Hen harrier decapitated as RSPB reports 38 rare birds dead or missing
A female hen harrier out hunting – Major Wildlife / Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy An endangered hen harrier has been decapitated, the RSPB said, as it reported that 38 rare birds of prey have gone missing or been killed in the North of England. The organisation said satellite-location tags showed hen harriers had vanished from moors, including in the Yorkshire Dales.
Natural England, which also monitors the birds, said they are often persecuted by gamekeepers because they eat grouse that are being reared for organised shoots[1]. In its annual Bird Crime Report, the charity said some of the attacks, recorded since January 2022, were “brazen and horrific”, including the one in which the bird was decapitated. In another incident, four hen harrier chicks were trampled to death in a nest being monitored by Natural England.
The report also revealed that one RSPB-tagged hen harrier named Dagda was found shot dead in May 2023 on a moor at Knarsdale, next door to the RSPB nature reserve at Geltsdale on which it was breeding. The RSPB[2] is campaigning for grouse shooting to be licensed. Other areas where the birds have disappeared or been killed included Lancashire, Cumbria, Durham and Northumberland.
Birds illegally killed
The charity said eight satellite-tagged hen harriers had been illegally killed or had suspiciously disappeared from the Yorkshire Dales in the last year.
In the same area in May 2022, the remains of a male satellite-tagged hen harrier[3], called Free, were recovered by Natural England. A post-mortem examination confirmed it had been decapitated while still alive. North Yorkshire Police carried out an investigation, but no-one was charged due to insufficient evidence.
Mark Thomas, the RSPB’s head of investigations UK, said: “Despite being fully protected by law, and a threatened species in the UK, hen harriers are being illegally persecuted on a relentless scale. “The majority disappear around land managed for gamebird shooting, particularly on grouse moors[4]. “The immediate licensing of driven grouse shooting is essential, with law-abiding landowners and grouse moor managers having nothing to fear.”
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References
- ^ reared for organised shoots (www.telegraph.co.uk)
- ^ The RSPB (www.telegraph.co.uk)
- ^ satellite-tagged hen harrier (www.telegraph.co.uk)
- ^ particularly on grouse moors (www.telegraph.co.uk)
- ^ Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism.
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