North Yorkshire named one of worst counties in country for bird of prey persecution

The RSPB’s Birdcrime 2021 report, published this week, reveals 108 confirmed incidents of bird of prey persecution in the UK, 80 of which were in England.

The total includes 50 buzzards, 16 red kites, seven peregrines and three goshawks. Rare hen harriers and white-tailed eagles continue to be affected. The majority were either shot, trapped or poisoned.

Two of the worst counties based on 2021 data – Norfolk (13 incidents) and Dorset (12 incidents) – are lowland areas, dominated by pheasant and partridge shooting.

The third worst county was North Yorkshire (10 incidents), which includes grouse, pheasant and partridge shooting.

Data over 10 years adds Derbyshire and Cumbria to the list of raptor crime ‘hotspots’.

Mark Thomas, RSPB head of investigations UK, said: “The data in this report clearly show that raptor persecution remains at a sustained high level, especially in England, with over two thirds of the incidents connected to land managed for gamebird shooting.

“The illegal shooting, trapping and poisoning of birds of prey has no place in modern society. In a nature and climate emergency, the deliberate destruction of protected species for financial gain is completely devastating and unacceptable.

“The time for reform is now long overdue. Licensing driven grouse moors is the first step in clamping down on those estates engaged in criminal activity at no loss to those operating within the law.”

All birds of prey are protected by law under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Scientific papers, intelligence and satellite tagging studies for key species such as hen harrier suggest the annual Birdcrime totals are only the tip of a far larger iceberg, and that many killings go undetected and unreported.

In 2021, over two thirds (71 per cent) of all confirmed incidents of raptor persecution related to land managed for gamebird shooting, where birds of prey are seen by some as a threat to gamebird stocks and illegally killed.

In England alone there were 80 confirmed incidents, making it the second-worst year on record.

The RSPB says that one incident was caught on camera by itself, showing a gamekeeper beating buzzards to death in a trap in Nottinghamshire. Another involved a gruesome mass grave of birds of prey concealed down a well in Wiltshire.

Modern technology in the form of GPS satellite tagging continues to reveal suspicious disappearances of young hen harriers, including Asta, whose Government-funded tag was later found inexplicably attached to a dead crow.

She was being tracked by Natural England and had spent almost all of her short life in the north Pennines, and before her death had established a defined home range in an area managed for grouse shooting, centred on Gilmonby Moor, County Durham, ranging onto other nearby moors.

Asta appeared to suddenly move to a new location near Arrathorne, south-east of Richmond, and stopped moving before the tag was later found on the crow.

Her body was never recovered but the circumstances are highly suspicious, the charity maintains.

The RSPB says that only Government action will ensure birds of prey are kept safe from illegal persecution for good and it is calling for an introduction of licences for all driven grouse shooting; better enforcement of existing regulation and additional regulation for pheasant and partridge shooting; better, enforceable General Licence conditions.

Beccy Speight, RSPB chief executive, said: “The evidence shows that the illegal persecution of birds of prey - which is time and time again linked to gamebird shooting - is holding back the recovery of some key species.

"This year’s Birdcrime report is another reminder of the appalling methods deployed by some, and why there is a need for swift and effective change in our countryside.

"The United Nations report makes clear what must be done to end these wildlife crimes and we call on the new government in Westminster to act and pave the way towards a sustainable future, respectful of the law.”

The Birdcrime document is the UK’s only annual and comprehensive report of known offences against birds of prey and covers confirmed incidents in 2021, as collated by the RSPB’s Investigations Team, working in support of the police and statutory agencies.