Regular readers will know all about the Langholm hen harrier chick, ‘Blae’, who was alive for just a few short weeks. She was found dead ‘about’ 11th September 2012 in the Scottish Borders (see here).
It’s now 20th October and still there’s no word about the location where she was found dead, nor the circumstances of her demise.
It’s coming up to six weeks – just how long does it take to do a post-mortem? We understand that Rugs-R-Us are doing a roaring trade in Langholm High Street…
Is this what happened to this year’s Langholm harrier chicks, Barry and Blae? (Blae confirmed dead, Barry now ‘missing’ – see this morning’s blog entry below).
These photos were taken on Moy Estate in 2010. Naturally, nobody was charged with these offences. Probably not enough “hard evidence”, eh? One gamekeeper (James Rolfe) was charged with possession of a dead red kite that was found in the back of his vehicle. The kite had two broken legs and its head had been caved in with a blunt instrument (see here and here for background info).
This first photograph shows a skinned rabbit that had been placed out on the moor. Can you see the hidden spring traps on either side of this bait? No? Any passing raptor would probably struggle to see them, too:
This next photo shows another bait found set on Moy with two spring traps. This time the moss has been removed so the traps could be photographed. These traps are illegal when used in this way:
This next photo shows a hen harrier caught in one of the illegal traps that had been laid out on Moy Estate. The picture is slightly blurred but we can forgive the photographer, given the circumstances:
Here’s the same harrier being carefully removed from the trap. This one was lucky – he survived:
Here’s the latest blog entry from the Langholm Moorland blogspot (link here):
Heartbreaking
On 25th September 2012, the blog (see here) showing us the satellite-tracked movements of this year’s Langholm hen harriers had this statement:
“As you will have noticed, it has been a week or so since I have posted any data from Blae, the young female from Langholm. Sadly Blae’s signal indicated that she had died south of Edinburgh about two weeks ago, her carcass was recovered and is undergoing a postmortem“.
So, when that statement was written, “about two weeks ago” would place this harrier’s death ‘about’ 11th September. Today is 8th October, so we’re coming up to ‘about’ a month since she died.
Today there’s a new statement on the Langholm harrier blog:
“No news yet on Blae’s postmortem results“.
How long does it take to do a simple postmortem on a single harrier carcass?! Even if it took, say, a week for the bird’s dead body to be recovered, the lab has had almost three weeks to conduct a procedure that shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours at most.
An article published in the Southern Reporter on Sunday (see here) includes a quote from Langholm Project Manager Graeme Dalby, who says:
“The timescale for results being released can vary from a couple of weeks to much longer depending on the lab’s workload“.
So either this lab is inundated with the carcasses of dead animals or not enough urgency is being afforded to this case. Or perhaps we are being unfair on the lab – perhaps they have already done the PM and released the results but the Langholm Project folk are not sharing them? We know there are quite a few things that the Langholm team are keeping quiet about…more on those in a later blog.
Meanwhile, Blae’s sibling, Barry, appears to be still alive, for now (see here).
In August we blogged about the publicly-available maps showing the dispersal movements of the two satellite-tagged hen harriers from Langholm (see here). We also blogged about a map update earlier in September (see here).
Since then there’s been a further update (Weds 19th Sept) although mysteriously, the update (see here) only discusses the movements of the male harrier (Barry). There’s no mention whatsoever about his female sibling (Blae). Suspicious?
Time will tell. Although anyone going to the public hen harrier seminars at the Watson Bird Centre tomorrow (see here for programme) might just want to ask there.
Here’s a rare opportunity to look into the world of the ‘modern’ gamekeeper. These are extracts taken from a Scottish gamekeeper’s diary. We were shown these diaries by someone from within the keepering world who wishes to remain anonymous, for obvious reasons. Worryingly, the diary-writer is still currently employed as a full-time gamekeeper. We’ve split the entries into different years – the following is from 2008. See how many wildlife crime offences you can spot:
Thurs 3rd January: set baits in Glen S & right hill
Sat 5th January: John P came for rabbits & Alpha
Weds 16th January: Gassed fox at Black Brae Lower
Fri 25th January: Eggs out on Top Moor + rabbit for crows by Big Wood
Fri 1st February: Lifted eggs Top M & set out at edge of Middle.
Tues 5th February: Shot dog Glen S.
Mon 11th February: Lifted eggs Top M. Shot kestrel.
Tues 19th February: Baits out at Harry’s, rabbits & hares
Thurs 21st February: Pick up gins from Glen side. Got female peregrine.
Fri 29th February: Done traps at S Corner and more eggs out. Saw pair peregrines at Millers.
Sat 1st March: baits out with Jim at Middle. Missed a cock harrier. Staked pigeon at Millers.
Sun 2nd March: Got peregrines at Millers. Eggs out on Broadfield.
Tues 4th March: Got 2 buzzards, 2 rooks + 9 crows. Rabbit out for others.
Fri 7th March: Got a vixen at T Moor. Put out birds by low fence.
Sun 9th March: Eggs at Glen side again.
Weds 12th March: Eggs up, tracks seen. Done baits at Gordon’s. Sheep shot for midden 3.
Thurs 13th March: Got buzzard at Becks. More rabbits out. Alpha.
Sat 15th March: Picked ups crows & eggs Langsmere. Saw 2 harriers.
Tues 18th March: Set eggs JB & baits southside.
Weds 19th March: Got a cat on Red moor.
Thurs 20th March: Got SE owl & set 59 eggs Lower bank.
Sat 22nd March: 1 harrier at Langsmere. Merlins at Merv’s.
Mon 24th March: Snares at Glen side. 26 foxes so far.
Tues 25th March: Missed harrier at Langsmere. Baited Broadfield again.
Thurs 27th March: Got a badger with John S. He heard gos behind Big Wood.
Fri 28th March: Lifted eggs Lower bank. More set at Harry’s.
Mon 31st March: Crow cages out Big Wood.
Wed 2nd April: Harrier trap empty.
Thurs 3rd April: Pair eagles seen southside.
Fri 4th April: Put eggs T Moor. Shot rabbits for baits.
Sun 6th April: Crow cages done. Eggs checked.
Weds 9th April: Baits out Glen side. Tom collected pigeons.
Fri 11th April: Got buzzards at JB.
Tues 15th April: Gos in crow cage. Gave it to PL.
Fri 18th April: Baited traps & re-did snares.
Tues 22nd April: Eggs & hares out in the Sloughs.
Sun 27th April: Eggs lifted Sloughs.
Fri 2nd May: Put out more baits.
Sat 3rd May: Pigeons staked upper side. Got tiercel.
Weds 7th May: Set eggs.
Thurs 15th May: Put baits out at Bothy.
Sat 17th May: 3 buzzards in crow cage. Re-set.
Thurs 22nd May: Two Peres at Glen side. Got one.
Weds 28th May: Eggs lifted more baits out. Rabbit gone at Bothy.
Mon 2nd June: Set pheasant eggs at Big Wood. Did crow traps.
Sun 8th June: Litter of foxes gassed behind GateBridge.
Fri 13th June: Partridges into pen.
Mon 23rd June: Put eggs out Broadfield.
Weds 2nd July: Gassed another litter with Paul at Stebb’s.
Fri 1st August: Got a short eared owl. Lifted eggs Broadfield.
Tues 5th August: Moved crow cages to RT.
Sun 10th August: Spar caught. Trap re-set.
Fri 12th Sept: 42 brace at Sam’s but harrier seen.
Fri 26th Sept: New snares out.
Thurs 2nd Oct: Two eagles seen Glen S. 1 buzzard in crow trap at T Moor.
Tues 7th Oct: Hare baits out Langsmere.
Thurs 16th Oct: Shot sheep for midden 3.
Mon 20th Oct: Pigeons 5pm
Weds 22nd Oct: Shot a kestrel at Sam’s.
Fri 31st Oct: Merlin pair done North Bothy.
Sat 8th Nov: 6 pigeons put out Big Wood.
Tues 25th Nov: Baits out with Paul.
Fri 19th Dec: Put grouse on T Moor.
Very pleased to see regular updates are being made available to show us the movements of the 2012 sat-tagged Langholm harrier chicks. Well done Cat Barlow, the project officer at the Langholm Moorland Education Project, who is providing these updates on her blog, called ‘Making the Most of Moorlands’ (see here for latest maps).
The latest update (Sept 10th) reveals the male (Barry) has headed south while the female (Blae) has gone north. Things should start to get interesting now…
A couple of weeks ago we blogged about an article penned by the well-known advocate of ‘raptor control’, Magnus Linklater (see here).
He’s back again, this time as a guest blogger on Mark Avery’s ‘Standing up for Nature’ blog (see here). For a masterclass in arrogance and ignorance, you’d struggle to find a better example than his latest offering. You might think that “one of the country’s most respected journalists” (according to his editor) would have gone away to consider the factual inaccuracies that were pointed out by many knowledgeable readers of his original article, and then come back to discuss each point in turn. He didn’t manage to do that. Instead, he dug in his heels and stated, “I stand by everything I wrote“.
As is becoming more and more obvious, Linklater’s views seem to be representative of the majority of those involved in grouse-shooting, especially landowners and gamekeepers, judging by current and previous comments made by these groups. It’s easy to try and deflect attention from the real issue (continuing illegal raptor persecution) by attacking the UK’s largest conservation charity (RSPB), who just happen to be involved in exposing these illegal practices. What isn’t as easy is to convince an increasingly well-informed public that [driven] grouse-shooting shouldn’t now be banned.
For our anagram-loving readers, here’s another one: Kill Tuns Manager
Two chicks from this year’s hen harrier nest at the Langholm Moor Demonstration Project have been fitted with satellite tags so their dispersal movements can be monitored.
In previous years the project has failed to release most of these data to the public, even though as tax payers we’re all part-funding this project (see previous blogs here, here, here, here). We’ve all got our opinions about why we’ve been kept in the dark about these birds’ movements, especially those ones whose signals mysteriously stopped working when the birds were visiting certain grouse moors – although strangely we were allowed to view the movements of the harrier who travelled to Spain (‘McPedro’).
This year, maps showing the recent movements of the 2012 Langholm harriers have been posted on a public blog called ‘Making the Most of Moorlands’, which is written by the project officer at the Langholm Moorland Education Project (see here for maps).
It’s great to have an opportunity to follow these two young harriers. Let’s hope the maps are kept updated so we can all be kept informed.
For fuck’s sake.
Raptor Persecution UK 