You may remember this video released by the RSPB last week …
…and the RSPB blog on the case.
Denton Moor is in the Nidderdale AONB and the relevant part of the moor is owned by the prestigious engineering firm NG Bailey. They commented to me as follows;
RSPB/Marsh harrier incident on Denton Moor
We have been made aware by North Yorkshire Police of an incident involving marsh harriers on leased land owned by NG Bailey.
We are extremely concerned by this and would encourage anyone with information about the incident, or who can help identify those responsible, to contact North Yorkshire Police as soon as possible.
As this investigation is on-going we are unable to comment further.
ends
A lady I spoke to from NG Bailey was very helpful and said that she couldn’t say very much but that this made a change from talking about engineering. Since I spend a lot of my time talking about harriers of one sort or another, talking about engineering would make a bit of a change for me.
NG Bailey own the land but let the shooting. Their headquarters, in Denton Hall, are very close to the moor in question but they have a range of other offices dotted around the country too. The Denton Park Estate, which is apparently owned by NG Bailey, lets shooting days.
[registration_form]
Why don’t they offer a reward (say £10,000) for information leading to a conviction.
These Estates need a lot tighter regulation and the offenders much harsher punishment including imprisonment and permanent revocation of gun licences. Clearly there is widespread illegal killing of birds of prey across the dinosaurs of the shooting industry with the inbred primitives in Yorkshire seemingly the worst.
I always contact these estates/owners and email them telling them how disgusted I am to discover they are committing crimes by killing birds of prey.
Much better than birders just moaning at each other.