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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The grouse shooting industry’s ‘illusion of truth’
“141 hen harrier chicks fledge as encouraging population growth recorded” (Natural England). “Record high for Hen harrier population in England” (Moorland Association). “Another record year for hen harriers as 141 chicks fledge in England” (BASC). “Population of Hen Harrier in England experiences boom” (Hexham Courant). “Hen harrier chick numbers grow for seventh year in a […]
THREE more Hen Harriers ‘disappear’ on grouse moors
The RSPB has posted a press release today which describes how THREE more Hen Harriers (one of the UK’s most persecuted birds of prey) have ‘vanished’ on grouse moors in northern England. All three of them have been killed within days of the ‘Inglorious 12th’, the start of the 121-day blood-soaked season the industry uses […]
Hen Harrier ‘brood meddling’ slammed by Wild Justice
The campaign group Wild Justice (run by Dr Mark Avery, a former Director of Conservation at the RSPB, Dr Ruth Tingay, who set up and runs the highly-influential Raptor Persecution UK (RPUK) blog, and Chris Packham, the most popular conservationist in the whole of the UK) has just published Meddling on the Moors, a new […]
OPINION: The REALITY behind the ‘Glorious 12th’ – traps, snares and wildlife crime
The only ‘predators’ tolerated on grouse moors are the humans who pay to kill Red Grouse, not eat them to survive. Which means that cruel and indiscriminate trapping and snaring and the illegal killing of birds of prey is carried out on a vast scale all year round.
“Huge blow for struggling species” as yet more Hen Harriers ‘disappear’
The suspicious disappearance of two rare Hen Harriers is “a huge blow for a struggling species”, the RSPB has said. The UK’s most persecuted bird of prey, an adult Hen Harrier ‘disappeared’ from the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire on 4 May after its satellite-tag stopped transmitting, and another bird went missing in what the […]
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 […]
“Sickened”: Hen Harrier had head pulled off while still alive
Natural England (whose useless scheme to boost populations of the rare Hen Harrier has been slammed repeatedly by conservationists) says it is “sickened by evidence of persecution” of Hen Harriers after a staggering twenty of the rare birds ‘went missing’ from areas managed for grouse shooting in northern England in the past year. Hen Harrier […]
Sun sets on failed Peak District Bird of Prey Initiative
According to a statement by the Peak District National Park Authority, the Peak District Bird of Prey Initiative is to close as persecution cases continue. Set up in 2011 by the National Park Authority, the ‘initiative’ was intended to restore populations of birds of prey (or raptors) to 1990s levels, but has crashed amidst ongoing […]
Anu: yet another Hen Harrier ‘disappears’
To quote the RSPB, “Hopes dashed for vanished Hen Harrier Anu, whose tag was found cut off after roosting on grouse moor”. Anu, a satellite tagged Hen Harrier, vanished after roosting near Upper Midhope in the Peak District National Park – on land managed for driven grouse shooting. RSPB Investigations Officers located the bird’s tag […]
Hen Harrier nest attacked and chicks stamped to death
North Yorkshire Hen Harrier chicks found dead with broken bones after ‘deliberate’ attack The raptor persecution hot spot of North Yorkshire (a ‘black hole for raptors‘ according to the Yorkshire Post) is in the news again following a (belated) press release from the local police. In an area dominated by grouse moors and frequent reports […]
The Killing Continues: Shooting industry driving raptor persecution
The latest RSPB Birdcrime Report confirms that the shooting industry continues to drive the illegal persecution of birds of prey, listing 108 confirmed incidents across Britain in 2021. The tally of dead birds includes 50 Common Buzzards, 16 Red Kites, seven Peregrines and three Goshawks. Birdcrime is the UK’s only annual and comprehensive report of […]
Another satellite-tagged Hen Harrier ‘disappears’ in suspicious circumstances
Another satellite-tagged Hen Harrier ‘disappears’ in suspicious circumstances near a grouse moor. “It is believed the protected species could have been shot down or killed unlawfully.” Under the title “Officers team up with partners in search for missing hen harrier“, Durham Constabulary has posted a press release describing a multi-agency search for Sia, a satellite-tagged […]
Hen Harriers and greenwashing
Hen Harriers and greenwashing – the shooting industry avoids clamping down on persecution Thousands of pages have been written about Natural England’s ‘fix’ for the ongoing illegal persecution of Hen Harriers on grouse shooting moors, but as not everybody has read them it’s perhaps worth a quick recap in light of yet another attempt […]
