RSPB press relase.
Hen Harrier chick Thor – now ‘disappeared’. Photo: Steve Downing
First Bowland hen harrier chick in three years vanishes without trace
- Thor was one of 13 chicks to fledge from Bowland, Lancashire for the first time in three years.
- The rare chick is the latest in a number of hen harriers to disappear in similar circumstances.
- Thor disappeared close to where two hen harriers vanished in 2014.
Another rare hen harrier has suddenly gone missing in Lancashire, in an area where other hen harriers have also mysteriously disappeared. The disappearance has triggered an investigation by the police and the RSPB.
This summer conservationists were overjoyed to find that hen harriers – a rare bird of prey which nests on moorland – were nesting in Bowland, Lancashire for the first time since 2015. The three precious nests were closely monitored by RSPB staff as part of the EU-funded Hen Harrier LIFE Project, and the parent birds fledged an amazing 13 chicks between them.
One of these chicks, named Thor, was fitted with a lightweight satellite tags by project staff, which has enabled the RSPB to track his movements since fledging. Regular transmissions showed him cautiously staying close to the valley he called home. But on 3 October his tag suddenly stopped transmitting. His last fix came from Goodber Common, near Salter in Lancashire, adjacent to a managed driven grouse moor.
The incident was reported to the police and RSPB Investigations staff searched the area of her last known fix but found no sign of the bird or his tag.
Hen harriers are one of the UK’s rarest and most persecuted birds of prey with just nine successful nests recorded in England in 2018. Known as the ‘ghosts of the moor’, these agile birds of prey nest on the ground, often on moorland, and are known for their spectacular courtship display, the ‘skydance’. Like all wild birds, they are protected by law under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which makes it an offence to intentionally harm or disturb them. Anyone found to have done so faces an unlimited fine and/or up to six months in jail. But, despite full legal protection, studies show that their declining population is largely associated with human persecution.
Thor is the fourth bird to disappear in just two months, following the similarly unexplained disappearances of Hilma, Octavia and Heulwen in August 2018 – birds that were also tagged as chicks earlier this summer.
Alarmingly, the last known fix for Thor is directly between the sites where tagged hen harriers Hope and Sky were last heard from before they disappeared in 2014, which is the last time that there were chicks successfully raised in the Forest of Bowland.
James Bray, RSPB’s Bowland project officer, was involved in monitoring the nests in Bowland over the summer, and watched as Thor hatched, grew and fledged from his nest. James says:
“Whilst we know that hen harrier mortality rates are high for young birds, if Thor had died naturally we would expect to find either his body or his tag – or both. His tag was functioning well before he disappeared, which sadly suggests there has been some kind of interference with it.”
If you have any information, please contact Lancashire Police on 101.
If you find a wild bird which you suspect has been illegally killed, contact RSPB investigations on 01767 680551 or fill in the online form: https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/our-positions-and-campaigns/positions/wildbirdslaw/reportform.aspx
ENDS
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A sadly predictable event. What are the odds that this will persuade Therese Coffey to reconsider whether the government’s approach to dealing with raptor persecution is suitable, sufficient or effective? Not great I imagine – complacency rules.
Dont advertise when the rare birds are spotted,if they don’t know,they’ll not show.
Just a thought. X
Very sad the predictability of this in no way diminishes the sadness and anger it engenders. Its quite clear what is happening to birds in this general area, its two fingers to conservationists writ in large letters by one of Bowland’s major private estates. They think the are invulnerable, time that changed, more than time. We need to make the deaths of these birds count for something. Problem is an uncaring, unchanging and ignorant regime at DEFRA in bed with the pleasure killers and blood sports fraternity whose pastimes are well beyond decency and accountability. Time they were consigned to the scrap heap and the participants derided as the criminal tossers they are.
I suggest that readers should forward the press release to their MPs and ask them to question the minister on whether the continuing persecution of raptors is evidence that the government’s approach to the issue is not effective and if so what they intend to do about it. We should not allow any MP to be able to claim ignorance about what is going on.