hen harrier – Raptor Persecution UK

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.

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, because the tally is racking up, 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).

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_redacted Download

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:

That it would provide a summary of the rationale for the Hen Harrier Southern Reintroduction Project closure, or
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 Reasons Download

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.

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?

Satellite-tagged Hen Harrier ‘Circe’ disappears in suspicious circumstances in Moorfoot Hills, south Scotland

Press release from Hen Harrier Action (20th November 2025)

HEN HARRIER ACTION APPEALS FOR INFORMATION AS ANOTHER RARE HEN HARRIER SUSPECTED TO HAVE BEEN ILLEGALLY KILLED IN SCOTLAND

A satellite tagged Hen Harrier, ‘Circe’, suddenly disappeared in the Moorfoot Hills, south of Edinburgh
As numerous recent incidents have shown, satellite tagged Hen Harriers that disappear in suspicious circumstances are highly likely to have been illegally killed
Hen Harrier Action are appealing for information which could help with the investigation

Thanks to donations from supporters in 2025, Hen Harrier Action funded the purchase of four satellite tags to monitor the movements of Hen Harriers in the UK.

One of the tags was fitted by RSPB staff to a juvenile female Hen Harrier named Circe before she fledged from her nest on Tarras Valley Nature Reserve – a community-led rewilding project in Langholm, Dumfries and Galloway.

Hen Harrier ‘Circe’ being fitted with a satellite tag in 2025

In the days leading up to her disappearance Circe ranged across the Moorfoot Hills, south of Edinburgh. Her tag data shows that the tag was regularly transmitting but then sudden stopped with no sign of tag malfunction. The disappearance was reported to the National Wildlife Crime Unit and the area was searched but no body or tag has been found. Sudden stops without the tag being found are a huge concern, often indicating that the bird has been illegally killed.

Circe’s last transmission was on Tuesday 14^th October at 2.07pm, not far from the well-known standing stones at Greenfieldknowe and the hiking trails around Whiteside Edge and Loncote Hill. She was less than four months old.

Though a legally protected species, Hen Harriers are one of the UK’s scarcest and most persecuted birds of prey in the UK. Dozens are satellite tagged each year to monitor their movements and wellbeing with the support of charities like the RSPB and local raptor groups. But despite being heavily protected in law for decades, many go missing each year due to suspected and confirmed illegal killing. In an effort to locate the body of Circe the charity has issued an appeal for information.

Hen Harrier Action trustee Adrian Rowe said “We are devastated by the loss. Circe was a healthy, thriving Hen Harrier and we had high hopes that she would go on to find a mate and raise a family. We know that the area is a popular walking route, and we are appealing for anyone who might have seen anything suspicious that Tuesday afternoon, or come across a dead bird of prey in the area, to get in touch.”

If you have information that could help, please call the RSPB’s Raptor Crime Hotline on 0300 999 0101, or the Wildlife Crime team at Police Scotland on 101.

ENDS

Well done to Hen Harrier Action for issuing a press release.

Hen Harrier Action has published the coordinates of Circe’s tag’s last known transmission, which according to Andy Wightman’s excellent website, Who Owns Scotland, appears to have come from the Portmore Estate, although no detail is provided about the tag’s transmission cycle or the accuracy of the final fix.

Red line = boundary of Portmore Estate. Orange X indicates last known transmission from Circe’s satellite tag.

There is no suggestion that Circe was killed on the Portmore Estate. I’m not aware of any previously reported illegal persecution incidents on this estate.

However, the wider Moorfoot Hills area is well-known as a hotbed of illegal raptor persecution, with many confirmed incidents of poisoning, shooting, illegal traps and ‘disappearing’ satellite-tagged raptors over the last 20 years.

Indeed, the Moorfoot Hills is where Golden Eagle ‘Merrick‘ was killed over two years ago, whilst she was asleep in a tree. Police Scotland believe she was shot and then her corpse was removed and her satellite tag destroyed in an attempt to hide the evidence.

A long-overdue decision is expected from NatureScot about whether a General Licence restriction will be imposed in relation to that appalling crime.

Other ‘missing’ satellite-tagged raptors in south Scotland at the moment include two Golden Eagles that vanished at the end of August (see here).

Hen Harrier ‘Susie’, whose chicks were stamped to death in 2022, has been found dead on a North Pennines grouse moor with gunshot injuries

If ever there was an example demonstrating the high level of persecution faced by Hen Harriers on UK grouse moors, the lack of consequences for the offenders, and the lack of justice for the victims, the short life of a Hen Harrier called ‘Susie’ illustrates it all.

Susie hatched in Cumbria in 2020 and was satellite-tagged by Natural England on 21 July 2020. She first bred in Bowland in 2021, and the following year she moved up to a grouse moor near Whernside in the Yorkshire Dales National Park where she produced four chicks.

The Whernside nest was being monitored (nest camera) by Natural England as part of the ludicrous Hen Harrier Brood Meddling Trial. On 20 June 2022, NE researchers noticed that Susie’s satellite tag was unexpectedly and abruptly shown tracking approximately 35km away from her nest. An adult female should be attentive and close to her nest during this period. Her sudden exit from the nest area was worrying.

The following day, Natural England field staff visited the nest and made the grim discovery of three dead Hen Harrier chicks.

Reviewing the nest camera footage, they saw that after dark, at 9.54pm on 15 June 2022, the camera showed the nest site appeared normal with Susie settled in the nest with her chicks. However, at 9.59pm a sudden irregular ‘whiteout’ of the camera occurred, blinding the camera.

The camera used was movement-activated, and it was not triggered again until the following morning when footage captured apparently dead chicks in the nest and Susie attempting to feed them.

She could be seen removing her dead chicks from the nest. Three of these were found just outside the nest, and it is not known where she deposited the fourth.

Post-mortem examinations of the three chicks were subsequently conducted and showed that each suffered with multiple fractured bones including the humerus in one chick, both femurs in the second chick, and in the third chick, the humerus and a crushed skull. The fractures were complete and showed a considerable trauma had taken place for each chick.

It’s quite clear that ‘someone’ had visited the nest, disabled the camera, and stamped the chicks to death.

Six months later (!), in December 2022, North Yorkshire Police laid out the evidence and issued an appeal for information (see here).

Representatives from the grouse shooting industry responded by trying to manipulate the narrative of this brutal and sadistic crime (see here) and of course, nobody came forward with any information that could identify the person / people responsible.

The following year, in 2023, the story featured in a three-episode podcast by The Guardian, called ‘Killing the Skydancer’ (here, here and here). Meanwhile, Susie bred successfully (unknown location) and fledged five chicks. It was to be her last breeding season.

In April 2024, Natural England published its latest update on the fate of its satellite-tagged Hen Harriers. It did so quietly, without any publicity whatsoever. Susie’s entry on that spreadsheet read,

‘Last known transmission 12 February 2024, Northumberland. Found dead. Site confidential. Recovered, awaiting post mortem’.

Nothing more was heard about Susie’s fate until a year later, in another spreadsheet update in April 2025. Susie’s entry now read:

‘Ongoing police investigation, final transmission location temporarily withheld at police request‘.

Again, there was no publicity about Susie, or about any of the other Natural England-tagged Hen Harriers that had either ‘vanished’ or had been found dead in suspicious circumstances.

Over one and a half year’s after Susie was found dead, the details have finally emerged, and once again Natural England has slipped them out quietly, without fanfare or commentary, in its October 2025 spreadsheet update. Susie’s entry now reads:

‘Found dead 12 February 2024, Northumberland, Grid reference NY759585. Confirmed dead, had been victim of shooting. When found dead remains would not allow determination of whether the bird died as a result of being shot. Bird died between 25 November 2023 and 12 February 2024‘.

Susie’s corpse was found on a grouse moor in the North Pennines National Landscape (a so-called protected landscape, formerly known as the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, AONB), and the grid reference places her on what I believe to be the Whitfield Estate:

Susie had been shot at some point, but where, and when, is not known.

There is no suggestion that she was shot and killed on the Whitfield Estate – she could have been shot many months earlier and survived for a while before succumbing to her injuries. Without seeing the post mortem and x-ray results (which have not been published), it’s impossible to know whether her gunshot injuries caused any broken bones that could have impeded her ability to fly any distance.

That Susie was the victim of at least two separate persecution incidents (that we know about) during her three-and-a-half-year life, illustrates the severity of threat this species still faces in the UK. This should come as no surprise to anybody who has been following this blog for any length of time, nor to those who may have read the RSPB’s damning 2025 report, Hen Harriers in the Firing Line.

These appalling crimes continue because hardly anyone is ever brought to justice. There is rarely any consequence for the offenders, which gives them the green light to carry on.

There has been a change in tactics by the raptor killers in recent years, as we saw in the RSPB’s covert footage in Oct 2024 where three individuals were caught plotting, and then apparently shooting, a Hen Harrier on a grouse moor in Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. They specifically targeted the Hen Harrier that was not carrying a ‘box’ (a satellite tag) because they thought that by doing so their crime would be undetected. A gamekeeper is standing trial in January 2026 for his alleged involvement – he denies it – it will be up to the court to decide whether he was involved or not.

That case is a very uncommon prosecution, reliant on evidence provided by the RSPB’s excellent Investigations Team.

There won’t be a prosecution for the shooting of Hen Harrier Susie because there’s no evidence (that I’m aware of) that links an identified individual to that crime. Just as there was no prosecution of the person(s) responsible for stamping her chicks to death in their nest in 2022.

We all get it – finding sufficient evidence to prosecute those responsible for committing crimes in remote landscapes is incredibly difficult, but the investigating authorities could, and should, be doing much more to publicise these offences to raise awareness and help the general public spot suspicious activity.

The police’s appeal for information about the chick-stamping crime in the Yorkshire Dales National Park came six months after the event – that’s pathetic.

I haven’t seen ANY police appeal or press release about the shooting of Susie or the discovery of her corpse in Northumberland in February 2024. Not a single word.

Where is the publicity from the police-led 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 has remained tight-lipped, as it always does, claiming that it requires the go-ahead from the police to issue any media. Why? Sure, in the early stages of a police investigation keeping quiet is often necessary to avoid alerting the perpetrator who may take the opportunity to remove/hide evidence before the police turn up. But 18+ months of silence, about a crime that relates to a publicly-funded project, and then to quietly slip out the information buried deep inside a spreadsheet?

Honestly, this needn’t be so bloody difficult.

“Act boldly, without delay and introduce game shoot licensing” – open letter to Defra Ministers from Northern England Raptor Forum Chair

The Northern England Raptor Forum (NERF) is the representative body of voluntary raptor fieldworkers across the north of England, including in many of the raptor persecution hotspots in this region.

NERF is a well-respected organisation in conservation circles and has been at the forefront of the fight against the illegal killing of birds of prey, with its members often the first to raise the alarm to the police when suspected raptor persecution incidents have been uncovered.

NERF has also been involved in the many ‘partnership’ efforts over the last few decades that have tried, but failed, to tackle these pervasive crimes.

The group has standing, experience, and real skin in the game.

Steve Downing, NERF Chair, is a man who doesn’t mince his words. He’s written an open letter to Defra Ministers, including the newly-appointed Secretary of State for the Environment, Emma Reynolds, laying out previous Government failures to get on top of this issue and telling her that enough is enough, the time for talking is over.

It’s well worth a read – here.

If Steve’s letter resonates with you, it wouldn’t hurt for you to write to your own MP in support of NERF’s stance. There’s nothing to lose and everything to gain. Politicians won’t act if they don’t know that illegal raptor persecution is an issue of concern amongst their constituents.

If you haven’t written to your MP before, why not give it a go? If you’re not sure who your MP is, you can find out here.

‘Eyes on the Skies’ – new campaign to raise awareness of raptor persecution in the Yorkshire Dales National Park

Following the recent collapse of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Bird of Prey Partnership (due to its failure to tackle crimes against birds of prey), and the news that since 2015, 29 Hen Harriers have gone ‘missing’ in suspicious circumstances and almost 40 other raptors have been found poisoned, trapped or shot in the Yorkshire Dales National Park since 2015, including Peregrines, Hen Harriers, Red Kites and Buzzards, there’s some welcome news from a local community who has had enough and has decided to do something about it. Bravo!

Press release from Friends of the Dales:

SPEAKING OUT FOR BIRDS OF PREY

Friends of the Dales, the environmental campaigning charity, is launching a powerful new campaign − Eyes on the Skies − calling for an end to criminal killing of birds of prey in the Yorkshire Dales. The campaign kicks off with a high-profile live webinar on Tuesday 21 October at 5.30pm, featuring leading conservation expert Kate Jennings, UK Head of Site Conservation & Species Policy at the RSPB.

Kate will highlight the long history of bird crime in the Yorkshire Dales, drawing on evidence and case studies from the RSPB’s Investigations Team which works in support of the police and statutory agencies to bring criminals before the courts.

“We are delighted that Kate is joining us at the Eyes on the Skies launch event,” said Jonathan Riley, Chair of Trustees at Friends of the Dales. “She will shine a spotlight on Bird Crime in the Yorkshire Dales and the illegal and inhumane methods criminals use to trap, shoot and poison birds of prey − crimes that persist despite more than seventy years of legal protection.”

The Yorkshire Dales remains a blackspot for raptor persecution, with species such as hen harriers, short-eared owls, and red kites especially targeted. Just last week the RSPB issued a press release about the disappearance of Sita, a one-year-old female satellite-tagged Hen Harrier. The RSPB said that Sita is the 29th hen harrier “to suspiciously disappear in the national park since 2015” and that the bird “is likely to have been shot”.

“It is appalling that the hen harrier, one of the UK’s rarest birds, continues to be shot, trapped, and poisoned in our National Park, which should be a sanctuary for wildlife,” added Jonathan.

Public concern for these crimes is growing. In early 2024, more than 1,000 people responded to the first consultation on the new Management Plan for the Yorkshire Dales National Park, with ending the illegal persecution of birds of prey emerging as one of the top priorities.

David Butterworth, Chief Executive of the Authority also confirmed: “The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority is unwavering in its commitment to raptor conservation. We will continue to collaborate with landowners, managers and organisations sharing our vision. We applaud those whose efforts have helped some species recover. But we must also confront the grim reality that criminal persecution still occurs.”

Friends of the Dales Eyes on the Skies campaign supports one of the core objectives of the new management plan for the Yorkshire Dales National Park, as well as the vital work of other organisations such as the National Wildlife Crime Unit, RSPB and Hen Harrier Action. The campaign will amplify messages around the scale and nature of these appalling crimes, educate people in how to spot and report any suspicious or illegal activity they might see and also inspire people to learn more about the birds themselves and why they are vital to a healthy, biodiverse ecosystem.

David Butterworth added: “The uplands of the Yorkshire Dales National Park should be a stronghold for a diverse range of raptor species. As apex predators, their presence signals a healthy environment. Their absence, conversely, is a warning.”

Summing up Jonathan Riley said: “Our Eyes on the Skies campaign will incorporate many more events including further webinars from insider experts, outdoor educational events and even some more creatively focussed activities. So, on behalf of the charity, I would encourage anyone who is interested in learning more to register for the free launch event on Tuesday 21 October at 5:30 pm, and sign up to our monthly email newsletter so they can be kept updated.”

ENDS

UPDATE 5 November 2025: Video of launch now available on Friends of the Dales YouTube channel – here.

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