This time a peregrine shotgunned close to the moors at Hebden Gill near Grassington. I doubt there will be any specific evidence obtained which points at the culprit.

http://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2016/10/08/yorkshire-dales-peregrine-falcon-discovered-on-hebden-gill-footpath-had-been-shot

Just a reminder that if you come across a dead raptor on your rides and walks, take pictures and inform the authorities so that those which have died from unnatural causes can be identified and investigated.

We need either strict liability or grouse moor licensing on this. The first any dead raptors on your land you are responsible and will be prosecuted or for the second option any raptors killed on your land and you lose your licence to have shoots on the land.

Its an utter disgrace that in this day and age grouse moor owners are still killing raptors and getting away with it.

Or the third option would be compulsory purchase of the land.

Multiple instances in Scotland this year. IIRC 8 hen harriers, 2 Sea eagles and some golden eagles have been killed on grouse moors this year

and before Ninfan makes the arguement that grouse moors are good for bringing money into the economy – its nowhere near as good as wildlife tourism.

Not all grouse moor owners do this but when you look at the maps of disappearances its clear which landowners are killing raptors

The political mood is slowly changing at least in Scotland and it looks like we will get the changes in legislation to ensure we can prosecute and jail the people responsible and / or remove their ability to run shoots on the land.

A couple of years ago I watched a pair of Golden eagles on the monadliath. They have now been killed by the grouse shooters and I will not see this pair of these magnificent birds again

“the number of confirmed victims of poison abuse in Scotland from 1989-2011 is 932. This figure includes 75 red kites, 29 golden eagles and 364 buzzards. The number of confirmed victims of shooting, trapping or nest destruction in Scotland from 1989-2011 is 334. This includes 7 red kites, 17 golden eagles, 145 buzzards, 63 peregrines, 51 hen harriers, 13 goshawks, 16 sparrowhawks and 28 kestrels. It’s a widely held view that these confirmed incidents represent just the tip of a large iceberg; a view supported by the findings of a recent study that compared unpublished ‘vermin’ destruction records from one estate in Perthshire with known persecution incidents throughout Scotland as recorded by the authorities. The results showed that over a period of years, the number of raptors illegally killed on just one estate far exceeded the number of ‘official’ incidents recorded across the whole of Scotland (McMillan 2011).”

http://www.scottishraptorstudygroup.org/persecution.html

https://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/

https://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01615

I agree. This one, as far as I can tell, was found slightly away from the active boundary of the nearest managed moorland, which I guess is why we are finding the body in the first place. Finding evidence and prosecuting is very difficult in these cases, and when the RSPB presents the authorities with cast-iron proof – the case of the pole traps near Hawes, it didn’t even make it to court, which was disgraceful.

A couple of years ago I watched a pair of Golden eagles on the monadliath. They have now been killed by the grouse shooters and I will not see this pair of these magnificent birds again

🙁

I was out that way last night and pulled over to watch a wonderful raptor I struggled to identify, not a kite but similar in size.

Buzzards are making a bit of a comeback but the hunting species are really suffering.

Agree we need a strict presumed liability. It is the only way, everything else has failed.

I’ll break cover and say firstly, I’m a shooter. I use my guns for clays and sometimes hunting, partially for food (although there are other options of course) and sometimes by request for localised pest control (rats for example)

I haven’t been on a ‘shoot’, pheasant or grouse (just havn’t got around to it) but quite a few of my friends have. Each one of them, as I am, are disgusted by this behavior. If there was a prosecution I think a lot of individuals would boycott the specific landowners events which is probably the only true way of stopping it from happening – hit them in the wallet.

tinybits – unfortunately the shooters won’t do that by and large. We know which landowners are doing this and its widely publicised but as far as I am aware they still run shoots very profitably.

Licensing would be better as then responsible landowners could still run shoots and the persecutors would see both their business and the value of their land collapse.

Personally I would ban the whole thing – but I accept that this is an extreme position and could have unwanted secondary effects like clearance of woodland and hedgerows ( used to shelter pheasants so would no longer be wanted by landowners as they would want to maximise other uses of the land. Grouse moor management also leads to flooding and soil erosion

Not many gamekeepers could look you in the eye and claim innocence in this.

I still find it stagerring how anyone can shoot such wonderful creatures. I was fortunate so sit and watch 4 red kites flying in the valley below me recently in Dorset.

Ninfan will be along in a minute to blame the Raptors. Or the SNP.

[Intensive] Grouse moor management

It isn’t the grouse as such, but the draining of the peat for increase the number of grouse that can be supported. There could be a balance. Don’t know if the sums would or could work, but a for the nice but dim idiots that flood nidderdale this time of year in their range rovers (and can’t hit a thing – with their guns, they do OK in the Range Rovers) it probably wouldn’t make any difference.

If there was a prosecution I think a lot of individuals would boycott the specific landowners events which is probably the only true way of stopping it from happening – hit them in the wallet.

Trouble is the there won’t be a prosecution in the majority of cases, and where there is it’s blamed on rogue estate staff rather any higher bosses at the estates involved. Strict liability would be nice, or at least making estates criminally liable if their keepers are proven to be criminals.

If shooters genuinely have a concern about raptor persecution, they need to look at the estates where, or near to where raptors are found poisoned or shot, or where tagged and monitored birds have gone missing, and use a precautionary approach.

I would hope that Tinybits’ mates are representative of many shooters, but I’m not sure that this approach would actually be effective in practice.