tailed Eagle’s tag and placing it somewhere else, perhaps on neighbouring land (here), cutting off a White-tailed Eagle’s tag and dumping it in a river (here), and using a heat pack to mislead those monitoring the tag data that a dead Hen Harrier’s body temperature was stable whilst the tag data showed that the tag (and probably the corpse) was inside a vehicle travelling away from the kill site for disposal elsewhere (evidence that this has likely happened was provided during a police presentation at a recent Wildlife Crime conference).

Back to the info I received in 2024. I didn’t know where or when this had happened, only that it was in 2024 and my subsequent efforts to find out this information from the authorities have all failed, being repeatedly told it was being withheld for ‘operational purposes’.

I assumed ‘operational purposes’ meant that there was an ongoing investigation and that eventually this information would be made public, either on the NE spreadsheet, or in a public appeal for information from the police.

But no. Natural England’s spreadsheet provides the bare minimum of information and Northumbria Police have said absolutely nothing whatsoever, not even when Edna’s corpse was found 16 months ago.

Why do you think that is? Who benefits from this information being withheld?

Wouldn’t it be interesting to know the name of the estate where Edna is suspected to have been killed, and whether other Hen Harriers have also ‘disappeared’ from the same estate?

Watch this space…

Satellite-tagged Hen Harrier ‘Pete’ disappears in Cumbria

A satellite-tagged Hen Harrier named ‘Pete’ has ‘disappeared’ in Cumbria, according to a Natural England spreadsheet.

Pete was tagged as a nestling in Cumbria in 2021 (Tag #213843). He established a home range in SW Scotland and returned there each spring after wintering in France.

Male Hen Harrier (Photo by Pete Walkden)

His tag stopped transmitting on 1st May 2025 after returning once again from France, with the last known transmission given at grid ref NY309418.

As usual, I haven’t seen any publicity about the disappearance of this tagged Hen Harrier. His details were quietly added to the Natural England spreadsheet when last updated in October 2025. In the notes section it states, ‘ground search unsuccessful ongoing‘.

I’ll be writing about another tagged Hen Harrier shortly and then I really must update the list of missing/killed Hen Harriers, because it’s been a while…

Job opportunity: Hen Harrier Protection Officer (RSPB Geltsdale & North Pennines)

Job advert from the RSPB:

Hen Harrier Protection Officer
Reference: DEC20259029
Location: RSPB Geltsdale, CA8 + North Pennines
Salary: £24,571.00 – £26,231.00 Pro Rata
Contract: 4.5 months
Hours: Full-Time, 37.5 hours per week
Benefits: Pension Scheme, Life Assurance Scheme, 26 days’ Annual Leave (pro rata)

RSPB Geltsdale in the North Pennines is one of the largest nature reserves in England covering some 5000ha.

We are looking for someone with raptor experience and the ability to spend long hours alone in remote and difficult upland terrain. The early part of the contract will concentrate on patrolling the reserve to spot harriers returning and setting up breeding territories. If we have nesting harriers the emphasis will be on watching the nest site and possibly being part of a team of staff and volunteers undertaking 24 hour surveillance.

Hen Harrier carrying nesting material. Photo by Laurie Campbell

Essential skills include:

  • You will have a proven track record completing work alone and working within a varied team.
  • Good birdwatching and identification skills, particularly of raptors.
  • Experience of upland working and navigation.
  • Full driving licence valid for use in the UK.


Desirable qualifications, knowledge, skills and experience:

  • Hill skills course completed.
  • Knowledge of raptor breeding behaviour.


Additional information:

  • This role will involve lone working and working in remote locations. Candidates will need to be able to meet the rigour of the role.
  • This role will require occasional weekend, early morning and evening working so will need someone who is able to be flexible.
  • This is a Fixed-Term (4.5 months), Full-Time role for 37.5 hours per week.
  • The RSPB reserves the right to extend or make this role permanent without further advertising dependent on business needs at the end of the contract term.


Closing date: 23:59, Friday, 30th January 2026
We are looking to conduct interviews for this position from 16th February 2026.

To complete your application online please CLICK HERE

Closing Date: 30/01/2026  Location: RSPB Geltsdale, CA8 + North Pennines

ENDS

Fourth White-tailed Eagle ‘disappears’ & RSPB offers £10,000 reward for information leading to a conviction

Following the appalling news over the last couple of days about the highly suspicious, and almost certainly criminal, disappearance of three satellite-tagged White-tailed Eagles here, here and here, there has, as usual, been complete silence from the land management sector, with the exception of Scottish Land & Estates, who commented that, “land managers in Moorfoots have been helping police with the search and will continue to provide whatever help they can as the investigation progresses“.

As for the other shooting organisations, who so often claim to have a zero tolerance stance against raptor persecution, there’s been no comment and no condemnation. Nix. Nada.

As a reminder, all of those organisations (except the Moorland Association, whose CEO was booted off for spreading misinformation) are members of the police-led Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG) – a so-called ‘partnership’ whose function includes ‘awareness raising‘ and ‘raising the profile [of illegal raptor persecution] via media exposure‘. Not a single word.

In contrast, the often very reserved RSPB has not only expressed its disgust, but it has put its money where its mouth is and is offering a reward of £10,000 for information leading to a conviction of those involved. This is welcome news for all of us who have not only enjoyed seeing these birds occupying their rightful place in UK skies, but also for those of us who are sick to the back teeth of the relentless killing of protected birds of prey across our countryside.

Juvenile White-tailed Eagle, photo by Pete Walkden

However, it turns out that it hasn’t just been the three White-tailed Eagles from the England re-introduction project that have disappeared in recent months. The bottom of the RSPB article, linked above, reveals some new information:

‘Further to the suspicious disappearance of these three White-tailed Eagles, a fourth bird, fledged from a nest in Perthshire in 2024, disappeared on a grouse moor in Nairnshire in May this year. A police search took place but neither bird nor tag were found.

This was the latest of nine tagged birds of prey, including two other White-tailed Eagles, whose tags were functioning as expected, to suddenly disappear in the northern Monadhlaith area of Inverness-shire and Nairnshire since 2018. These disappearances have occurred in an area where multiple confirmed incidents of poisoning, shooting and illegal trap use have been recorded’.

FFS.

I can’t see why it’s taken seven months for this news to emerge, but it doesn’t make it any less appalling.

As the RSPB article suggests, this area of Inverness-shire and Nairnshire is horrific for bird of prey killings and for the suspicious disappearances of tagged raptors.

This latest White-tailed Eagle to vanish is the third in the area since 2019 (e.g. see here), adding to a long history of tagged Golden Eagle disappearances here dating back 15 years (and leading to the Scottish Government commissioning its review of the fates of satellite-tagged Golden Eagles back in 2016).

Numerous other incidents have been uncovered in this same area in recent years, close to the NW boundary of the Cairngorms National Park. These have included the shooting of a Sparrowhawk on Moy Estate (for which a gamekeeper was later convicted, here), the discovery of a poisoned Red Kite in the Moy area, here, and the discovery of a shot Red Kite on Lochindorb Estate, here.

Needless to say, the vast majority of those incidents, including the disappearance of the White-tailed Eagle in May, were on grouse moors.

Perhaps the local wildlife criminals were emboldened by NatureScot’s watering-down of the new grouse shoot licence last autumn?

At least that issue appears to have been sorted by a Government amendment to close the loophole, which recently passed Stage 2 of the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill…but I’ll write about that in another blog.

For now, we have four missing White-tailed Eagles (all vanishing from areas managed for gamebird shooting, whether that be lowland Pheasant & Partridge shooting or upland Grouse shooting), two missing Golden Eagles (also vanishing from areas managed for gamebird shooting), and I’ve lost count of the number of missing Hen Harriers, also vanishing from areas managed for gamebird shooting.

I’ll be updating the Hen Harrier Missing/Dead List over the Xmas period when I’ll have some time…there are still some more to add to the 143 Hen Harriers we already know about.

The charity Hen Harrier Action launches Xmas fundraiser to buy satellite tags

The charity Hen Harrier Action has launched its annual Xmas fundraising appeal, this year with a target of £15K to purchase five satellite tags to be fitted to Hen Harrier chicks in 2026.

As you’ll know, over the last couple of decades, raptor satellite-tagging in the UK has shone a massive spotlight on the widespread scale of the illegal killing of a number of raptor species, especially Hen Harriers and Golden Eagles.

Scientists have been able to analyse the tag data and have demonstrated a clear and unequivocal link between illegal raptor persecution and grouse moor management (e.g. see here, here, here).

In Scotland this has led directly to a change in Government policy, with the recent introduction of a grouse moor licensing scheme, whereby licences for shooting Red Grouse can be suspended/revoked if evidence of raptor persecution (and some other wildlife crimes) is found on a grouse shooting estate.

It has also led to a change in tactics by some of those motivated to kill raptors, who are now apparently choosing to target un-tagged raptors because they want to avoid the media attention and scrutiny that follows the illegal killing or ‘disappearance’ of a tagged bird (e.g. see here).

But fitting a satellite tag doesn’t necessarily mean that that raptor won’t be targeted. There are plenty of examples of tagged birds still being targeted, either because those doing the killing are too stupid to understand what a tag’s data can reveal, or more likely, there are rarely any direct consequences for those who commit these crimes so there’s no incentive for them to stop.

To my mind, the main benefit of continuing to fit satellite tags to Hen Harriers, apart from the obvious research benefits of better understanding this species’ ecology and how it uses the landscape, is that it allows us to document the scale of the ongoing criminality (that would otherwise be hidden and thus would be easily deniable by the grouse shooting industry) and to use those data to put pressure on Governments to address the problem.

As in previous years, any tags purchased by Hen Harrier Action will be fitted by licensed experts from the RSPB who will also monitor and manage the data, and alert the police / Hen Harrier Taskforce if suspicious tag activity is detected.

It also means that Hen Harrier Action will publicise any suspicious disappearances / confirmed illegal killings, without compromising any police investigation, of course, but also without sitting on the data for months, sometimes years, as we’ve seen all too often with tags fitted by Natural England.

If you’re able to contribute to Hen Harrier Action’s Xmas fundraiser, please visit their fundraising site here.

Another Hen Harrier suspected illegally killed on a grouse moor, her satellite tag had been ‘removed’

Over the last few weeks I’ve blogged about a number of illegally-killed Hen Harriers whose deaths have been barely publicised by the authorities, but instead have been quietly entered onto a Government spreadsheet, months, and sometimes over a year later, with little effort to draw the public’s attention to this ongoing criminality.

Hen Harrier photo by Pete Walkden

There was Hen Harrier ‘Susie’ who was found dead with gunshot injuries on a grouse moor in the North Pennines, here; and Hen Harrier ‘254843’ who was found dead on moorland in the Northumberland National Park with shotgun damage to her satellite tag, here; and a Hen Harrier (ref # HSE 107/913) who was found poisoned on a grouse moor in North Yorkshire having ingested a lethal combination of toxic chemicals known as the ‘Nidderdale Cocktail’, so called due to the frequency it is used as a poisoned bait in the Nidderdale National Landscape, killing multiple birds of prey and even a pet dog, here.

Well, here’s another one.

This time its a young Hen Harrier named Margaret, who was fitted with a satellite tag (Tag ID 254844) by Natural England fieldworkers just prior to her fledging from a nest in Northumberland on 5 July 2024.

Natural England staff ‘lost contact’ with Margaret just three months later on 19 October 2024.

The first we knew about this was in Natural England’s intermittent spreadsheet update in December 2024 about the fate of the Hen Harriers that had been satellite-tagged using public funds. Margaret’s entry read as follows:

‘Lost contact 19 October 2024, Northumberland. Missing Fate Unknown, site confidential – ongoing investigation‘.

Whether that meant her tag had suddenly and inexplicably stopped transmitting, or whether the data showed an unusually long period of being static in one place, wasn’t clear.

We didn’t hear anything more until Natural England quietly updated its spreadsheet in October 2025. Margaret’s entry now reads:

‘Missing Fate Unknown. Suspected illegally killed. Tag found removed. Carcase not found. Grid ref NY878497‘.

So, a year after Natural England ‘lost contact’ with this Hen Harrier, we’re finally given a few more details.

This grid reference is in the North Pennines National Landscape (formerly called an AONB), a region that has long been identified as a Hen Harrier persecution hotspot (e.g. see the RSPB’s damning 2025 report, Hen Harriers in the Firing Line, here).

When you zoom in on this map, you’ll be unsurprised to see it is an area dominated by moorland intensively-managed for driven grouse shooting (as demonstrated by the obscene expanse of geometric strips).

According to Guy Shrubsole’s excellent website, Who Owns England?, this grid reference (approximately marked as a red dot on map below) sits on property described as part of the Allendale Settled Estates:

There’s no suggestion that anyone connected to the Allendale Estate is responsible for ‘removing’ Margaret’s satellite tag and/or killing this Hen Harrier. It’s simply a fact that her ‘removed’ satellite tag was found on a grouse moor at this location without any sign of her carcass.

I haven’t seen ANY appeal or press release from Northumbria Police about the suspected illegal killing of this Hen Harrier or the circumstances that led the police to believe her satellite tag had been ‘removed’, presumably cut, over a year ago in October 2024. Not a single word.

I haven’t seen ANY publicity from the National Wildlife Crime Unit-led Hen Harrier Taskforce. This is the specialist group set up explicitly to tackle the ongoing illegal killing of Hen Harriers in England. Not a single word.

I haven’t seen ANY publicity from the police-led national Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG), one of whose functions is apparently ‘awareness raising‘ and ‘raising the profile [of illegal raptor persecution] via media exposure‘. Not a single word.

Natural England, who used public funding to pay for the tag, public funding to pay for the fieldworkers to fit the tag to the bird, and public funding to monitor the tag’s subsequent data output, chose not to draw attention to this suspected illegal killing and instead just quietly updated its tag spreadsheet a year later, probably hoping nobody would notice.

I’ve been told by a number of sources that the decision about whether to publicise a crime lies solely with the investigating police force (in this case, Northumbria Police). I’m told that nobody else (e.g. Natural England, National Wildlife Crime Unit’s Hen Harrier Taskforce, the RPPDG) can do this until, or unless, the investigating police force agrees.

That’s understandable in the immediate period after the police have become aware of the crime. They’d want (you’d hope) to be launching an immediate investigation and wouldn’t want the suspects to be alerted because evidence could be removed/hidden before the police have turned up to do a search.

What’s utterly farcical though, is that the investigating police force can ‘sit’ on a case for months, sometimes for over a year, and do nothing, either because (a) their officers are overstretched and don’t have the resources to investigate, (b) their officers are inexperienced or even incompetent, or (c) their officers are corrupt with direct vested interests. Meanwhile, no other organisation, including a specialist police unit, is allowed to mention the suspected crime or appeal for information.

This happens again and again and again with some police forces tasked with investigating raptor persecution on private sporting estates (and some other wildlife crime offences, too, notably fox-hunting). It’s not all police forces by any means – some of them are exemplary and their wildlife crime officers routinely push the limits to try and bring offenders to justice, but some other forces simply aren’t up to the job, for any of the reasons described above.

If it is a ‘rule’ that the investigating police force has supremacy over media output, and other agencies have to sit and wait for a green light that might never come, then this needs to be challenged and changed, especially when there’s a specialist police team waiting on the sidelines ready to act but is effectively handcuffed, blindfolded and gagged. What’s the point of having a specialist team if it doesn’t have the authority to lead on an investigation?

But hang on, Natural England has ‘published’ some details about some of these incidents, albeit very quietly in a spreadsheet that most people don’t even know exists. I suspect they have a duty to do this because public funds are involved.

So why then, in those cases, can’t Natural England accompany that spreadsheet update with a blog, or a press release, or something/anything that would alert the media/public to the ongoing criminality faced by Hen Harriers?

And what’s to stop the other agencies doing likewise? Hen Harrier Margaret ‘disappeared’ and her tag was ‘removed’ over a year ago – you can’t tell me that any publicity now is going to hinder a police investigation!

And besides, I’m blogging about the case, legitimately, using information that’s in the public domain. There’s no reason whatsoever that those agencies can’t do the same.

You’ll be unsurprised to know that Margaret isn’t the last Hen Harrier I’ll be writing about that has ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances in recent months.

I’m also aware that I haven’t recently updated the running ‘death list‘ of missing/dead Hen Harriers…I plan to do this soon but may not get to it quickly as there’s a lot going on right now.

More detail on Natural England’s decision to close Hen Harrier Southern Reintroduction Project

Back in September, Natural England announced its decision to end its controversial plan to ‘reintroduce’ Hen Harriers to southern England (see here).

The decision was widely welcomed by conservationists, who had long argued that Hen Harriers don’t need to be ‘reintroduced’ to southern England, or anywhere else in the UK for that matter. They are perfectly capable of breeding in the wild and recolonising their former range, over a relatively short space of time, IF, and only IF, their survival isn’t curtailed by grouse moor gamekeepers shooting, trapping and poisoning them, pulling off their heads and legs, or stamping on their eggs and chicks.

I’ve blogged about this unhinged ‘reintroduction’ plan for years – see here for a series of links to relevant blogs (scroll to end to find the links).

Hen Harrier photo by Pete Walkden

Whilst Natural England’s decision to close the farce was welcome, the reasons behind it were quite vague:

‘Following a thorough review, it has become clear that Natural England is no longer in a position to provide the long-term funding and resource needed to continue delivering the Hen Harrier Southern Reintroduction project, despite the progress to date. The difficult decision has therefore been made to conclude this project‘.  

I submitted an Freedom of Information request to Natural England on 16 September 2025, asking for further detail.

On 13 October 2025 Natural England refused my request, saying it was ‘manifestly unreasonable’ because the cost of providing the information requested would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ as laid out in the regulations.

Here’s a copy of NE’s response:

EIR2025_10585 – Tingay – Response_redactedDownload

Hilariously, Natural England’s response included this line:

‘While Natural England supports openness and transparency, we also have a duty to ensure the effective and responsible use of public funds‘.

I’ll come back to that later in this blog.

Even though NE refused my request, it was still under obligation to assist with my enquiry,, within its cost limitations, so NE gave me two options:

  1. That it would provide a summary of the rationale for the Hen Harrier Southern Reintroduction Project closure, or
  2. That it would provide redacted documentation and a meeting schedule outlining key discussion topics.

I chose option 1, and on 10 November 2025 Natural England provided me with this summary document:

Hen Harrier Southern Reintroduction – Closing Phase – Summary of ReasonsDownload

This document reveals that two of the wild-disabled captive-held Hen Harriers, brought over from Europe to form the core breeding programme, have since died (cause of death is not given), leaving just four breeding pairs in captivity. In 2025, those birds failed to breed successfully for the third consecutive year.

In addition to this, funding cuts to Natural England, and a demand for increased payment from the International Centre for Birds of Prey (ICBP) to manage the unsuccessful captive breeding programme, meant the project became unviable.

The document states, ‘Natural England has spent heavily on outsourcing breeding to ICBP, with the agreement ending in March 2026‘ [with an additional two-year extension granted].

So what does ‘spent heavily‘ actually mean? How much public funding has Natural England/Defra actually wasted on this pointless project?

Well, according to a Parliamentary response to a written question from Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake in November 2025, NE/Defra is said to have spent a whopping £572,272.

Over half a million pound’s worth of public funding, with nothing to show for it? Good grief.

But take a close look at that parliamentary response from Defra Under-Secretary Mary Creagh MP. It states this funding was spent between March 2021 and October 2025.

So what about the money spent prior to March 2021? Why hasn’t that been factored in?

We know that planning and preparation for this project began as early as 2016 (see here), and has included numerous trips to France & Spain by the project team, trying to persuade the Europeans that sending Hen Harriers to the persecution-infested UK is a good idea, and even included paying for satellite-tags for Harriers in Spain in an attempt to curry favour with the Spanish authorities (see here).

That won’t have been cheap!

How much, in total, has this useless project cost us? And how does Natural England justify spending so much of our money given its “duty to ensure the effective and responsible use of public funds“?

Meanwhile, further north, Hen Harriers continue to be killed illegally on driven grouse moors. Natural England says it has spent £80,800 on the ludicrous Hen Harrier brood meddling trial (the project itself will have cost a great deal more than this but the cost of satellite-tags and doing the actual brood meddling is believed to have been privately funded by grouse moor owners).

Mary Creagh says that a total of 15 Hen Harrier nests were brood meddled, resulting in 58 Hen Harrier chicks subsequently released. She seems to have forgotten to mention that over half of those released birds (at least 31 of the 58) later ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances and/or were illegally killed.

Value for money and public benefit? Not in my book.

Hen Harrier found poisoned on a grouse moor in North Yorkshire

I’ve blogged recently about a number of illegally-killed Hen Harriers whose deaths have not been publicised by the authorities (Hen Harrier ‘Susie’ who was found dead with gunshot injuries on a grouse moor in the North Pennines, here; and Hen Harrier ‘254843’ who was found dead on moorland in Northumberland National Park with shotgun damage to her satellite tag, here).

Here’s another one. This time found illegally poisoned on a grouse moor in North Yorkshire.

A poisoned Hen Harrier in Co Meath, Ireland, November 2019 (NB: not the poisoned HH found in North Yorkshire in January 2025). Photo by RSPB Investigations

Once again, the details of the illegal killing of this latest Hen Harrier have only become public after careful scrutiny of a national database (this one operated by the Health & Safety Executive) – an entry on a spreadsheet rather than a full-blown press release from the investigating authorities.

Here are the limited details that I’ve found:

HSE Ref number 107/913. Confirmed poisoning, North Yorkshire, January 2025. Chemicals Bendiocarb, Carbofuran, Isophenphos, Alphachloralose. Notes: ‘A dead Hen Harrier was found on a grouse moor. Residues of Bendiocarb, Carbofuran, Isophenphos and Alphachloralose were found in the samples analysed, which is an abuse of these compounds. Case closed as passed to the Police‘.

I haven’t seen ANY police appeal or press release about the illegal poisoning of this Hen Harrier or the discovery of its corpse in North Yorkshire 11 months ago in January 2025. Not a single word.

Where is the publicity from the National Wildlife Crime Unit-led Hen Harrier Taskforce? The specialist group set up explicitly to tackle the ongoing illegal killing of Hen Harriers. Not a single word.

Where is the publicity from the police-led national Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG), one of whose functions is apparently ‘awareness raising‘ and ‘raising the profile [of illegal raptor persecution] via media exposure‘? Not a single word.

Poisoning is not a commonly-used method for killing Hen Harriers because this species is not a routine carrion eater. Typically they are shot when foraging low for live prey or flying towards a roost site, or trapped on or next to their nest sites and then bludgeoned to death instead. Although there was one case of a Hen Harrier being found poisoned on a Pheasant-shoot in County Meath, Ireland in 2019 (here).

The information I’ve gleaned so far about this latest Hen Harrier poisoning just refers to ‘North Yorkshire’. It’s a huge county, with grouse moors in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, Nidderdale National Landscape (previously called an AONB), and the North York Moors National Park.

However, the eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed the distinctive combination of chemicals used – a highly lethal mixture widely known as the ‘Nidderdale Cocktail’, so described due to the frequency of use of this nasty combination in Nidderdale, where it has killed a number of birds of prey over the years, particularly Red Kites, and also a pet dog (see here).

That might suggest a Nidderdale grouse moor as the location of the January 2025 Hen Harrier poisoning, although the Nidderdale Cocktail has also been detected in other poisoning cases as far north as Scotland, perhaps indicative of gamekeepers moving jobs, so it’s not conclusive.

This isn’t the first time that I’ve been critical of an apparent lack of action from North Yorkshire Police in relation to a national wildlife crime priority incident. Just a couple of years ago they refused to investigate the circumstances of an illegally poisoned Red Kite that had been found dead on Swinton Estate (see here).

This apparent lack of inertia is in direct contrast to how North Yorkshire Police’s Rural Crime Team used to function a few years ago, under different leadership, when it was proactive and very public about its work (e.g. see here, here, here, here etc).

I’ve submitted a number of FoIs to various agencies about this latest Hen Harrier persecution incident. I’ll report more when they respond.

Hen Harrier found dead in Northumberland National Park with shotgun damage to satellite tag

This is a blog about one of those dead Hen Harriers for whom we’ve been waiting over a year for Natural England to confirm the cause of death.

A Hen Harrier (photo by Pete Walkden)

The young Hen Harrier in question (Tag ID: 254843) was fitted with a satellite tag when she was a nestling in Northumberland on 5 July 2024.

In Natural England’s HH spreadsheet that was updated in August 2024, her status was given as follows:

Date of last contact: 29 July 2024

Location of last contact: Northumberland

OS reference: Recovered awaiting PM

Status: Dead

There were no further details provided until 14 months later, when Natural England quietly updated its spreadsheet in October 2025. This bird’s status was now given as follows:

Date of last contact: 29 July 2024

Location of last contact: Northumberland

OS reference: NY824937

Status: Dead

Notes on Loss: The recovered carcass was not suitable for any PM owing to level of decomposition

The grid reference places the last location in an upland area of Northumberland National Park, to the north east of Kielder Water. This area of moorland is not known to be a raptor persecution hotspot – indeed it’s one of the few strongholds for Hen Harrier breeding attempts in England – and there was nothing in Natural England’s spreadsheet notes to suggest she had been killed illegally. So we’re led to conclude it was a probable natural death.

Last known location of Hen Harrier 254843 according to Natural England info

But hang on a minute.

I’ve recently found a fascinating blog posted within the depths of the National Wildlife Crime Unit’s (NWCU) website that tells a very different story. It was published on 10 October 2025 and is entitled, ‘Cracking the Case: How Experts Uncovered the Truth Behind a Hen Harrier’s Mysterious Death‘.

The original blog can be read here, and I’ve copied it here incase the link is broken in the future:

When a young female hen harrier known as 254843 took her first flights over the moorlands of Otterburn, Northumbria, in July 2024, she became part of a vital conservation effort. Fitted with a satellite tag by Natural England (NE), this small device would help scientists track her journey, monitor her wellbeing, and contribute to the protection of one of the UK’s most threatened birds of prey.

But just weeks later, her signal stopped. What initially appeared to be a tragic but natural loss of a young bird soon revealed something far more sinister and set in motion a remarkable multi-agency investigation into suspected wildlife crime.

When NE staff noticed that 254843’s satellite tag had stopped transmitting, they followed established procedures to locate her. The bird’s remains were found roughly 1.2 kilometres from her nest close to where she had been learning to hunt under her parents’ watchful eyes. At first, the team suspected natural predation.

The remains of HH 254843 (photo Natural England)
HH 254843 with damaged tag (photo Natural England)

However, during recovery, one small detail caught their attention — a small, round dent and hole in the satellite tag. It was an anomaly that couldn’t be ignored.

This discovery triggered the involvement of the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) and the Harrier Task Force (HTF). Working closely with Natural England, the Northumbria Police Rural Crime Team, and scientific experts, they began piecing together what had really happened.

The first step was to send the remains and the tag to the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) for a detailed postmortem. Due to the bird’s advanced decomposition, the pathologists couldn’t confirm a cause of death, but their findings were enough to justify further forensic testing.

Radiograph of the carcass of HH 254843 and her satellite tag (photo by ZSL)

From there, the investigation moved to Nottingham Trent University (NTU), where specialists used CT scanning and chemical analysis to examine the damaged tag. Their results revealed elevated levels of lead around the hole a crucial clue pointing toward a lead-based projectile.

Finally, the tag was analysed by a ballistics expert from the Scottish Police Authority (SPA). The verdict: the damage was consistent with being struck by a shotgun pellet, likely from a birdshot cartridge fired from below the flying bird. Tests confirmed traces of lead, and the impact trajectory supported the theory of a shotgun discharge at an estimated distance of up to 30 metres.

The conclusion was clear. This was no accident of nature. It was a deliberate act of wildlife crime.

Shotgun damage to HH 254843’s satellite tag (photo by Scottish Police Authority)

Thanks to the combined expertise of scientists, conservationists, and law enforcement, the incident has been officially recorded as criminal damage. Each satellite tag costs around £2,800, not including the significant resources dedicated to fitting and monitoring them but the real loss is far greater, representing another blow to hen harrier conservation efforts.

The investigation also led to important lessons for future responses. New procedures now ensure that if anything suspicious is discovered during a bird recovery — no matter how small — the process halts immediately, and police take over to conduct a forensic recovery. This prevents potential evidence from being lost and strengthens the chance of bringing perpetrators to justice.

This case demonstrates the high level of skill, coordination, and dedication required to detect and investigate wildlife crime. From the precision of CT imaging and chemical testing to the meticulous work of forensic ballistics experts and the vigilance of conservation field teams every partner plays a crucial role.

It also serves as a reminder that wildlife crime is not victimless. Each illegal act damages not only individual animals but also the broader ecosystem and the tireless efforts of those working to protect it.

The public can play their part too. If you have any information about this incident or any suspected wildlife crime please report it.

Every report helps protect the wild places and species that make our countryside unique and ensures that those who threaten them are held accountable.

ENDS

It’s clear from the NWCU blog the extent of the effort, by multiple partners, to determine what happened here, and I applaud them for it.

I’m less impressed that this information hasn’t been given the media attention it deserves, nor that a link to the NWCU blog hasn’t been added to Natural England’s spreadsheet entry about the circumstances surrounding this Hen Harrier’s death. It really isn’t difficult.

I’m also interested that the NWCU blog states, “…the incident has been officially recorded as criminal damage“. This is presumably in reference to the shotgun damage caused to the satellite tag.

I wonder, though, how the death of Hen Harrier 254843 has been officially recorded…’Unknown’? ‘Suspicious’? ‘Illegally killed’?

The blog says, “The conclusion was clear. This was no accident of nature. It was a deliberate act of wildlife crime”. So why doesn’t Natural England’s spreadsheet reflect this?