Three weeks ago we reported that Alex Rowley MSP (Scottish Labour) had lodged a parliamentary motion relating to the ‘disappearances of birds of prey over driven grouse moors’ (see here).
This motion was triggered not only by the suspicious disappearance of satellite-tagged golden eagle Tom, who vanished in to thin air during lockdown in May this year, along with his fully-functioning satellite tag, with his last known location being on a driven grouse moor in Strathbraan, a well-known raptor persecution hotspot (see here), but also the suspicious disappearance of seven other satellite-tagged golden eagles in the same area, the disappearance of another satellite-tagged hen harrier on another Scottish driven grouse moor (here), the illegal poisoning of a satellite-tagged white-tailed eagle found dead on another Scottish grouse moor (here), and the 43 hen harriers that have either gone missing or have been killed in the UK in the last two years, mostly on or close to driven grouse moors (here).
A quick check today on the progress of this parliamentary motion has revealed it has full cross-party support, with MSPs from all parties signing up:
There are 26 supporters to date, from Scottish Labour, SNP, the Greens, the Lib Dems, an independent, and, surprisingly, the Conservatives. Well done Peter Chapman MSP (Scottish Conservatives, NE Scotland) for being the sole supporter (so far) from this party.
The motion needs four more supporters before it reaches the threshold of 30 MSPs from at least two different political parties to qualify for a Parliamentary debate.
Parliamentary motions are ‘live’ for six weeks before they’re culled (if they haven’t attracted sufficient support) so this one still has about three weeks to run.
If your MSP is not listed, please consider dropping them an email and encourage them to support this motion. If they refuse, it’d be interesting to hear their explanations. NB: Ministers and Cabinet Secretaries are not eligible to support these motions.
If you’re unsure about who your elected representatives are, you can find them here.
It’s not often there’s a good news story about the hen harrier, a species that suffers acute levels of persecution on many driven grouse moors across Scotland and England, so much so that the UK hen harrier population is in decline.
So there’s welcome news from the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, where the RSPB’s Conservation Manager Robin Reid has reported the establishment of a small new breeding population, estimated to be ‘over ten breeding pairs’.
If you want to find out why hen harriers were considered a rare species on Lewis until recent years, why conservationists think they’re breeding there now, and what threats they may face on this island, you can read Robin’s blog here.
[Young hen harriers from a nest on Lewis, photo via RSPB Scotland]
Yesterday evening Chris Packham was in conversation with Alison Johnstone MSP of the Scottish Greens, talking about the future of driven grouse shooting in Scotland.
This took place as part of the joint e-action campaign by Wild Justice, RSPB and Hen Harrier Action to encourage UK voters to contact their elected representatives principally about tackling the ongoing illegal killing of birds of prey on driven grouse moors. Yesterday the total soared past 100,000 emails.
This conversation between Chris and Alison is well worth a listen.
Here are some highlights:
Chris Packham: ‘A 100,000 emails, Alison, what has this meant to elected representatives who’ve come in, opened their computer inbox and sat down and seen them?‘
Alison Johnstone: ‘It’s left elected representatives like myself in no doubt whatsoever as to the strength of public feeling.
We know that people want action, they’re absolutely sick to the back teeth of hearing that another bird of prey has been persecuted. This afternoon I went in to my Parliamentary inbox and I would say every couple of minutes I’m receiving one of these emails.
In Parliament during the week, one of my colleagues said, ‘Oh, could you..’ (I would say not a Green colleague of course), one of my colleagues laughingly said, ‘Oh, could you not do anything to stop those emails coming in?’ And I said, ‘You know, I’d really like to claim credit for that fabulous campaign but that’s down to the RSPB, Wild Justice and Hen Harrier Action’. But there is no doubt at all the message is getting across loud and clear, so great work!‘
Incidentally, Alison’s colleague Mark Ruskell MSP tweeted this morning that he’d received ‘well over 500 emails’ from his own constituents on this topic:
Alison Johnstone: ‘I think the Scottish Government is beginning to understand now that this is actually a vote winner for them.
If they listened to what really concerns people in Scotland, the fact that they’ve received so many emails in recent days about the persecution of birds of prey, when you think about all the other challenges we’re currently facing with Covid 19 pandemic, with the potential of a looming no-deal Brexit, but people still want them to protect the environment, I think that says a lot‘.
The conversation, which also included issues such as the Werritty Review and Alison’s recent success at securing protection for mountain hares (here) but the Scottish Government’s subsequent ‘dragging of feet’ to enact it (here) can be watched in full below (if you can’t access it go to Chris’s social media pages to find the recording):
I'm in conversation now with @AlisonJohnstone from @ScotGP as I continue my live shorts with politicians & change-makers.
Alison introduced the measure which led to mountain hares being given protected species status in Scotland. https://t.co/I88wNnwPRf
The e-action currently stands at over 117,000. It closes on tomorrow (Monday 31st Aug) at midnight. As Alison and other politicians have said, every single email counts so please consider joining in if you haven’t already – CLICK HERE.
The e-action campaign to urge politicians across the UK to take action on grouse moor reform has passed the 100,000 mark!
This campaign was launched just three weeks ago on Hen Harrier Day by Wild Justice, RSPB and Hen Harrier Action and the response from the general public has been phenomenal. Massive thanks to everyone who has joined in.
Wild Justice has written a blog (here) outlining what will happen next. Information will be published via the Wild Justice newsletter so if you haven’t yet signed up for that here’s how to subscribe.
The e-action is open until Monday evening so there’s still time to take part and get your local politician involved – see here.
Chris Packham was live with Iolo Williams as the counter passed the 100,000 mark earlier this afternoon. You can watch a recording here:
The moment we hit 100,000 emails on live earlier with @IoloWilliams2 !
A massive thank you to everyone who has taken action – this has sent a strong message to our elected politicians that enough is enough , we must end the illegal persecution of our raptors . pic.twitter.com/4qGC1LAng8
A lamb has been euthanised after being found in the North York Moors National Park with an illegally-set spring-trap attached to its leg.
The lamb was discovered on 8th August 2020 and was seen by a vet, who reported a nasty bone infection tracking up the lamb’s leg from the trap injury. A decision was taken to euthanise the stricken animal.
The use of this type of spring trap (a Fenn trap) became subject to new regulations in April this year as it is no longer considered humane for killing stoats. Gamekeepers have been urged to stop using them altogether in most situations and switch to a trap with a different design (e.g. see here and here).
Nevertheless, even if the operator of this particular trap had a defence for its lawful use, it would appear that it had still been set illegally if this lamb had managed to get its leg caught in it. Spring traps have to be placed inside a tunnel (artificial or natural) with excluders at each end to prevent non-target species entering the tunnel and getting caught.
Of course, even though the police are investigating this incident the chance of anyone being prosecuted is absolutely zero because it would be virtually impossible to determine who had set the trap. Even if there was a lawful requirement for the trap operator to have an identifying tag on the trap (which there isn’t), the police would still have enormous difficulty finding sufficient evidence to demonstrate it had been set by the operator and not by a third party.
What the police can do, though, is to visit the landowners in this area and ‘give them advice’ about the lawful use of traps.
Interestingly, this lamb was found on land close to Hutton-le-Hole, which is remarkably close to where the suspected poisoned sparrowhawk was reported a few days ago (here) and where a satellite-tagged hen harrier ‘disappeared’ in 2018 (see here).
Anyone with information about any of these cases, please contact PC Jez Walmsley at Malton Police Station on 101.
Wild Justice, the RSPB and Hen Harrier Action launched an e-action at this year’s virtual Hen Harrier Day, urging elected politicians to act on raptor persecution and environmental damage caused by intensive grouse moor management.
So far, over 59,000 e-actions have been sent. If you haven’t yet signed up, you can do it HERE.
As part of this campaign, Wild Justice’s Chris Packham will be having conversations with a number of conservationists from around the UK, including discussions about the continued illegal killing of birds of prey on grouse moors.
The series kicks off this evening at 6pm with Chris in conversation with Martin Harper, the RSPB’s Global Conservation Director.
UPDATE: Here is a recording of the conversation: (Footage of Hen harriers for first seven minutes!)
North Yorkshire has the unenviable reputation for being the worst English county for bird of prey persecution and it’s maintained this status for years.
So how about this for a statement from local residents opposed to the ongoing criminality:
This raptor mural was painted by Nicky & Simon Johnston who live in the village of Hartoft in the North York Moors National Park.
Infuriated by reports of ongoing raptor persecution within the National Park, they decided to paint the gable end of their barn to send “an important message” that whether you are pro or anti driven grouse shooting, killing these birds is still a crime.
It’s good to see more and more local residents finding their voices to speak out (e.g. see here for some others).
The Hartoft mural was featured on Hen Harrier Day 2020 and if you missed it, here’s a short film from the Hen Harrier Day Youtube channel:
TAKE ACTION
If you’re like Nicky & Simon and you’re sick to the back teeth of illegal raptor persecution on driven grouse moors, please consider participating in this quick and easy e-action to send a letter to your local Parliamentary representative (MSP/MP/MS) urging action. Launched on Hen Harrier Day by Wild Justice, RSPB and Hen Harrier Action, over 57,000 people have signed up so far.
This means that over 57,000 pre-written letters complaining about illegal raptor persecution and the environmental damage caused by intensive grouse moor management, are winging their way to politicians of all parties across the UK. If you want your local politician to receive one, Please join in HERE
There’s a very interesting article in The Times today, debunking the picture often painted by the grouse shooting industry of moorland community harmony – a rural idyll where local residents are deliriously enthralled by the activities of the local grouse moor managers and thankful for the boost that grouse shooting brings to the local economy, without which the local community would apparently collapse. Oh, and it’s where unicorns live, too.
If the Campaign for the Protection of Moorland Communities (C4PMC) wasn’t so busy astroturfing for the grouse shooting industry, this story (below) is the one it should be telling, instead of spending thousands of pounds on Facebook to promote abusive and personal attacks on decent, hardworking conservationists who are simply seeking grouse moor reform (e.g. see here).
Today’s article in The Times comes on the back of last week’s news (here) that Police Scotland are investigating alleged wildlife crimes on the Leadhills Estate in South Lanarkshire (yes, that place again), including the suspicious disappearance of a satellite-tagged hen harrier and the shooting of a(nother) short-eared owl. The estate has denied all responsibility, obvs.
Written by journalist Lucy Bannerman, it takes a slightly different angle and focuses on the impact on local residents of having to live in the shadow of an estate as notorious as Leadhills.
Bannerman writes:
‘The estate has a notorious reputation as an alleged wildlife crime hotspot, where local monitors claim that at least 50 protected birds of prey have vanished or been found dead or dying in traps or by poisoned bait. One villager claims that even her cat has been poisoned.
The brazen manner of the latest killing, of the short-eared owl, has enraged residents, who are so sick of finding poisoned carcasses on the grouse moors around their homes that they have another name for the area: Deadhills.
“It’s devastating to lose another bird”, Steph Spode, 35, a local mother of four, said. “When you live here, you look around and at first you think, wow, look at those mountains. After a little while, you start to realise there’s nothing here. No trees. No wildlife. I can’t hear animals. I can’t see birds. When I go hiking there’s dead animals everywhere. What’s going on?“‘
It’s no surprise that there are ‘dead animals everywhere’ – a report published just yesterday (here) by the League Against Cruel Sports, as part of the Revive Coalition for Grouse Moor Reform, indicates that up to a quarter of a million animals are killed on Scottish grouse moors every year, many in the most gruesome and barbaric way imaginable.
Here’s a video we made last year with Chris Packham about the miserable death of a hen harrier, a supposedly protected species, that was found caught in an illegally-set trap at Leadhills last year:
The residents of Leadhills are not the only moorland community to speak out. Increasingly we’ve been hearing from local residents across the uplands who are finding their voices and speaking out against the damage this industry brings to their door. First we heard from local communities in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (see here and here), then from a community in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (see here), and then from a local community in the North York Moors National Park (here).
And then there are those local communities who want to buy the moors and transform and restore them in to something for the whole community, not just for those who come to kill birds for a bit of a laugh.
The Langholm community is currently attempting to buy part of Langholm Moor in Dumfries & Galloway from the Duke of Buccleuch (e.g. see here) and now the Wanlockhead Community Trust has voted (see here) to buy another part of Buccleuch’s moorland at Wanlockhead, the neighbouring village to Leadhills.
If you read the Wanlockhead Community Trust feasibility study you’ll see there’s not much interest in maintaining the moors for grouse shooting.
If you’re sick to the back teeth of illegal raptor persecution on driven grouse moors, please consider participating in this quick and easy e-action to send a letter to your local Parliamentary representative (MSP/MP/MS) urging action. Launched just a week ago by Wild Justice, RSPB and Hen Harrier Action, over 43,000 people have signed up so far.
This means that over 43,000 pre-written letters complaining about illegal raptor persecution and the environmental damage caused by intensive grouse moor management, are winging their way to politicians of all parties across the UK. If you want your local politician to receive one, Please join in HERE
Earlier this week we blogged about the suspicious disappearance of Tom, a golden eagle we’d been satellite-tracking since last year with Chris Packham and who vanished in to thin air, along with his fully-functioning satellite tag, with his last known location being on a driven grouse moor in Strathbraan, a well-known raptor persecution hotspot (see here).
[Golden eagle Tom at approx 8 weeks old having his satellite tag fitted in 2019 under expert licence. Photo Raptor Persecution UK]
We produced a video about Tom’s suspicious disappearance and this, along with the RPUK blog on his disappearance, received good media coverage both online and in the printed media throughout the week, even though a journalist at The Times simply cut and pasted the text from the RPUK blog, regurgitated it in an article and attributed this to ‘a spokesman from RPUK‘. Ha!
Here’s the video for those who may have missed it:
And now Tom’s disappearance has prompted a Parliamentary motion, lodged by Labour MSP Alex Rowley as follows:
It’s not just Tom’s disappearance that has led to this. As you can see, Alex also mentions the suspicious disappearance of seven other satellite-tagged golden eagles in the same area, the disappearance of another satellite-tagged hen harrier on another Scottish driven grouse moor (here), the illegal poisoning of a satellite-tagged white-tailed eagle found dead on another Scottish grouse moor (here), and the 43 hen harriers that have either gone missing or have been killed in the UK in the last two years (here).
He’s done his homework.
For a Parliamentary Motion to be considered for debate, at least 30 MSPs from at least two different political parties need to support it. So far, Alex’s motion has attracted the support of 17 MSPs, representing Labour, SNP, Greens, Liberal Democrats and one independent.
If your MSP’s name isn’t on the list as a supporter, please email them and prompt them to sign up. If they refuse, ask them why. Put them on the spot and most importantly of all, let them know that this issue matters to you.
If you don’t know who your MSP is you can find out here
If you want to do more, and if you’re sick to the back teeth of illegal raptor persecution on driven grouse moors, please consider participating in this quick and easy e-action to send a letter to your local Parliamentary representative (MSP/MP/MS) urging action. Launched last Saturday by Wild Justice, RSPB and Hen Harrier Action, over 41,000 people have signed up so far.
This means that over 41,000 pre-written letters complaining about illegal raptor persecution and the environmental damage caused by intensive grouse moor management, are winging their way to politicians of all parties across the UK. If you want your local politician to receive one, Please join in HERE
There was an interesting opinion piece in The Herald on 12th August, written by Mark Smith who was scathing both about grouse shooters (‘that rare and rather sad creature’) and the Scottish Government’s ‘lack of urgency’ in its failure to respond to the Werritty Review. It’s well worth a read (here).
Meanwhile, further to First Minister’s Questions on 12th August when Alison Johnstone MSP (Scottish Greens) put Nicola Sturgeon on the spot about the ongoing illegal persecution of birds of prey on grouse moors (see here), and the subsequent feeble response from Environment Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham (here), yesterday saw more cross-party pressure piled on to the Scottish Government over this issue.
John Mason (SNP), Alison Johnstone (Greens) and Alex Rowley (Labour) all pushed Environment Minister Mairi Gougeon and made it clear that patience has run out:
There’s absolutely no doubt the pressure is mounting to unprecedented levels.
One of these MSPs has taken the matter a step further. More on that in the next blog….
Meanwhile, if you want to add to that mounting pressure, and if you’re sick to the back teeth of illegal raptor persecution on driven grouse moors, please consider participating in this quick and easy e-action to send a letter to your local Parliamentary representative (MSP/MP/MS) urging action. Launched last Saturday by Wild Justice, RSPB and Hen Harrier Action, over 41,000 people have signed up so far.
This means that over 41,000 pre-written letters complaining about illegal raptor persecution and the environmental damage caused by intensive grouse moor management, are winging their way to politicians of all parties across the country. If you want your local politician to receive one, Please join in HERE
Meanwhile, further to First Minister’s Questions on 12th August when Alison Johnstone MSP (Scottish Greens) put Nicola Sturgeon on the spot about the ongoing illegal persecution of birds of prey on grouse moors (see 
