People in Cumbria are being urged to watch over a pair of hen harriers who have begun nesting on a nature reserve as police investigate the disappearance of two other of the endangered raptors. Two male hen harriers vanished from RSPB Geltsdale last week in what the police described as “suspicious circumstances”, just when both […]
Tag: red grouse
Activists sue ministers over release of game birds for shooting
Conservationists are suing the UK government over the release of millions of game birds on to land that is home to rare and threatened species. The campaign group Wild Justice has accused ministers of breaching their legal duties to protect sites of high conservation value in England by failing to control the use of large […]
Call for grouse shooting to be licensed amid rise in bird of prey deaths
Labour has called for grouse shooting to be licensed after a big increase in illegal killings of birds of prey during the coronavirus lockdown, the majority of which, investigators say, are linked to the sport. As the grouse shooting season, known as the Glorious 12th, officially began on Wednesday, the shadow environment secretary, Luke Pollard, […]
87 bird crime incidents last year and just one conviction, says RSPB
Birds of prey were shot, poisoned, trapped or illegally killed in 87 confirmed incidents in 2018 that led to just one successful conviction, according to the RSPB’s annual Birdcrime report. This persecution of raptors including peregrines, buzzards, red kites and owls is the tip of the iceberg, with many more birds vanishing in mysterious circumstances, […]
Scotland’s golden eagles are dying in agony, all in the name of sport
Somewhere bleak and unforgiving in Scotland, a golden eagle is suffering an agonising death. The young bird of prey was photographed last week with a metal trap clamped around its leg in the Crathie area of Deeside in Aberdeenshire. The tourist who took this distressing image sent it to the police who expressed serious concerns […]
Stop the Mass Killing of Mountain Hares in Scotland!
Mountain hares are beautiful little creatures that live in mountainous regions. One of the places they are native to is Scotland. They camouflage into the mountains with their color-changing coat that goes from brown to white in the winter. These precious animals are sadly killed by the tens of thousands every year in Scotland. They […]
Red Grouse and Golden Eagles
I’ve left it late but finally found some Golden Eagles with two birds in the Findhorn Valley yesterday and then another down at Glen Strathfarrar. Although the views were distant and only possible with the scope it always feels special to see these magnificent birds here in the Highlands and completes the trip for me. […]
Scotland’s mountain hare population is at just 1% of 1950’s level
Culling by grouse moor managers is being blamed for the drastic decline of mountain hares on eastern Scottish moorlands to less than 1% of the level recorded more than 60 years ago. A long-term study by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and the RSPB analysed counts of the animals on moorland managed for red […]