Illegal killing major cause of death in Hen Harriers New study shows yearly survival rates of Hen Harriers ‘unusually low,’ with birds typically living just four months after fledging. Illegal killing is the main cause of death for older birds, accounting for up 75% of deaths each year in birds between one and two years…
Category: Grouse and harriers
RSPB press release – Rare bird of prey found mutilated as 20 other individuals go missing
Rare bird of prey found mutilated as 20 other individuals go missing One of the UK’s rarest birds of prey, a Hen Harrier, has been found dead with its body mutilated A post-mortem examination concluded that the bird was killed by having its head pulled off whilst still alive. Twenty more Hen Harriers, including…
A reader writes and asks…
I received the email in blue below a few days ago, but since I was looking at gentians on The Burren (I think that’s what they were) and seeing hundreds and hundreds of Whimbrel in Galway Bay (I’m sure about them), hearing my first Cuckoo of the year in Connemara (yep, that’s a positive identification)…
Good news on Hen Harriers
This news from Natural England is very welcome – for two main reasons. First, it is good news, and second, it is fairly informative and doesn’t look as though it was written by the shooting industry. 119 Hen Harrier chicks fledged from 49 nests (actually from the 34 successful nests, and some nests were re-nests…
Not much interest in the Inglorious Twelfth not even in the Shooting Times
The media coverage of the Inglorious Twelfth is very muted this year. Daily Telegraph – a rambling piece as much about Pheasants and partridges as Red Grouse. At least it admits that game shooting is in crisis but says it is an ancient sport. That’s as ancient as the Victorian age as far as driven…