It’s not an easy life being a Hen Harrier. I was born into a harsh, windswept environment around 400 metres high in the uplands of Northern England where my kind live on the ground. It can be cold, wet, and sometimes both at the same time whilst we are in the nest. Occasionally it can be very hot, too hot, during high summer. Whatever the conditions young Hen Harriers like me need continuous shelter from all that the weather can throw at us if we are to thrive. During this period all we have to keep us alive, helping us to grow is our mother keeping us warm underneath her body, wrapped in her feathers. Of course I didn’t know that in the beginning, I was just growing in some sort of weird round box thing, which seemed to be getting smaller every day, or was it just me getting bigger? It took me about a month before I could break free from the box, which I now know is called an egg. How my mother stopped herself from getting bored whilst she was just sitting there keeping us warm and dry during this time was truly amazing.
Breaking through the eggshell was exhausting but I made it and rolled out into my new world to meet my mother for the first time. Over the next week more eggs were broken open from the inside as my brothers and sisters joined our family. We were so tiny and mother was huge, but she was gentle and kind keeping us warm when it was cold, dry when it rained and feeding us tiny pieces or meat when we were hungry, which to be honest was most of the time. I only saw my father occasionally as he delivered food to our mother who brought it to us. My mother was very pretty; and my father looked magnificent with grey feathers and black tipped wings. I knew that one day I would look like him. I grew quickly over the next 4 or 5 weeks building strong muscles to power my wings so that I too could fly free, no longer bound to the earth. It took a lot of hard work and practice and a few ignominious crash landings but eventually it happened. I could fly and it felt wonderful.
During my time in the nest we were visited by humans, strange creatures obviously incapable of flying but they were friendly enough. Sometimes they would just look at us, mutter something in a language that I didn’t understand and then leave. Sometimes they would leave food for us on a stick that they had put near the nest; but mostly they just sat on the far hillside watching over us, protecting us from some unseen danger. Of course I had no idea what was happening really but non-the-less their presence felt comforting and I was happy to see them.
As the weeks passed I roamed further from the nest developing my flying skills and learning to hunt food for myself but I always went back to join my family at night. Then when I was about 10 or 12 weeks old I decided to leave home for good. It wasn’t an easy decision to leave my parents and brothers and sisters; but the wide world was calling me and it was time to make my own way.
On one of my journeys, far from home but still in the uplands, I came across another human and drifted by to take a closer look. That was a mistake. This one pointed a weird looking stick at me, I heard a loud bang and felt something hit me, tearing into my body. It was unbelievably painful and I lost some feathers but I managed to turn and flew away before I was hit again. That day my life changed forever and I wasn’t even 1 year old. It’s not just me who suffered like this, it is happening to Hen Harriers, my kind, everywhere in the uplands of Northern England. I think about them every day. Thousands killed by men with guns so that they can kill more things with guns just for their own selfish fun. Some will tell you that it is just another case of human / Hen Harrier conflict; but how can that be? I am not in conflict with humans I have no wish to see them harmed in any way. They will tell you that we should talk and work together to solve the conflict. What they mean is that they want to talk and talk and do nothing to stop us being killed. Other people that they represent want to make us live somewhere, anywhere else away from our homeland in the uplands. The law is supposed to protect us, humans are supposed to protect us; but some of them will never listen to anyone, they will not obey the law. All that they want to do is kill us, all of us. All we want is to be left alone. Is that too much to ask?
We spend most of the time wandering alone but in autumn and over winter we meet up and spend time together. The older Harriers, the ones who survived, tell us of old dreams and past glories and how they survived the slaughter. Many of the tales are difficult to listen to but if we are to survive another year and hopefully have a family of our own then these are hard lessons that we all must learn.
A salutary lesson for young Hen Harriers told by a survivor who was shot and injured:
…..and how well I remember that terrible day
How our blood stained the moor and the water
And of how in that hell that they call upland fells
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny, he was waiting, he’d primed himself well
He showered us with bullets and he rained us with shell
And in five minutes flat, he’d blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us all in to pieces.
Those that were left, well we tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks, I kept myself alive
Though around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big shotgun shell knocked me arse over head
And when I woke up in the veterinary hospital bed
And saw what it had done, well I wished I was dead
I never knew there were worse things than dying’
Those words, adapted, were written in 1971 by the Scottish folk singer Eric Bogle about the pointless slaughter of around 130,000 soldiers during the WW1 battle of Gallipoli between February 1915 and January 1916. However; those words could have been written as a lament about futile slaughter of Hen Harriers in the killing fields of Northern England. The only difference being that the battle of Gallipoli ended 107 years ago and the battle to prevent the killing of Hen Harriers, for profit or pleasure, in the northern uplands remains an ongoing, everyday struggle.
The latest RSPB Birdcrime report covering 2022 contains a litany of offences against birds of prey. Of the 51 cases reported 27 involve the killing of species that are supposedly afforded special protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act [10 Red Kites, 4 Goshawk, 6 Peregrines, 6 Hen Harriers and 1 Barn Owl]. The most disturbing crimes of them all, if there is an increasing degree of horror, are the reports of:
- a brood of four Hen Harrier chicks being stamped to death on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park,
- Dagda a bird breeding on the RSPB reverse at Geltsdale, Cumbria shot to death on a neighbouring grouse moor
- the killing of a two year old satellite tagged male Hen Harrier called Free on the Yorkshire / Cumbria border. According to the post mortem result he had been shot before someone killed him by pulling off one of his legs and his head whilst he was still alive
It takes a very special type of person to think that this abominable cruelty, stamping chicks to death or killing a bird by ripping his head off, is acceptable or ‘normal’ behaviour. Additionally it is very likely that the person(s) responsible for stamping the chicks to death is a licenced shotgun and firearms owner and we do know that the person(s) responsible for killing Free possesses a shotgun because he was shot before he was finally killed by being torn apart. Permits to hold firearms are authorised by the Police. How can people with these barbaric tendencies be deemed suitable to possess firearms? Clearly there were failings in the vetting process in both cases either during the initial application or the subsequent renewal processes. There is a vast number of scientific studies to show that violence towards animals is frequently a precursor to violence towards people and it is therefore not unreasonable to fear that the individuals who used extreme violence to kill these Hen Harriers pose a threat to society in general.
These crimes have been strongly condemned by David Butterworth, the Chief Executive of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, he said:
“It’s astonishing that 21 Hen Harriers have disappeared across Northern England in 12-months, and sickening to hear that ‘Free’, a Natural England tagged hen harrier has been found dead, headless and missing a leg in an area of moorland in the National Park”.
Well done David for speaking out in such powerful, unequivocal language. The full article can be read here.
Of course it is not just the Yorkshire Dales, a so called ‘protected landscape’, that witnesses Hen Harrier persecution, it also occurs in the North Pennines AONB [now rebranded North Pennines National Landscape, NPNL]. Dagda, was a male Hen Harrier that was fitted with a satellite tag by the RSPB before he fledged from the United Utilities Estate in the Forest of Bowland in 2022. He was also killed in the NPNL ‘protected landscape’. Having left the safety of Bowland he wandered widely across the North of England, which is normal behaviour for young males, even though spending time on grouse moors is fraught with danger.
It is not unreasonable for you to assume that the Geltsdale RSPB reserve would be a safe place for Hen Harriers to breed. Unfortunately you would be wrong. The reserve maybe a safe haven for Hen Harriers to breed but it is surrounded by grouse moors and several males have ‘disappeared’ previously after crossing the boundary fence. Dagda was about to join the cohort of the ‘disappeared’ or dead when satellite tag data indicated that he had crossed the boundary on to the neighbouring Knarsdale Estate on 8 May; exactly one month after the damage to his tail had been noted by the reserve staff.
The evidence from the satellite tag is quite clear; Dagda remained on the Knarsdale estate and was shot dead at some time during 9 and 10 May. Highly trained members of the RSPB Investigations Team located Dagda with sophisticated tracking equipment and his body was subsequently recovered by the Northumbria Police and a member of the National Wildlife Crime Unit [NWCU]. The post mortem examination concluded that Dagda had been shot, not once but on at least two separate occasions. The final shot was to prove fatal. Dagda had lived for just 11 months after he was fitted with the satellite tag in the Forest of Bowland.
Having survived the winter Dagda settled on the RSPB reserve at Geltsdale, Cumbria in early April this year and quickly found a mate, built a nest and his female began incubating their eggs. Dagda was the first satellite tagged bird to breed at Geltsdale and the staff were delighted. Unfortunately that euphoria was short lived when on 8 April reserve staff noticed that he had sustained damage to his tail feathers, a clear indication that he had been shot.
What a sad reflection on the humanity; the desire by some individuals to kill any and all wildlife, whether they are legally specially protected or not, if it gets in their way. But surely in this case all was not lost. The crime scene was identified, Dagda’s body was recovered by the Police and the cause of death, he was shot, was confirmed by pathologists and the potential suspect list was short. This case had all of the building blocks for a swift investigation from the outset. It is now 8 months since Dagda’s body was recovered by the Police and yet we have heard nothing about the outcome of their investigations. Will we ever hear anything about it? Perhaps. Then again perhaps not, at least not a positive outcome with the offender(s) being sentenced by the court which will bring justice for Dagda.
These three cases highlighted in the report are not the only ones involving Hen Harriers. Birdcrime Report also reports that:
“Between January 2022 and October 2023 the RSPB and Natural England lost a total of 39 satellite-tagged and untagged Hen Harriers across the UK”.
Regrettably this should come as no surprise to people who follow raptor persecution closely. Whilst 39 is truly shocking in reality, because only around 25% of Hen Harrier chicks are tagged each year, the actual number of birds killed is very likely to be three times higher.
A peer-reviewed paper published by the RSPB earlier this year [Ewing et al., 2023], concluded that the annual survival of Hen Harriers in the UK is unusually low, with illegal killing accounting for 27 – 43% of birds under one year of age, and 75% of Hen Harriers aged between one and two years old. The paper also highlighted that mortality – due to illegal persecution – was found to be higher in areas managed for Red Grouse shooting. The full paper, using the most up to date data can be found here;
ewing-et-al-2023-illegal-killing-hh-grouse-moors-biol-consv.pdf
The RSPB paper builds on similar work which analysed satellite tag data supplied by Natural England. The full paper can be read here:
Murgatroyd_et_al-2019-Nature_Communications.pdf
The Moorland Association’s response to the Birdcrime Report
What has the Moorland Association had to say on their website about the abhorrent killing of these three Hen Harriers, or any of the other birds of prey that have been recorded in Birdcrime? Nothing, not a word of condemnation. Not a plea for anyone with information to contact the Police, or Crimestoppers. Nothing.
Rather than denouncing the raptor persecution outlined in Birdcrime they predictably praise the brood manage scheme, something that they lobbied for intensively. This is what they have to say on their website:
“Since the first licence for brood management was available in 2018……………. 485 chicks successfully taking to the wing in England, nine times the number in the six-year period before the trial”.
That’s interesting data; but it leaves more questions than answers and the answers make disturbing reading. The published data reports that there were 34 successful in 2023, which is a maximum of 68 breeding birds. Although in reality we know that some nests were polygamous so there were fewer than 68 birds and it would be better to count breeding females rather than nests. Taking into account that 485 chicks fledged since 2018, when brood management was introduced, where are the other 417? Of course some may have gone unnoticed, some will have died naturally and we know that a large number have been killed. If, and it is if, those possible outcomes account for 50% that leaves a deficit of c200 individuals. In reality we know from the scientific papers published by Murgatroyd et al, using satellite tag data supplied by Natural England, and Ewing et al, using RSPB, satellite tag data, that almost 75% of Hen Harriers are killed or disappear without trace on , or adjacent to grouse moors.
The Moorland Association also claim that brood management “has added a total of 58 chicks to the wild population”.
Actually that isn’t true either. Those 58 chicks were already in the population irrespective of the ludicrous, and frankly immoral, brood management scheme, which NERF has consistently opposed. All that has happened is that the chicks were taken from the wild, reared in a cage then released back to the wild. What was the net increase to the wild population? Precisely nil. Another case of not allowing facts to get in the way of spin?
The response to Birdcrime by the National Gamekeepers Organisation [NGO]
The National Gamekeepers Organisation [NGO] do mention the Birdcrime Report on their website but make some rather interesting disingenuous, incomplete comments including:
“What the report does show is that there is a continuous, year-on-year decline in the number of incidents. Incidents of illegal persecution of birds of prey have fallen to their lowest levels for more than a decade, which can only be seen as a positive”.
On the contrary, what Birdcrime actually shows is that the number of REPORTED cases of raptor persecution was lower in 2022 than the previous year. The RSPB, the National Wildlife Crime Unit [NWCU] do not know what the true scale of the problem is and neither does the NGO. No one knows whether the number of cases of raptor persecution is falling, static or rising and anyone claiming otherwise is at best misguided. What we do know is that c200 birds, suspected of dying as a result of avian flu [HPAI] of prey have been submitted for analysis. Once the tests were completed the carcasses were incinerated with no other examination taking place. It is possible that some of these individuals had died as a result of persecution and therefore the true figure could be significantly higher than the 51 recorded.
“The facts are that birds of prey are thriving on land managed for shooting. The figures show us that all UK raptors are on the increase and the Hen Harrier is in fact doing best on moors managed for grouse shooting”.
What the NGO fails to mention that according to data from RSPB and Natural England satellite tagged birds shows that c75% of Hen Harriers are systematically killed or go missing in suspicious circumstances on or adjacent to grouse moors. The data is published in Birdcrime, appendix 6,
Birdcrime/2022/Birdcrime-report-2022_appendices.pdf
There is the usual ‘Hobson’s Choice’ claim of having a zero tolerance of bird of prey persecution; but once again there is not one single word of condemnation of the brutal killing of the three Hen Harriers in the North of England. Not one word appealing to their members who may have any information about these cases or any other case of bird of prey persecution.
Disappointing but is it a surprise? Certainly not. Could their response have been influenced by the fact that 64% of the cases outlined in the report were on land related to game shooting, or that both of the people convicted of raptor persecution during 2022 were gamekeepers? Could it be because the report states that between 1990 and 2022 191 people were convicted of raptor persecution related cases and 67.5% of those individuals were gamekeepers? Who knows? Only the NGO knows.
The response to Birdcrime by the British Association of Shooting & Conservation [BASC]
BASC has commented on Birdcrime; but other than a bland, almost pointless statement they completely fail to comment about any of the deplorable cases of Hen Harrier persecution or the killing of any of the 51 victims outlined in the report. This is all they have to offer and frankly it is not good enough.
“BASC robustly condemns raptor persecution and will expel any member convicted of such an offence. BASC are joint signatories with other rural organisations to a ‘zero tolerance’ position statement on raptor persecution. While each incident is one too many and a blight on the shooting community, the RSPB’s latest Birdcrime report actually shows a dramatic year-on-year decrease in incidents across the entire UK.”
In common with the Moorland Association and the NGO, BASC clings on desperately to information from Natural England that Hen Harrier numbers reached a 200 year high in 2023. With just 34 successful nests the number is not very high at all when compared to the fact that there should be over 330 breeding pairs in England. The website article goes on to say that it is a:
“……… testament to the positive steps being taken by the shooting community to increase the numbers of chicks which fledge each year.”
Really? Positive steps by the shooting community? What about the 39 Hen Harriers suspected or proven to have been killed in the UK between January 2022 and October 2023? They don’t get a mention, perhaps because in this case not all publicity is good publicity.
Also in common with the Moorland Association and the NGO, BASC does not reach out to its 150,000 members encouraging them to contact the Police or Crimestoppers to pass on any information they may have about these specific cases, the individuals that may be responsible for them or any other bird of prey crime.
Collectively these three organisations have many tens of thousands of members, they are very influential amongst the shooting communities that they represent and they have the ear of Ministers. More importantly they are all members of the Police led Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group and yet not one of them could bring themselves to condemn the killing of the 3 Hen Harriers, the White-tailed Eagle or any of the other raptors known to have been killed in 2022. Not one of them asked their members to contact the Police with any information about these cases, the individuals or any other crimes against birds of prey.
Simply saying ‘we have zero tolerance to the killing of birds of prey’ is not good enough. The question is – how long should the total lack of publically visible proactive involvement in the fight against raptor persecution be tolerated by the RPPDG?
NERF
Speaking for birds of prey with one voice
10 December 2023
Northern England Raptor Forum 