Tag: hen harrier

Hen harrier suffers savage brutality of an illegally-set trap on a Scottish grouse moor

Press release from Chris Packham CBE and Dr Ruth Tingay (RPUK):

An adult male hen harrier has suffered appalling injuries after being caught in a spring trap that had been illegally-set next to its nest on a Scottish grouse moor.

His lower leg was almost severed by the jaws of the trap and despite valiant attempts by a specialist veterinary surgeon to save him, his injuries were too severe and he was later euthanised.

[Photo by Ruth Tingay]

The harrier had been found caught in the trap and in great distress by members of the Scottish Raptor Study Group who were undertaking routine raptor monitoring on the Leadhills Estate in South Lanarkshire on 11th May 2019. A second trap, also illegally-set, had been placed on the harrier’s nearby nest. The nest contained two eggs but there was no sign of the breeding female.

[The trapped hen harrier in distress. Photo by Scottish Raptor Study Group]

[The second illegally-set trap on the harrier’s nest, next to two eggs. Photo by Scottish Raptor Study Group]

The raptor workers rang the Scottish SPCA for help and the police were informed. The male hen harrier was collected immediately by the SSPCA and taken for veterinary attention. They also removed the traps and the eggs were transferred to an experienced falconer to see if they could be saved.

Specialist veterinary surgeon Romain Pizzi of the Scottish SPCA’s National Wildlife Rescue Centre conducted an intricate operation to reconstruct the harrier’s shattered leg but it had been too badly damaged by the trap so a decision was made to end his suffering and he was put to sleep.

Unfortunately the eggs that had been rescued from the nest didn’t survive either.

[SSPCA veterinary surgeon Romain Pizzi reconstructed the harrier’s smashed leg. Photo by Ruth Tingay]

[Specialist vet Romain Pizzi explains to Chris that the force of the trap on this hen harrier’s leg would be similar to the force of a tractor running over a man’s leg. Photo by Ruth Tingay]

Seven weeks later on 4th July Police Scotland led a multi-agency search of Leadhills Estate but found no evidence to connect anyone from the estate with this latest wildlife crime.

This area of South Lanarkshire has been identified as a wildlife crime hotspot for many years. Since 2003 the RSPB has recorded at least 50 confirmed raptor persecution crimes on and close to a number of grouse moors in the region but only two have ever resulted in a successful prosecution; one gamekeeper was convicted in 2004 for shooting an owl and one was convicted in 2009 for setting out poisoned baits.

In 2015 a satellite-tagged hen harrier called Annie was found shot dead on a grouse moor in the area. In 2016 a satellite-tagged hen harrier called Chance disappeared in suspicious circumstances in the area, as did another one called ‘Skylar’ earlier this year.

In 2017 witnesses reported seeing an armed masked man shoot a hen harrier on a grouse moor in this area but the suspect escaped on a quad bike before the police arrived. The bird wasn’t found but a few weeks later witnesses observed an unidentified man shooting a short-eared owl on a grouse moor in the area. The man escaped across the moor in a four-wheel drive vehicle but the owl’s corpse was later retrieved from the heather and a post-mortem confirmed it had been shot. There were no prosecutions.

[A shot short-eared owl being retrieved from the grouse moor in 2017. Photo RSPB Scotland]

Following ongoing concerns about the scale of raptor persecution on some driven grouse moors in Scotland, in 2017 the Government commissioned a review of grouse moor management with a view to bringing in a regulatory licensing scheme. The review’s author, Professor Alan Werritty, is due to report within the next few weeks.

Prominent campaigners Chris Packham CBE and Dr Ruth Tingay who writes the Raptor Persecution UK blog have joined forces with other leading experts to produce a video about the savage brutality of this latest incident.

Chris Packham CBE said: “This despicable crime marks a most depressing day for raptor conservation in the UK and undoubtedly the darkest day for the whole shooting industry. It’s out of control, obviously beyond any form of self-regulation, and is tolerant of an utter contempt for the laws which are meant to protect our wildlife. This woeful death zone in South Lanarkshire needs cleaning up and clearing out now. This is 2019, not 1860 and this sickening spectacle has to consign driven grouse shooting to the dustbin”.

Dr Ruth Tingay said: “To be perfectly frank, what has happened here transcends the need to wait for the Werritty Review to report. This is brazen criminality, in broad daylight, conducted by someone secure in the knowledge that a prosecution is highly unlikely. The Scottish Government cannot continue to prevaricate on this issue while our wildlife suffers such barbaric acts. We know what’s going on, we know where it’s going on and the Government has a duty to act. Now.”

Anyone with information about the illegally-set traps found on Leadhills Estate is urged to contact Police Scotland on 101, or the RSPB’s confidential raptor crime hotline 0300 999 0101.

ENDS

With the help of a number of colleagues at Scottish SPCA, RSPB Scotland, OneKind, Revive Coalition, Operation Owl and Andy Wightman MSP and we’ve produced a video about this barbaric crime:

In recent weeks we’ve blogged about the suspicious disappearance of a satellite-tagged hen harrier (Marci) in the Cairngorms National Park (here), the suspicious disappearance of another satellite-tagged hen harrier (Skylar) in South Lanarkshire (here), the illegal poisoning of four geese with a banned pesticide in the Cairngorms National Park (here), the illegal poisoning of at least two red kites in Dumfries & Galloway (here), the discovery of an illegally- spring-trapped hen harrier on a grouse moor in the Strathbraan raven cull area (here), and the suspicious disappearance of two satellite-tagged golden eagles (Adam and Charlie) on the same morning on another grouse moor in the Strathbraan raven cull area (here).

In response to these incidents, the Scottish Government has remained silent.

And now another hen harrier, a species whose killing is supposed to be a national wildlife crime priority, has suffered at the hands of the untouchables.

Will the Scottish Government finally now act?

Please contact the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and let her know (politely, please) that enough is enough.

Emails to: firstminister@gov.scot

Thank you

How to discuss an illegally shot hen harrier, without mentioning that it’s been illegally shot

Yesterday we blogged that a young satellite-tagged hen harrier called ‘River’ had been found dead on a grouse moor on the Swinton Estate in Yorkshire with two pieces of shot in her body (see here).

Surprisingly, the grouse moor owner’s lobby group the Moorland Association has made a statement (more often than not any raptor persecution crimes are simply ignored by this group). Perhaps, with the newly reformed Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG), the Moorland Association is feeling under pressure to respond?

However, reading the Moorland Association’s statement is akin to watching a contortionist and wondering how the hell they got themselves in to such a twisted position.

The first we saw of the Moorland Association’s contortion was this, on Twitter, posted by the Moorland Association’s Director, Amanda Anderson, talking about the ‘recent incident in Yorkshire’:

‘The recent incident in Yorkshire’? Good grief. Do you mean ‘the recent illegal shooting of a hen harrier found dead on a Yorkshire grouse moor’, Amanda?

Then we read the actual statement:

Read this statement closely. You will not find the words ‘illegally shot hen harrier’ anywhere. Even the two pieces of lead shot in the bird’s body (as revealed by an x-ray) have been transformed in to “two metallic objects”!

How on earth do you expect an appeal for information about an illegally shot hen harrier to be seen as credible without actually saying it’s been illegally shot?!

There’s also a fascinating claim, attributed to North Yorkshire Police, that the estate has been informed by the police ‘that they are taking the matter no further due to lack of evidence and stressed that there was no suspicion of any wrongdoing by the Swinton Estate or its staff’.

Eh?

Is that an actual statement from North Yorkshire Police, or is it an interpretation by Swinton Estate and/or the Moorland Association? Of course there’s going to be suspicion – how can there possibly not be when an illegally shot hen harrier has been found on the estate?! That doesn’t necessarily mean that anyone at Swinton Estate was responsible for this crime, of course – there is simply no evidence to identify ANYONE as the culprit, especially when we don’t even know where or when the bird was shot – but to say ‘there was no suspicion of any wrongdoing’ seems to be stretching credulity a little bit too far.

It would be useful to see the x-ray of the dead hen harrier. We’ve been told it showed up two pieces of lead shot but no further detail than that. Had the lead shot smashed the harrier’s wing bones, rendering it unable to fly, then it might suggest the bird was indeed shot close to where its corpse was found. However, had the lead shot simply nicked, say, a leg bone, without breaking or fracturing it, then it would be supportive evidence to a theory that the harrier may have been shot elsewhere and was able to fly several miles before collapsing on this moor. North Yorkshire Police has not published the x-ray as far as we’re aware.

We’re also interested in the claim that the hen harrier’s body was “too decomposed to perform a post mortem“. Really? And who made that decision? Was it a pathologist? If you look at the photograph of the harrier’s body being collected from the moor by North Yorkshire Police, it looks to be in a condition that would permit a post mortem.

And if a post mortem wasn’t carried out, under what circumstances did North Yorkshire Police ‘later retrieve’ one of the two pieces of shot, as mentioned in yesterday’s blog?

There’s a lot about this crime and the subsequent investigation that just doesn’t add up. The situation isn’t helped by the PR contortions of the Moorland Association, whose appalling track record in tackling illegal raptor persecution on grouse moors renders them an organisation with zero integrity or credibility, in our opinion.

Let’s hope Police Superintendent Nick Lyall can use his position as Chair of the RPPDG to investigate the details of this case and report, as much as he is able, to what is fast becoming a disenchanted and angry public.

Shot hen harrier’s corpse found on Swinton Estate, a grouse moor in North Yorkshire

In January this year, the RSPB reported that a satellite-tagged hen harrier called ‘River’ had disappeared in suspicious circumstances in November 2018 on an unnamed grouse moor in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) (see here).

This was an area where the day before River ‘disappeared’, the RSPB had filmed an unidentified gunman with two dogs at a known hen harrier roost (see here).

Nothing more was heard from River’s tag until the end of March 2019. What happened next is recounted in an RSPB blog published this afternoon:

SHOT HEN HARRIER FOUND ON NORTH YORKSHIRE GROUSE MOOR

By Mark Thomas, Head of Investigations, RSPB

Another satellite-tagged hen harrier, found dead on a grouse moor in North Yorkshire, has been confirmed as shot.

You may remember River, the young female hen harrier who suddenly disappeared in November 2018 in suspicious circumstances. We wrote about it here. Now, further information has emerged – and it’s not good news.

River was satellite tagged in Lancashire in 2018 as part of the RSPB EU Hen Harrier LIFE project. In November 2018 she sent out her last transmission from a roost location on a driven grouse moor in North Yorkshire, within the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. My staff and North Yorkshire Police searched the area but found no trace of the bird or the tag.

Then surprisingly at the end of March 2019, River’s tag gave off another signal confirming that she was dead and giving a precise location. These satellite tags are solar powered, and it’s possible that the bird’s body was disturbed, allowing the tag to ‘wake up’ and get back in touch with us. The longer, brighter days might have had their effect too.

This latest ‘ping’ gave us an exact location of River’s body, and again my staff and the police officers set out to recover her. They found her dead on Ilton Moor on the Swinton Estate on 5 April 2019. She was just 3.7km away from where her last transmission in November had come from, both on the same estate.

[Hen harrier River’s corpse being retrieved from a grouse moor on Swinton Estate. Photo by RSPB]

River’s decomposed body was recovered and taken to be X-rayed by the Police. Yesterday I received confirmation from North Yorkshire Police that her body contained two pieces of shot, one of which had later been retrieved and confirmed as such by the Police.

We don’t know precisely when or where River was shot, or who did it, but clearly she has been the subject of illegal persecution.

All birds of prey are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. To kill or injure one is a criminal offence and could result in an unlimited fine or up to six months in jail. However, hen harriers like River continue to suffer at the hands of people clearly breaking these laws, and clearly undeterred by the consequences.

River is the latest hen harrier to be shot, adding to the evidence that these birds are being routinely illegally killed, often on land being used for driven grouse shooting.

The RSPB is calling for the licensing of driven grouse moors. With just a handful of breeding hen harrier pairs left in England, this is a species with everything to lose if the status quo continues.

If you have any information which might help identify who shot River, or if you know anything about birds of prey being killed in your area, you can contact my team in confidence on our hotline: 0300 999 0101.

ENDS

This news has a certain amount of inevitability about it. A hen harrier has been shot and her corpse has been found on a grouse moor in North Yorkshire.

According to Mark’s blog, River’s corpse was retrieved from the Swinton Estate. Mark quite rightly states that it’s not possible to identify when, exactly, she was shot, or where or by whom. However, River’s demise mirrors that of so many other young satellite-tracked hen harriers – in fact 72% of them according to this recent scientific research.

The Swinton Estate may be a familiar name to some blog readers – it’s where the shot corpse of hen harrier Bowland Betty was discovered in 2012 (see here). Again, it was not possible to identify who had shot her, or where (she may have been shot elsewhere and managed to fly some distance before collapsing and dying on Swinton) and so nobody was charged or prosecuted for killing her.

The Swinton Estate may be a familiar name to other blog readers because we’ve previously reported on an estate gamekeeper who was convicted in 2014 for illegally setting a pole trap, twice, in 2013 (see here). He told the court the pole trap was nothing to do with targeting protected raptor species, but had been set with the intention of catching squirrels. No matter, he was still convicted because, quite rightly, barbaric pole traps have been illegal for decades.

The Swinton Estate name has cropped up in recent weeks as it’s rumoured to be hosting at least two hen harrier breeding attempts, and we believe one of those nests has since been ‘brood meddled’ by Natural England with either the hen harrier eggs or chicks removed and taken in to captivity (see here).

Please note: the location of this brood meddled nest is as yet unconfirmed because Natural England is refusing to publish further details, laughably ‘in the interest of the welfare of the harriers’.

We expect to learn these details later in the year so we’ll certainly be returning to this story. If the brood meddling has taken place on Swinton, we’ll be wanting to know whether Natural England knew about the discovery of River’s shot corpse before the decision to brood meddle was taken.

There’s something else that stood out in Mark’s blog. This statement:

‘River’s decomposed body was recovered and taken to be X-rayed by the Police. Yesterday I received confirmation from North Yorkshire Police that her body contained two pieces of shot, one of which had later been retrieved and confirmed as such by the Police‘.

Question 1:

Why did it take North Yorkshire Police over three months to notify the RSPB of the x-ray results?

Question 2:

Under what circumstances did North Yorkshire Police ‘later retrieve’ one of the two pieces of shot found in River’s body? WTF?!

There’s something very, very odd going on here.

UPDATE 12 July 2019: How to discuss an illegally shot hen harrier, without mentioning that it’s been illegally shot (here)

Extraordinary effort to raise awareness of illegal hen harrier persecution on grouse moors

For four days last week, ultra marathon runner Henry Morris ran a total of 200 km across the grouse moors of Bowland AONB, Yorkshire Dales National Park and Nidderdale AONB.

Henry was accompanied by a relay team of runners including his brother Ed and friends John and Tim, as well as various other runners who joined in on different days to offer support.

[L-R: John, Ed, Henry & Tim at the start of their extraordinary run, photo by Mark Avery]

The purpose of this extraordinary effort was two-fold: to raise awareness about the illegal killing of hen harriers on grouse moors, and to raise money for Wild Justice to use on hen harrier-related projects.

These guys don’t work in the conservation field – their day jobs are a personal trainer, a nurse, an analyst and a music promoter – but they were inspired to take action after reading about the plight of hen harriers (a recent paper showed that 72% of satellite-tagged hen harriers have been taken out, illegally, on grouse moors) and the absolute scandal that those killing hen harriers are never brought to justice.

Henry put together a website (here), a crowdfunder (here) and planned his route to visit the locations of satellite-tagged hen harriers that had ‘disappeared‘ (most likely been killed). Here’s a map of the route, different colours denote the route for each day and the ‘CP’ marker was the Check Point marker of each missing hen harrier:

On Saturday afternoon, the team reached the finish line in Nidderdale where they were met by friends and family for a well-deserved pint or two at the Stone House Inn at Thruscross.

[Photos by PJ]

What an extraordinary achievement, motivated solely by a desire to do ‘something’ to help hen harriers.

Of course, this has come at a cost. Not just the physical cost of running so far, in such terrain, in so few days, but these guys have also been subjected to personal abuse on social media by the usual trolls from the game-shooting industry. These trolls are predictable in that they’ll attack anyone seen to be helping, or associated with, Wild Justice. We’re sorry, Henry, Ed, John and Tim, that you’ve had to suffer such abuse.

Incredibly, Henry’s crowdfunder has raised a whopping £10,365 so far. If you’d like to show your support to these extraordinary runners, please consider making a small donation HERE

THANK YOU

Is Scottish Government’s silence an indication of indifference to illegal raptor persecution?

In the last week there have been two big news stories about the illegal persecution of birds of prey in Scotland.

The first was the news that a satellite-tagged hen harrier called Rannoch was found dead on a grouse moor in the Strathbraan raven cull area of Perthshire, with an illegally-set spring trap attached to her leg (see here).

The second was the news of the suspicious disappearance (presumed dead) of satellite-tagged golden eagles Adam and Charlie, who vanished without explanation on the same morning from another grouse moor in the Strathbraan raven cull area (see here).

Both of these news items received massive media interest and coverage, particularly the two missing golden eagles. It was all over social media, mainstream newspapers and websites, radio shows and even a slot on ITN’s News at Ten.

The general public responded to these stories as any decent human being would – with disgust, horror and in some cases, shock that this sort of criminality, both suspected and confirmed, continues within our supposedly progressive society.

Young kids (and some adults) were sufficiently motivated to draw pictures of eagles, write poetry and even create clay models of dead eagles to send to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon:

We know that many others have been sufficiently angered by the news that they’ve been motivated to follow MSP Andy Wightman’s lead and write to the First Minister, urging her to take action (firstminister@gov.scot).

How come then, with this outpouring of public anger, senior politicians in the Scottish Government, who all routinely use Twitter to engage about their work, have failed to say a single word about either case?

The First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has been silent.

The Environment Cabinet Secretary, Roseanna Cunningham, has been silent.

The Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment, Mairi Gougeon, has been silent.

What’s going on there, then? Should we interpret their collective silence as indifference? That seems pretty unlikely, given that all three politicians have spoken out strongly, passionately and convincingly in the recent past about illegal raptor persecution and their determination to bring it to an end.

So why haven’t they this time? Even the official Twitter channel of the Scottish Government covering the environment and rural economy (@GreenerScotland) has been silent. There was one quote about the two missing eagles, widely used in the media from an unnamed Government spokesman, which simply said:

“The disappearance of any bird of prey in suspicious circumstances is of concern and we would urge anyone with information to contact Police Scotland. ‘We are determined to protect birds of prey and have established an independent group to look at how we can ensure grouse moor management is sustainable and complies with the law“.

This was clearly a bog standard response to enquiries from journalists as we could find no formal statement on the Scottish Government’s website. We didn’t find any statement about the illegally-trapped dead hen harrier either.

It seems remarkable that a wide section of society, young and old, has expressed outrage on many different media platforms over the last week, and yet the three politicians who are key to making progress on this issue, have seemingly suppressed what we’d expect to be the normal human reaction to this news (i.e. expressions of anger, horror, determination for change etc) and instead appear to be toe-ing a party political line by saying absolutely nothing. At all.

The Government’s silence is deeply concerning.

Is it, we wonder, part of a strategy to manage expectations on the forthcoming Werritty Review? Will the Werritty Review fall short of expectations? Remember, Werritty was commissioned on the back of a Government-commissioned scientific review that showed satellite-tagged golden eagles were undoubtedly being killed on some Scottish grouse moors. We all expect Werritty’s review to address this issue head on and propose some tangible, meaningful actions to finally get these crimes under control. Are we going to be disappointed? (Expect an almighty firestorm if that is the case).

Why else might the Scottish Government remain silent, on such a high-profile and topical issue? This silence is the sort of response we’ve come to expect from Environment ministers in Westminster, who have shown nothing but wilful blindness to the extent of raptor persecution crimes in England for decades. This silence is not something we expect from the Scottish Government.

It’s worth remembering that the Scottish Parliament has just celebrated its 20th anniversary. Twenty years ago, when the Parliament was established, the then Secretary of State Donald Dewar described illegal raptor persecution in Scotland as “a national disgrace”. He also said:

“Although we are all aware of individual incidents of wildlife crime in Scotland, such as theft of eggs and shooting and poisoning of birds of prey, it is less well known that illegal persecution of some species, rather than the lack of suitable habitat, is the reason why in some areas the birds are scarce or non-existent. The government, and no doubt the Scottish Parliament will take all possible steps to eliminate persecution. The government is committed to strengthening protection for wildlife, and in due course the Scottish Parliament will consider proposals from the Partnership Against Wildlife Crime for stronger enforcement measures”.

If you’d like to write to the current First Minister and remind her of the importance of ensuring protection for golden eagles and other birds of prey on the grouse moors of Scotland, please consider sending a polite email to: firstminister@gov.scot

Thank you

[Hen harrier ‘Rannoch’ found dead on a grouse moor with an illegal trap clamped to her leg. Photo RSPB Scotland]

Hen harrier brood meddling has begun in England

SHAME, WRIT LARGE.

At least one brood of hen harriers has been removed from a grouse moor and taken in to captivity today as part of DEFRA’s/Natural England’s scandalous hen harrier brood meddling plan (part of the Government’s useless Hen Harrier Action Plan).

How do we know? Has DEFRA and Natural England behaved with impeccable transparency and ensured that everyone was kept up to date?

Like hell.

The news has been slipped out by Natural England, buried away at the foot of an earlier blog post on the brood meddling scheme (dated 6 June), presumably in the hope that nobody would notice.

To give him his due, Natural England CEO Tony Juniper did share this information on Twitter late this afternoon, but only after being repeatedly prompted by members of the public who were seeking information.

Here’s the link to the news (scroll down to the bottom of the page and squint your eyes a bit and you’ll find it):

https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2019/06/06/wildlife-licensing-at-natural-england-in-action/

[Photo by Laurie Campbell]

For the benefit of new readers, here’s a quick overview of what hen harrier brood meddling is all about.

We don’t know how many nests have been plundered, or how many chicks have been removed, nor the location(s) of those plundered nests. We do know that at least one grouse shooting estate in North Yorkshire was hoping to participate, even though this particular estate has a long history of raptor persecution, including at least one wildlife crime conviction for one of the estate’s employees. Marvellous.

We also know, from earlier FoIs on this subject, that the practical aspects of raising those hen harriers in captivity is being coordinated by the International Centre for Birds of Prey (ICBP) in Newent, Glos (shame on them) and that the Moorland Association are paying for the expertise of the ICBP and also for the satellite tags that all brood meddled hen harriers must be fitted with before release later this summer (it’s a condition of the licence).

We have asked Natural England today what measures it has implemented to protect any brood meddled hen harriers from armed criminals on grouse moors when the birds are released later this summer, but answer came there none.

What a dreadful day for hen harrier conservation in the UK. We began by learning about the barbaric killing of a young satellite-tagged hen harrier on a grouse moor in Strathbraan, Scotland, and we’ve ended by learning that England’s statutory nature conservation agency (ahem) has authorised the removal of young hen harriers from at least one grouse moor somewhere in England just to appease the influential criminals within the grouse shooting industry.

Young hen harrier suffers horrific death in illegal trap on Strathbraan grouse moor

RSPB press release (27 June 2019)

YOUNG HEN HARRIER KILLED BY ILLEGAL TRAP ON PERTHSHIRE GROUSE MOOR

A satellite tagged hen harrier has been illegally killed on a Perthshire grouse moor. The remains of the young female, named Rannoch, were found by RSPB Scotland in May caught in a spring trap which had been set in the open, not permitted by law.

The post mortem report from SRUC veterinary laboratory said: “The bird was trapped by the left leg in a spring trap at time of death. Death will have been due to a combination of shock and blood loss if it died quickly or to exposure and dehydration/starvation if it died slowly. Either way the bird will have experienced significant unnecessary suffering.”

[Hen harrier Rannoch’s remains in an illegal trap on a Strathbraan grouse moor. Photos by RSPB Scotland]

Rannoch was satellite tagged by RSPB’s Hen Harrier LIFE project in July 2017. Her tag data movements were followed closely by RSPB Scotland until 10th November 2018 when she stopped moving in an area of moorland between Aberfeldy and Crieff. The solar powered tag battery drained before accurate location data could be gathered allowing her to be found, but after coming online again in May 2019 enough information was provided to locate her remains. A recent study showed that 72% of tagged British hen harriers are confirmed or considered very likely to have been illegally killed.

Dr Cathleen Thomas, Project Manager for the RSPB’s Hen Harrier LIFE project, said: “We are absolutely devastated that Rannoch has been a victim of crime; the life of this beautiful bird was cut short in the most horrific way due to human actions. Satellite tagging has revealed the amazing journeys made by hen harriers but also uncovers how their journeys end.

“Often the birds disappear with their tags suddenly ceasing to function as perpetrators go to great lengths to hide the evidence of their crimes; Rannoch’s death in a spring trap is evidence of one way in which these birds are being killed. In terms of their population size, hen harriers are the most persecuted bird of prey in the UK, and their population is now perilously low, so every loss we suffer impacts the continued survival of the species.”

Ian Thomson, Head of Investigations Scotland, said: “This latest killing of a hen harrier is truly appalling. The actions of the individual who set this trap were both reckless and indiscriminate, and showed a complete disregard for both the law and the welfare of local wildlife. Sadly, the catalogue of criminal killing of tagged hen harriers and other birds of prey continues unabated; we know many others are illegally killed and going undetected, so her death is part of the tip of the iceberg of the true level of criminality.

“At a time when our hen harrier population is in sharp decline, we repeat our call on the Scottish Government to take urgent action to regulate driven grouse shooting through a licensing scheme, with sanctions to remove licences to shoot on land where the public authorities are satisfied that illegal activities are occurring”.

Rannoch was one of two chicks who fledged from a Perthshire nest in an area owned and managed by Forestry and Land Scotland in July 2017. Her tag was fitted in partnership with local members of the Tayside Raptor Study Group and Forestry and Land Scotland, who monitored the nest together.

[Hen harrier ‘Rannoch’ being fitted with her satellite tag in 2017. Photo by Brian Etheridge]

The tag data showed Rannoch spent most of her time in Perthshire before she stopped moving on 10th November 2018. As the tag had continued to function after she stopped moving, rather than coming to an abrupt halt, it was assumed that she had died of natural causes. The tag briefly transmitted more data in January this year, and again in May for longer, as the battery recharged in the spring sunlight. The second time more accurate location data was transmitted, allowing RSPB Scotland to finally recover Rannoch’s remains. When RSPB Scotland found Rannoch her leg was caught in a spring trap. Her body was recovered and delivered to the SRUC veterinary laboratory for a post mortem, and Police Scotland were notified.

Logan Steele, a member of the Tayside Raptor Study Group, which monitors hen harriers in the area said: “Rannoch and her sibling were the first birds to fledge from this site in ten years so I was very angry to hear she had died caught in an illegal trap. With so few hen harriers left in this part of Perthshire it is particularly worrying that this bird will not return to breed.”

Anyone with information about this crime or other bird of prey illegal persecution is urged to contact Police Scotland on 101, or the RSPB’s confidential raptor crime hotline on 0300 999 0101.

ENDS

The RSPB press release does not name the grouse moor where Rannoch’s remains were found but just says it was ‘in an area of moorland between Aberfeldy and Crieff’.

This is clearly within the boundary of the Strathbraan raven cull area, where in 2018 SNH issued a licence to local gamekeepers permitting them to kill 69 ravens ‘just to see what happened’. A legal challenge to that licensing decision was successfully made by the Scottish Raptor Study Group and one of their concerns had been that the Strathbraan raven cull area was a known raptor persecution hotspot with a long history of poisonings, illegally-trapped birds and the suspicious disappearances of at least six satellite-tagged eagles.

[RPUK map showing boundary of Strathbraan raven cull area (yellow line) and significant areas of moorland managed for driven grouse shooting (outlined in white). Hen Harrier Rannoch’s corpse was found on one of these moorlands]

Hen Harrier Rannoch’s name will now be added to the ever-increasing list of persecuted satellite tagged hen harriers on British grouse moors, although unusually this time we’re not dealing with a missing corpse and a missing tag that has suddenly and inexplicably stopped working.

No, this time there is no escaping the brutal, barbaric reality of her miserable death. The criminality is writ large, for all to see.

How will the authorities respond this time? Complete silence, as we’ve come to expect every time a raptor persecution crime is reported in the press? We won’t let the Scottish Government off the hook so easily this time.

Wilful blindness will no longer be tolerated.

This weekend, the Scottish Parliament will be celebrating its 20 year anniversary. Twenty years ago, the then Secretary of State Donald Dewar famously described illegal raptor persecution as “a national disgrace” and committed the Scottish Parliament to take “all possible steps to eliminate [raptor] persecution“.

It’s time for the Scottish Government to honour that commitment.

Please send an email of protest to Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham: cabsececclr@gov.scot Your email needs to be firm but polite. There can be no more prevarication on dealing with these crimes and the Scottish Government needs to understand the strength of feeling about its continued failure to bring the criminals to justice and end these vile actions.

Thank you.

UPDATE 26th January 2022: Lochan Estate penalised after discovery of illegally-killed hen harrier on grouse moor (here)

Limited edition hen harrier t-shirt on sale now!

The fantastically creative @YoloBirder (Probable Bird Society) has designed a new, limited edition hen harrier t-shirt, whose sales will benefit the RSPB’s Skydancer Appeal, Birders Against Wildlife Crime and Wild Justice.

Based on his popular t-shirt design of four years ago [the ‘hen diagram’, geddit?], this updated version includes the words ‘Enough is Enough’ on the front and a list of 27 satellite-tagged hen harriers, most of whom have vanished in suspicious circumstances in the last few years, on or next to a grouse moor.

The t-shirt costs £16.99 (in lots of different sizes) with an estimated delivery date between 13th – 20th July.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a limited edition and sale orders will close at 9pm on Thursday 27th June.

To order yours, please CLICK HERE

 

2019 – The year Natural England “betrayed hen harriers to placate the grouse shooting industry”

Natural England announced last week that hen harrier brood meddling was imminent (see here), despite overwhelming opposition from conservation experts.

In response to that news, you really should read this blog from the Northern England Raptor Forum (NERF). It pulls no punches and NERF’s fury with Natural England is palpable.

‘If brood management goes ahead as planned 2019 will not be remembered as a good year for the English Hen Harrier population. It will be remembered, by leading conservation groups, including NERF, and Raptor Workers across the country as the year that Natural England (the English Statutory Nature Conservation Organisation) betrayed Hen Harriers to placate the grouse shooting industry.

An industry that is, according to Natural England’s own data, largely responsible for the unexplained demise of 72% of Hen Harriers satellite tagged by their own staff. With that knowledge it is not unreasonable to assume that a similar percentage of un-tagged birds ‘disappeared’ under identical circumstances over the same period. It is also clear from press releases issued by RSPB that many of the birds satellite tagged as part of their Hen Harrier Life Project have also suffered the same fate on land managed for grouse shooting‘.

Read the NERF blog HERE

 

Shameful Natural England due to begin hen harrier brood meddling

Natural England has announced its disgraceful plan to brood meddle hen harriers is due to begin imminently.

An article in today’s Guardian claims this controversial “trial” is ‘supported by conservation groups including the International Centre for Birds of Prey and the Hawk & Owl Trust‘. Of course it is! The ICBP is being paid to manage the brood meddling, and several Hawk & Owl Trust Board members are believed to be benefiting from this trial. These are hardly independent supporters!

The article fails to mention that no independent conservation organisation is supporting this “trial” because everyone recognises it as a sop to the grouse shooting industry that has been killing hen harriers for years, without sanction.

[Drawing by Gerard Hobley]

The article also includes a quote from Tony Juniper, the new Chair at Natural England:

“Conservation and protection of the hen harrier is at the heart of what we are doing in licensing this trial of brood management. This decision takes forward but one element in a far broader recovery strategy for the species.

Natural England is ready to take the next careful step, aware that the licensed activity and the research will rightly come under close scrutiny from the scientists on the advisory group, from ourselves as the licensing authority and by those both supportive of and opposed to this trial.

We, as an organisation, must pursue all options for an important bird such as the hen harrier, so that our children may enjoy this majestic species in the wild“.

How disappointing from someone who has been held in high regard by the conservation community for many many years. Conservation and protection is NOT “at the heart” of what Natural England is doing in licensing this trial – how can it be, when it knows from it’s own commissioned research that the main threat to hen harriers (illegal persecution by gamekeepers on grouse moors) will still be present when those young brood meddled harriers are released back to the wild later in the summer?

It’s our understanding that at least one of the nests under consideration for being brood meddled is on a grouse shooting estate that has a reputation for the illegal persecution of birds of prey, including an earlier conviction of at least one gamekeeper employee.

Who says crime doesn’t pay, eh?

Meanwhile, both Mark Avery and the RSPB are still waiting to hear whether their appeals against their earlier judicial review brood meddling rulings can proceed.