RSPB: Number of Hen Harriers killed or missing reaches new high
A new RSPB report – titled unambiguously Hen Harriers in the firing line – shows record numbers of Hen Harriers being illegally killed or going missing in suspicious circumstances over the past five years, and that the majority of the 102 incidents occurred on or near grouse moors. Hen Harriers are a rare, protected bird […]
Two Hen Harriers ‘missing’ from RSPB’s Geltsdale Reserve
The RSPB has reported this week that two male Hen Harriers have suddenly ‘disappeared’ from their nest sites at Geltsdale in Northern England. The birds vanished within a few days of each other. Another Geltsdale male Hen Harrier was found shot dead on neighbouring land in spring 2023. A Red-listed species in the UK due […]
RSPB: ‘Relief’ brood meddling ends, but still pushing licencing
The RSPB – the nation’s largest and most influential bird charity of course – has released a statement on the news that Natural England has decided not to approve a new licence for ‘brood meddling’, a conservation sham sanctioned by Defra (the government department which sanctioned the iniquities of the equally sham ‘badger cull’). Brood […]
RSPB: The Economics of Driven Grouse Shooting Report
The RSPB (the “UK’s largest nature conservation charity, inspiring everyone to give nature a home and secure a healthy environment for wildlife’) recently published a report called ‘Driven Grouse Shooting – Assessing the economic and social impacts of future options for grouse moor management‘ Or did they? Curiously, this detailed and over 100-pages long report […]
Avian Flu: RSPB calls for ban on bird releases by shooting industry
“To help limit the catastrophic spread of Avian Influenza, the RSPB is calling for an immediate moratorium on the release of captive-bred gamebirds and Mallards for shooting in the UK this year. The call is for the UK and devolved governments and the shooting industry to take a precautionary approach to limit the spread of […]
Hen Harriers: Illegal killing major cause of death, says RSPB
As everyone but the shooting industry acknowledges, illegal killing IS the main cause of death in Hen Harriers aged between one and two years, and a major cause of death in birds under one year, according to a new paper, published in the journal Biological Conservation, and led by the RSPB. According to a press […]
RSPB Investigations Officer: Reflections on a poisoning
RSPB Investigations Officer: Reflections on a poisoning “Another issue that keeps rearing its head is the lack of any consequences for Stroud’s employers.” On 5 October 2022 gamekeeper Matthew Stroud was convicted of a long list of offences at Norwich Magistrates Court including killing protected birds – yet he escaped a prison sentence. Now Tom […]
RSPB’s review of lowland ‘gamebird’ shooting: “Bleak picture”
Has the RSPB finally run out of patience with the shooting industry? The country’s largest bird charity speaks out – but in an oddly low-key way. Tied for over a century to a Constitution enshrined in 1904 which insists it should be ‘neutral’ on shooting, the RSPB (by far the most important and most effective […]
RSPB predator control
RSPB PREDATOR CONTROL HITStatement 2018 Whilst working on the Barlow Hunt Investigation in spring 2018, HIT was contacted by a a whistleblower about the RSPB’s Curlew Management Trial Programme. The whistleblower was highly concerned about the scale of Larsen trapping and employment of a bloodsports enthusiast on a Peak District RSPB reserve. They asked HIT […]
Lead shot to be phased out by 2029
Emma Hardy, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) has announced “significant new restrictions on lead ammunition”, aiming to “safeguard British wildlife and waterways” from its harmful effects (a disingenuous statement we discuss below). The measures will prohibit shots with over 1% lead and bullets exceeding 3% lead content, and ammunition […]
Ban Grouse Shooting Debate June 2025
At almost exactly 16:30 on Monday 30 June, the first of a raft of Conservative politicians reading from their BASC briefing sheets, stood up to start a ‘debate’ about banning grouse shooting. The government had already responded to Wild Justice’s petition, saying to the 104,342 of us that had signed it that it “considers that […]
Animal Aid report: Killing Our Countryside
“I don’t believe that you can profess to love nature, the environment or our wildlife and support the shooting of huge numbers of non-native pheasants & partridges, known to some as ‘Gamebirds’.” That’s Chris Packham’s opening paragraph for a Foreword to Animal Aid’s latest report into the shooting industry. Titled Killing Our Countryside, it looks […]
Five reasons the Planning and Infrastructure bill will be disastrous for British wildlife
Labour’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill aims to allow companies to pay to trash the British countryside. It will do away with existing checks and balances in the planning system and establish a legal framework allowing developers to destroy irreplaceable natural ecosystems. Corporations will pay into a planned Nature Restoration Fund in order to ‘offset’ the […]
Supreme Court rejects Dartmoor shooter’s appeal and backs wild campers
The UK Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by bird shooters Alexander and Diana Darwall and upheld the right to wild camp on Dartmoor. The victory comes after a years long fight for the right to roam. Hedge fund manager Alexander Darwall first embarked on a legal battle against Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA) in […]
Another Hen Harrier vanishes on grouse moor in Yorkshire Dales National Park
There has barely been time to digest the appalling news of the ‘disappearance’ of two breeding male Hen Harriers from Cumbria’s RSPB’s Geltsdale Reserve, but there’s already news of another suspicious disappearance of a Hen Harrier to get our heads around. This time it’s a young female called ‘Sita’. She was satellite-tagged in Lancashire’s Forest […]
Hen Harrier Action Launches Wildlife Crime Detection Dog Fundraising Appeal
n 2024, Protect the Wild was proud to co-sponsor an ‘Action for Wildlife Day’ organised by the charity Hen Harrier Action (HHA). HHA celebrates and protects the wildlife of our uplands, including (as its name suggests) the UK’s most persecuted bird of prey, the Hen Harrier. Why the most persecuted? That would be because of […]
Four more satellite-tagged Hen Harriers have vanished since January
As we reported earlier this month, on 14 April 2025 Natural England (NE) quietly released a blog titled “Conclusion of Hen Harrier Brood Management Trial”. In it John Holmes, NE’s Director, Strategy – Landscape, Peat and Species, wrote that “The experimental trial of hen harrier ‘brood management’ has ended…illegal killing of hen harriers has continued, […]
Open consultation: Heather and grass burning in England
In 1984 a Royal Commission on environmental pollution recommended a ban on straw burning to come into force within five years. In June 1993 a new law, the Crop Residues (Burning) Regulations 1993, took effect in England and Wales. The law prohibited the burning of various crop residues – straw or stubble remaining on the […]
Lincolnshire farmer/gamekeeper sentenced for crimes relating to raptor persecution
Following a trial at Lincolnshire Magistrates Court earlier this month, farmer/gamekeeper John Bryant, 40, of West Ashby, Horncastle was found guilty of multiple offences following a police investigation into the illegal killing of a Red Kite and two Common Buzzards over a five year period. A statement released by Lincolnshire Police said that Bryant “used […]
Hen Harier Brood Meddling: “Illegal killing of Hen Harriers has continued.”
On the 14th March 2025 a blog on the Natural England (NE) website announced the ‘Conclusion of the Hen Harrier Brood Management Trial’. With a curious mix of exaggeration and understatement, John Holmes, NE’s Director, Strategy – Landscape, Peat and Species, wrote that “The experimental trial of hen harrier ‘brood management’ has ended, concluding that […]
Are ‘organic farms’ as nature-friendly as we think? Not always…
Organic farms are celebrated for being better for wildlife than conventional farms. This is undoubtedly true, with research showing that organic enterprises support much more biodiversity than other farms. But as a horrified Protect the Wild supporter recently discovered, wildlife persecution still occurs on some organic farms. Protect the Wild breaks it down. On 8 […]
Tarras Valley, Hen Harriers, and the lies of the shooting industry
Last week yet another young Hen Harrier disappeared ‘in suspicious circumstances’ (the phrase used in official announcements which essentially means ‘we know what happened, but we can’t prove it’). ‘Red’ hatched in a nest on the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve in 2024 and ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in County Durham in January 2025. Charlie […]
Shooting industry’s voluntary plan to phase-out lead ammunition has failed
Several shooting organisations proposed a voluntary five-year plan for shooting enthusiasts to phase out the use of lead shotgun ammunition in 2020. A new study reveals that the effort has failed. The majority of shooters have not opted to phase out the use of lead shot when killing red grouse, much to the detriment of […]
FOI reveals hunting is being allowed in some of England’s ‘finest’ spaces for Nature
England’s Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) are the “finest sites for wildlife and natural features” in the country, according to the public body responsible for their protection, Natural England. Nonetheless, a Freedom of Information request has revealed that hunting is being permitted in some of these precious Nature sites. Precious pockets of Nature England […]
The Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Order 2019
The Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Order 2019 The Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Order 2019 came into force on 01 December 2019. The legislation transposed the EU Invasive Alien Species (IAS) Regulation (1143/2014) (which came into force on 1 January 2015) which imposes strict restrictions on a list of species known as ‘species […]
Bird shooting ends on huge Scottish estate after takeover by conservation company
Bird killing in Britain is an incredibly normalised affair. This is evident in the fact that of all the issues Protect the Wild campaigns on, shooting appears to be the only one that the Labour government plans to do nothing about. Recently, however, blasting birds out of the sky became just that little bit less […]
Government fails Nature again, rejecting call for grouse shooting ban
The government has rejected a call from the Wild Justice team to ban driven grouse shooting. In a parliamentary petition, the Wild Justice founders said a ban was needed because the practice is “bad for people, the environment and wildlife.” In response, the government revealed that it has “no plans” to ban driven grouse shooting, […]
Ten reasons why 2024 was a great year for wildlife
It’s that time of year again when we remind ourselves that 2024 was, in many ways, a good year for wildlife! The Tories were ousted, and the hunting industry is terrified that its days are numbered. Here’s ten reasons why this year was a positive one. 1. The argument has been won! Trail hunting IS […]
YOUGOV: survey shows Brits’ mixed views on hunting wildlife
A recent YouGov poll attempted to gauge the British public’s views on hunting. The findings will be a blow to hunters who want to be recognised as a protected minority group in the UK so they can enjoy their pastime in peace. The poll results suggest that if the hunters’ demand were decided by a […]
Snares, hunts, and shoots: Billionaire duke’s vast estate no haven for wildlife
The Green Britain Foundation recently obtained undercover footage of a fox trapped in a snare on the Duke of Westminster’s estate in Cheshire. As the Mirror reported, activists who discovered and filmed the snared fox, released it. But they said many other snares were set in one wood alone on the 11,000 acre Eaton Estate. […]
Undercover footage of raptor persecution ‘a game changer’
On 22 October Channel 4’s Alex Thomson introduced extraordinary video footage captured by the RSPB Investigations Team of three gamekeepers on a grouse moor in North Yorkshire, discussing (and then off-camera killing), a Hen Harrier. While that may not sound particularly ‘game changing’, what makes this footage especially important is that the audio quality is […]
Serious outbreak of Avian Flu found in pheasants
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has reported an outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI H5N5) in 20 pheasants released onto a Worcestershire shoot. The outbreak was recorded on APHA’s weekly updated database for week 39 – in other words between 23-29 September – in Wychavon. No precise location details are provided and […]
Nothing glorious about the ‘Inglorious 12th’
The 12th of August (the ‘Inglorious 12th’) marks the start of a key ‘season’ for the shooting industry. Over the next 121 days that industry will aim to sell hundreds of thousands of Red Grouse to shooters to kill.
See you at Action for Wildlife Day!
Protect the Wild is heading to the Peak District! On August 10th – just two days before the Inglorious 12th and the start of the grouse-killing season – both Rob and Charlie will be at Carsington Water in Derbyshire for an Action for Wildlife Day. Organised by Hen Harrier Action, the event is being held […]
GUILTY: Ashley Game Farm convicted of multiple pesticide offences
The discovery of a poisoned Buzzard next to a poisoned bait by a member of the public led to the search of a Pheasant and Red-legged Partridge breeding farm in Chulmleigh, Devon conducted by Devon and Cornwall Police in March 2021. A number of pesticide offences were discovered including the presence of Carbofuran, the same […]
Trees and the Law
Trees and the Law Trees provide crucial habitat for much of the UK’s wildlife. Birds nest in holes and in their canopies, small mammals live safe in their root systems, bats roost (often in huge numbers) in their trunks. Woodland is of course composed of a full range of plants including trees and shrubs, climbers, […]
Glue Traps and the Law
Glue Traps and the Law Glue traps, sometimes referred to as sticky boards or glue boards, are used to trap mice or rats. Non-drying glue is placed on a board and as animals walk across them they are trapped and unable to escape, their fur or limbs becoming increasingly stuck to the glue as they try […]
Northern Ireland: Red Kite euthanised after shooting
A Red Kite was so seriously injured in a shooting last month that she had to be euthanised by a vet treating her. Well-known throughout the Mournes, in Co Down, the bird, nicknamed Vivienne after the identifying tags ‘6V’ attached to her wing, was found injured in Newry, on Saturday, April 20. X-rays found that […]
Yorkshire Dales: new report proves it’s a raptor persecution hot spot
The Yorkshire Dales Bird of Prey ‘Partnership’ (YDBPP) recently published a ‘Bird of Prey Evidence Report’ which supposedly documents the status of raptors in the ‘national park’ and provides details of confirmed illegal persecution between 2022-2023. England’s ‘national parks’ are notorious persecution hotspots, so any truly independent analysis should slam the management of the grouse […]
Yet another raptor killed in Peak District National Park
Derbyshire Police are working with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) after an adult female Peregrine Falcon was discovered shot in the Peak District at Hey Clough off the A628 Woodhead Pass, near Crowden, on Saturday, April 4. Like all birds of prey, peregrines are fully protected by law (see our page […]
VICTORY! Wild Justice proves that trigger-happy Tories acted unlawfully
Campaign group Wild Justice has announced the fantastic news that it has won a legal challenge against the government. The group took action after it found out that Defra had approved gamebird licences that Wild Justice knew were unlawful. Land owners who want to release pheasants and partridges near a Special Protected Area (SPA) must […]
The Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act The Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill was passed into law in March 2024. The Act was introduced primarily to address raptor persecution and ensure that the management of grouse moors and related activities “are undertaken in an environmentally sustainable and welfare conscious manner”. The Bill implements the recommendations […]
The Muirburn Bill – an achievement but nowhere near the end
Yesterday Holyrood passed the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill, stating on their website that “Scotland’s wildlife will benefit from increased protection thanks to a new law passed by the Scottish Parliament.” The new law has been designed to implement the recommendations set out in the Werritty Review which was published in December 2019. Undoubtedly […]
White-tailed Eagle shot in Ireland
A young female White-tailed Eagle was found shot dead in Ireland last week. Part of a long-running national reintroduction programme run by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) she had been released at Lough Derg, Co Donegal two years ago, and was found by Cranberry Lough 180km to the south.
We can all help tackle the scourge of egg collecting
In late February a serial egg thief admitted to illegally hoarding thousands of rare birds’ eggs he’d stolen. Daniel Lingham, 71, appeared at Norwich Magistrates Court where he pleaded guilty to five offences involving 2995 eggs, including taking eggs from a non-schedule 1 wild bird (a Nightjar) on 9 June 2023 at Holt, Norfolk. Lingham […]
Illegal to cut a hedge in Spring? Yes – and no…
Despite what the weather outside might suggest (it’s cool and wet across the UK as of writing), wild birds – in an admirable show of resilience – will soon be breeding again. This is the start of a critical time of the year when birds are looking for safe places to nest and to rebuild […]
What is ‘pheasant shooting’?
What is ‘pheasant shooting’? Put simply, pheasant shooting is the annual slaughter of millions of birds, which are shot as live targets between October and the end of January (the so-called ‘open season’ for pheasant shooting). But just as with ‘grouse shooting’ this isn’t something that can or should be put simply. It is a […]
122 Hen Harriers confirmed ‘missing’ or illegally killed in UK since 2018
Using data from the RSPB and Natural England, the UK’s leading website on the illegal persecution of birds of prey, Raptor Persecution UK (RPUK), published the details yesterday of each of 122 Hen Harriers confirmed ‘missing’ or illegally killed in the UK since 2018. Hen Harriers are the most persecuted bird of prey in Britain […]
What is grouse shooting?
What is grouse shooting? Put simply, grouse shooting is the annual slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Red Grouse, which are shot as live targets between the now infamous 12th of August (the ‘Ingorious 12th’) and December 10th (the period which makes up the so-called ‘open season’ for shooting Red Grouse). But just as with […]
Derbyshire man convicted of stealing Peregrine eggs
A man has been jailed after abseiling down a quarry cliff face to steal Peregrine eggs. Christopher Wheeldon was caught on hidden cameras set up by the RSPB as he abseiled down the limestone quarry (belonging to construction company Tarmac Group) in April 2023. Derbyshire Police were alerted and Wheeldon was identified and arrested. Search […]
Post-Brexit government fails to protect nesting birds, rivers and hedgerows
As 2023 came to an end, rules that protected rivers and hedgerows expired. Now major charities are calling on the government to give basic protection to nature on farms. Until 31 December 2023, farmers were obliged to follow regulations, known as cross compliance, if they wanted to receive rural payments from the government. The cross […]
Another Red Kite poisoned with bendiocarb
Police in Norfolk are appealing for information after tests revealed a Red Kite discovered dead in North Creake had died from suspected insecticide poisoning. Officers from Norfolk Police’s Operation Randall team have been investigating the death of the protected bird of prey, which was found by a member of the public in a field in […]
