If you read my column, the Political Birder, in Birdwatch (and if not – why not?) then in the current issue you will see that there will be a peaceful protest in the north of England against Hen Harrier persecution on or around the 12 August this year.
That article has prompted a steady trickle of people emailing me to say they would like to be kept in touch with this event as they are interested in taking part. It is a trickle not a flood, but it is steady!
Get in touch with me at [email protected] if you would like to be put on the list of potential participants. Make a stand, raise your voice!
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I fancy a day out in August. Would it be on the 12th, by any chance?
Count me in.
Better still why not have a driven shoot on RSPB Geltsdale using these same people. Of course I mean the butts will be maned by Cameras not guns. Those paying the most will get the chance of 4 drives just like the real thing except that every Red Grouse will get the chance to live another day. And remember to push the beaters over the boundary lines just like the local shoots do so as to get the maximum of birds. The media could pay a lot of money for this privilege as they would get a story out of it as well. You will have to have lots of alcohol for lunch time just like the real thing and may be one or two camera men will be over the limit and shoot down the line!! All money going to pay for raptor workers to protect Hen Harriers the next season. It could become a annual event and even several times a year putting money into the local economy. The top pictures will be used to advertise the ‘real Red Grouse’ not the dead one!
I would be grateful to receive info on the protest and hopefully be able to attend. Best Wishes and thank you. Alexia
Would Love to come but I live in the south so it will depend on date and location. Shooting birds is an abomination.
Andrew – the way it’s going we might hire a coach!
If possible I’ll make it. Feel v strongly about this.
Will there also be a walk praising keepers for the amazing recovery of the Merlin on the Northumbrian and Durham moors?
kie – there might be but at the moment I have no plans to organise such an event myself.
Kie, if the merlin has recovered on these moors why has the hen harrier disappeared from these moors when they are found on the same habitat?
Maybe the Merlins ate the HH chicks?
please keep me posted on this – happy to help in any way I can. Hen Harriers and Red Kites are both species I care passionately about and what has been happening to the hen harriers for years is a complete disgrace. Good article by Steve Mills. Here’s hoping he will write a lot more!!!
Hope none of you would kill a rat or mouse if it was shi..ing in your kitchen cupboard. There is no difference in killing grouse. Hope none of you eat chicken or any other meat for that matter. The world would be a better place without self opinionated folk.
Bill, that is your opinion (which must make you opinionated also?)
its the killing of birds for “sport” people are disgusted at. and the slaughter of raptors to benefit that “sport”
by your own admission you are classing raptors as vermin, until this thought is eroded the killings will continue. in my humble opinion.
A little help for Bill Smith:
The protest is about hen harrier persecution (as it says on the 3rd and 4th line of the article) not grouse shooting.
If you find rat sh*t in your kitchen you can make a reasonable assumption that there has been a rat in there (or maybe your neighbour sneaked in and left it there just to give the rat a bad name. reasonable alternative?). Likewise the incidence of poisoned baits and raptor deaths on and around grouse moors leads to a reasonable conclusion that raptors are being persecuted by the grouse shooting industry ( or maybe it could be . . em I can’t think of anything else).
I’d be interested – what is the nature of the protest? I’ve always thought a mass ‘trespass’ (not trespass of course anymore with open access over most of the moors, although I understand certain sectors get a bit tetchy in August) in the way of Kinder Scout would be the best form of protest. Obviously, this has the potential to be a bit tricky but having just seen Chris Packham’s tweets about being in the killing fields of Malta maybe it is the only way that the moorland slaughter will be stopped. Longer job I fear in the Malta.
2 of us here will go – it’s on the calendar. Look what the Kinder Scout “trespass” achieved! What’s going on on the grouse moors really needs to be brought to public attention – it’s a national scandal and disgrace.
I’m in, I will travel any distance to make a stand to protect and raise awareness. We need to speak up for our wildlife & be heard otherwise the majestic Hen Harrier will also become extinct. We share this planet we do t own it.
How about the Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, lots of open access, its the front line against upland raptor persecution in the UK and a site where Hen Harriers could and should be nesting every year. You would surely get support from the major conservation landownners in that location – inc Peak District National Park and National Trust.