Henry’s entering South Lanarkshire. You might know it from the annual raptor persecution maps – there’s usually a dirty great big red spot indicating that this is a raptor persecution hotspot.
You don’t need a map to tell you that, though. Just look at the landscape and the tell-tale muirburn strips of burnt heather on the hills will tell you all you need to know. This is driven grouse moor country.
Henry paid a visit (under heavily armed guard) to the RSPB’s Geltsdale reserve in Cumbria, scene of the latest hen harrier ‘disappearance’.
A team from Channel 4 News was also at Geltsdale to talk about ‘disappearing’ hen harriers – that programme aired on Tues evening (9th June). If you missed it, it’ll appear on Channel 4 Catch Up in the next few days.
It was good to see the issue of hen harrier persecution featuring on a national news programme and it was even better to see who the grouse-shooting industry had put forward as their spokesman – one Duncan Thomas, ex-Police Wildlife Crime Officer (Bowland) and currently working for BASC. Some of you may remember him from last year’s Countryfile – we blogged about his performance here.
Here’s what he had to say on last night’s programme:
“There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that these birds have been persecuted. They could merely have moved on or died from natural predation. We’ve had a horrendous spring up here, many many species have suffered as a result, as a direct result of that, and in all the time that I was [Police] Wildlife Crime Officer and doing this job [BASC], I’ve not seen direct evidence of human persecution. I’m confident that everybody up here is doing their bit to make this work. What we need is the Hen Harrier Recovery Plan to be able to reintroduce and to spread this species in to suitable habitat and to get the population back to a level where everybody’s comfortable with“.
‘No direct evidence’ is probably the line used by those defending Jimmy Savile for all those years. Truth will out in the end – it always does, and we are all well on the way to exposing that truth to a much wider audience than ever before.
What Mr Thomas forgot to mention is the management of the grouse moors adjacent to the Geltsdale reserve. Wonder who owns those and perhaps more interestingly, who the sporting agent is?
The presenter, Tom Clarke (Science editor, C4 News) chose his words carefully and did a reasonably good job, although he needs to check his research when he claims that ‘hen harriers are doing quite well in Scotland’ – they’re actually not – see here.
Henry paid a visit to Moy Estate in the Monadliaths.
Regular blog readers will probably remember what was found on Moy Estate in 2010:
A 20-year-old gamekeeper (James Rolfe – straight out of game-keeping college) was charged with possession of the dead red kite and was fined £1,500. No charges were ever brought against anyone for any of the other offences.
Previous blogs on Moy: see here, here, here and here. It’s particularly worth having a look at this, especially in light of recent hen harrier ‘disappearances’ in England. They weren’t necessarily shot (as the grouse-shooting industry keeps telling us) – they could just as easily have been trapped like this (as the grouse-shooting industry keeps forgetting to mention).
The gamekeeper on Moy was convicted four years ago in 2011. Since then, several more satellite-tracked red kites have ‘disappeared’ since their last signals emitted from Moy, and several buzzard and goshawk nests seem to fail each year. It’s quite windy at Moy. It was probably the wind that blew off those rings from the young golden eagles’ legs and blew them straight in to a jar inside the gamekeeper’s house. It was probably the wind that severed the leg of the red kite and then blew it in to a hole on the moor and then blew moss over the hole to cover it. It was probably the wind that blew away the more recent ‘missing’ red kites. It was probably the same wind that blew holes in those buzzard and goshawk nests, too. Still no breeding hen harriers on this estate – yep, must have been blown away.
Word has it that the game management on Moy Estate is being taken over by a sporting agent with whom we’re very familiar. Cue hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of night vision equipment to carry out his particular style of grouse moor management.
Henry left the estate before darkness fell. He lives another day, although he’s still single.
Those fine gents at Birders Against Wildlife Crime (BAWC) have launched a dedicated website for Hen Harrier Day 2015 – see here.
This year’s Hen Harrier Day is Sunday 9th August and events will be taking place across the country. If you’re planning an event, please send details to info@henharrierday.org so it can be advertised on the new website.
If you’re not organising an event yourself but want to participate and show your support, keep an eye on the Hen Harrier Day website for regular updates and information about what you can do.
Now, more than ever, is the time for us to stand and be counted.
Henry’s been occupying another grouse-shooting butt.
This one was in the Lammermuirs on the Mayshiel Estate. The management of this grouse moor is reportedly undertaken by one Nick Baikie. Now why does that name sound familiar…..?
No hen harriers seen.
Another male hen harrier has ‘disappeared’ from an active nest – the 5th this year.
Three males vanished from nesting territories in Bowland in late April/early May (see here).
Another male vanished from its nesting territory on Geltsdale last week (see here).
And now the 5th – last seen on the United Utilities Estate in Bowland on 29th May (see here).
Is it shocking news? Yes, but not because we didn’t expect it. It’s shocking because the persecution of this species is so, so brazen.
It should now be clear (as if it hasn’t been for decades) that the people responsible, and the grouse-shooting industry that shields them, need to be brought to their knees.
We can all do that.
We must do that.
We will find a way to do that.
Henry called in to the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club HQ to talk about their efforts in the fight against illegal raptor persecution in Scotland.
Last year, the SOC joined the other increasing number of voices who are standing up to say enough is enough (see here and here).
This year they will play a prominent role in the support and planning of Hen Harrier Day events in Scotland. More news about those plans soon……save the date (Sunday 9th August 2015).
Henry paid a visit to the HQ of Scottish Land & Estates.
The lights weren’t on and nobody was in.
SLE is a representative body of 1,351 landowners who own 2.27 million hectares of Scotland (figures from Andy Wightman).
Here’s what SLE’s CEO, Doug McAdam, tweeted when he learned Henry had called by:
‘Over 500 pairs of hen harriers on Scottish moorland at last count’.
Here’s what he didn’t mention (see here for source) –
Has Doug McAdam been taking spinning lessons from an ex-England cricketer?
These photographs were taken a couple of days ago on the Leadhills (Hopetoun) Estate in South Lanarkshire. They show three propane gas guns set out on the grouse moor (one inside a grouse butt).
These gas guns are routinely used for bird scaring on agricultural fields – they are set up to produce a periodic booming noise to scare pigeons, geese etc away from crops. The audible bang can reach volumes in excess of 150 decibels.
Can’t imagine why they’d be deployed on a driven grouse moor during the critical stages of the hen harrier’s breeding season, can you?
Raptor Persecution UK 