Bob writes: I have a life long passion for the outdoors through rock climbing and fell running. A cancer scare in my thirties made me appreciate many things I simply hadn’t noticed before, from the smallest plants to the gap in the sky from a missing raptor. It’s all worth fighting for and that’s what…
Tag: hen harrier
Misguided meddlers
Therese Coffey was handed a hospital pass when Rory Stewart zipped off to another department leaving her holding the Hen Harrier Recovery Farce. A key, and totally ridiculous, element of the plan was to take away young Hen Harriers from grouse moors, raise them expensively in captivity, and then release them again on grouse moors…
What would Mick Carroll have said?
Last week the RSPB announced that a Hen Harrier called Carroll, named after the raptor worker Mick Carroll, had been found dead in late January – the bird died of parasites but the post mortem showed that it had also been shot (two pellets were in its body in healed wounds). That was late January….
Thank you to the IRSG
The weekend before last, I was at the Irish Raptor Study Groups’ conference in Dublin. What a great bunch of people – passionate and so friendly. It might seem just a little stereotypical to say that one always gets a friendly welcome in Ireland, in all parts of Ireland, but in my experience it is…
Questions 2
As well as Natural England, the Hawk and Owl Trust also has questions to answer over the non-publication of the details of Rowan’s death – Rowan was shot! Why would a wildlife charity, indeed, a raptor charity, which had funded the tagging of a young Hen Harrier, want the details of his death to be…
Questions 1
Friday was quite a busy day, with news about crimes against birds of prey tumbling out early in the day. This was a bit inconvenient for me as I had other things planned. But it means that we’ve all had the weekend to mull over the news. What was the news?: The RSPB published a…
RSPB – go ask for the NE data.
One of the quotes from today’s RSPB Birdcrime report is; ‘Natural England holds a wealth of data from hen harriers tagged since 2007. We have recommended that the Government commissions an independent investigation of these data to help determine where and why tagged hen harriers and other tagged birds of prey are disappearing.’ Well, there…
Very likely!! X-ray of Rowan emerges.
At last the X-ray of Rowan’s injuries has been published. This shows his shattered left leg with fragments of shot by the wound. Looks pretty clear. This X-ray has finally emerged on an RSPB blog – good for them! – but it’s a rather strange route considering this was a bird tagged by the Hawk…
Birdcrime and news of another shot Hen Harrier
The RSPB report on crimes against birds in 2015 has just been published online. 2015 seems like a long time ago but the report is a strong reminder of the scale of wildlife crime against birds that still exists in this country in the twenty-first century. Remember Annie? Stody Estate withdrawal of subsidy? Mutch case?…
The question remains…
Who was instrumental in determining the wording of the press release which described Rowan, the Hen Harrier, as ‘likely to have been shot’ when, it appears, that all involved knew that it had been shot? For new readers see Raptor Persecution UK blogs here and here, and my blogs here and here. Was it: someone…