As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Saturday 15 December 2012

RSPB Cutting-edge science reveals bird of prey persecution

The battle to save England's most threatened nesting bird of prey from illegal persecution is going increasingly high-tech as a technique used for the first time in the UK confirms that a female Hen Harrierthat was found dead in the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire, had been shot. Conservationists were monitoring the bird, which had been fitted with a satellite tag, remotely as it ranged across the uplands of Scotland and northern England earlier this year. Concern for the bird was raised in late June when satellite data indicated that the bird was stationary. The bird's body was recovered from a moorland area managed for grouse shooting in the Yorkshire Dales by Stephen Murphy of Natural England on 5th July 2012.

The bird's death is being investigated by North Yorkshire Police. RSPB data and government poisoning data shows the Yorkshire Dales to be a national black spot for persecution, with at least 20 birds of prey having been illegally poisoned, shot or trapped between 2007 and 2011. The Hen Harrier is a rare nesting bird in England, with only one pair nesting successfully in 2012. Government studies have shown that the uplands of England could support over 300 pairs and that the principal reason for the bird's perilous state is illegal persecution associated with grouse shooting.




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