Hen Harriers Disappearance (1 Viewer)

Kits · Sep 25, 2014

Two young female hen harriers, named Sky and Hope, which had been satellite tagged, have vanished in unexplained circumstances, conservationists say. They left their nest sites in Lancashire only a few weeks ago and were among the first hen harrier chicks to fledge in England since 2012.

As part of an ongoing conservation project, they had been fitted with lightweight solar-powered tags. Scientists examining the satellite data became worried when their tags stopped transmitting. Sky's signal stopped suddenly on 10 September and Hope's signal died three days later.

Searches of the area have failed to find any trace of them.

Article here.

Farnboro John · Sep 25, 2014

Big surprise....

John

Ian Bell · Sep 25, 2014

After being watched through egg,hatching and fledging stage,the people who would like this species to disappear,shall have waited for their time to do so,once things went quiet again.

Mike Price · Sep 25, 2014

http://birdersagainst.org/hen-harrier-disappearances-yes-it-feels-personal/

keith · Sep 25, 2014

This is so incredibly frustrating, all the effort put in by people who care and have given their time to try and protect these birds, we all know who's guilty and they're getting away with it, I wish I knew the answer.

Simon Wates · Sep 26, 2014

A public awarness campaign in areas with raptor persecution could maybe achieve a lot. I think it is important to make the "hunters" understand the true situation regarding Hen Harrier and Red Grouse.

Especially important would be for a campaign to explain the ideal situation of; abundance of prey = abundance of predators - and vice-versa - as the most viable sustainability model for hunting.

If the "hunters" understood things better, then maybe less of them would shoot/poison/trap species they are not supposed to.

At the moment these "hunters" know that their deeds are terribly difficult to detect - so, they can shoot and collect and conceal and get away with it - even with tracked birds, as this latest example shows!

And yes...this an awful case....those children need to go screaming to parliment (or at least on national TV)

SteveTS · Sep 26, 2014

Is it not the case that most juveniles do not survive their first season once independent ?

How many survive the first two years ? 2/5 ??

If you take the tragic step of giving a pet name to a beautiful wild bird do you not then just wind yourself into looking for someone to blame when things go wrong ?

Take this just at face value if you can.

Best wishes,

Simon Wates · Sep 26, 2014

Samandag said:
Is it not the case that most juveniles do not survive their first season once independent ?

How many survive the first two years ? 2/5 ??

I'm thinking that juvenile mortality in raptors in general is not concentrated in their first 2 months but spread across a year or two - so the survival rate would be much higher in the first 2-3 months than the first 2 years.

Anyway, a large portion of mortality is caused by man - collision with power lines especially and of course direct persecution - like this particular case seems to be. I admire your optimism though!

Nutcracker · Sep 26, 2014

How about publishing the exact locations of the disappearances? And the name of the landowner of said locations. Some public naming and shaming might just help.

KC Foggin · Sep 26, 2014

Nutcracker said:
How about publishing the exact locations of the disappearances? And the name of the landowner of said locations. Some public naming and shaming might just help.

This is not a good idea as it can present legal problems for BirdForum.

davercox · Sep 27, 2014

Don't see that KC. The location is a matter of pure fact; this can hardly be defamatory or an invasion of privacy.

Adam W · Sep 27, 2014

The only fact is the location that the transmitter last successfully transmitted any suggestions about why its now not transmitting or who was responsible or if there even was anyone responsible is just speculation legally speaking.
Unfortunately I doubt the fact that we think we know what probably most likely happened would stand up in court.

Robin Edwards · Sep 27, 2014

The law has very little effect for some very obvious reasons and are there really any birders still undecided and not wanting to speculate what happens to many lost Hen Harriers over and close to Grouse Moors?
Most know exactly what happens to many "lost" harriers in that Bermuda triangle that exists over every area of Grouse moor in UK.

So each time I see this repetative news, it just cements why a banning of certain types of sports shooting is the only way. NGOs trying to work alongside sporting organisations and estates is in my opinion, just like urinating into a force 8 with the following morning like ground-hog day and only likely to consume valuable funds and result in the same old frustrations.

I think we need raptor-camps on the ground taking direct action, take a leaf out of jobs the Badger SABs are having if necessary. History has to tell us that things have not worked despite considerable effort and funds and therefore doing more of the same is unlikely to make much difference.

If blaming gamekeepers and sporting interests without specific evidence in specific cases of vanishing HH makes me unreasonable Adam, then c'est la vie.

KC Foggin · Sep 27, 2014

davercox said:
Don't see that KC. The location is a matter of pure fact; this can hardly be defamatory or an invasion of privacy.

Naming names on the Forum can cause problems. To defend a lawsuit, no matter how frivolous, still costs money.

joannec · Sep 27, 2014

KCFoggin said:
Naming names on the Forum can cause problems. To defend a lawsuit, no matter how frivolous, still costs money.

KC:
Hen Harriers are listed as Schedule 1 species which means that they are specially protected and receive full protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Schedule 1 birds are protected at all times. Anyone who disturbs them or shoots them is committing a crime.

SteveTS · Sep 27, 2014

Robin Edwards said:
banning of certain types of sports shooting is the only way ... History has to tell us that things have not worked despite considerable effort and funds and therefore doing more of the same is unlikely to make much difference ...

If you wish to see Grey Partridges in this part of the world the only places that you will find them are on private land managed for game shooting ; I am no friend of the game shooting industry as any who know me personally will attest, yet without the support of interested farmers, many of them small scale and local, we would have lost another valuable species from our local avifauna and that in the face of the do nothing brigade who would have the whole world painted grey (that's you

).

Robin Edwards · Sep 28, 2014

Samandog,

Please re-read my posting and I think you will find that I am not advocating banning of all shooting. Watched some GP where I live only this morning by the way and they survive without very much shooting or supplementary release from farmer.

Are you therefore supportive of Grouse shooting in our uplands it being good for ecosystems & diversity of UK native species in your opinion?

Farnboro John · Oct 1, 2014

Samandag said:
If you wish to see Grey Partridges in this part of the world the only places that you will find them are on private land managed for game shooting ; I am no friend of the game shooting industry as any who know me personally will attest, yet without the support of interested farmers, many of them small scale and local, we would have lost another valuable species from our local avifauna and that in the face of the do nothing brigade who would have the whole world painted grey (that's you ).

By contrast our Grey Partridges have completely disappeared over the last fifteen years and the fall has been exactly matched by a meteoric rise in Red-legged Partridge release for shooting. The paying customers blast away at everything but only the Red-legs are replaced. The result was inevitable from the start.

This is a result of commercial shooting rather than the resident farmer knocking off a few Grey Partridges each year for himself and a friend or two. Come to that I don't see as many Greys in East Anglia as I used to, so frankly I don't believe your tale of the beneficial shooters.

John

Robin Edwards · Oct 1, 2014

Farnboro John said:
Come to that I don't see as many Greys in East Anglia as I used to, so frankly I don't believe your tale of the beneficial shooters.

John

I also don't accept the reverse logic notion from Samandog that without the shooting, these birds wouldn't exist. This massivley side-steps the root problem, that being that the land is being over-managed wholly for shooting & commercial gains in the first instance.

keith · Oct 1, 2014

Why are there so many people who gain pleasure from killing living creatures for fun, it's totally beyond my comprehension, I spend most of the time being out there enjoying wildlife just as it is.

Hen Harriers Disappearance (1 Viewer)

Picture Picker

Well-known member

Registered User

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Stop Brexit!

Very, very long time member

Dave Cox

Well-known member

Well-known member

Very, very long time member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Similar threads

Users who are viewing this thread