Raptor from Scottish nature reserve disappears under 'suspicious circumstances'

A raptor that fledged from a nature reserve near the Scottish Borders has disappeared under “suspicious circumstances”, the RSPB Scotland has said.

The hen harrier, named Red, hatched last year in Tarras Valley Nature Reserve, near Langholm in Dumfriesshire.

Red, the hen harrier who fledged from Tarras Valley Nature Reserve last year | RSPB Scotland

Before she fledged, she was fitted with a satellite tag as part of an RSPB programme to gather more information about the red-listed species. These tags are worn like tiny rucksacks and continue to transmit even after a bird dies or if the tag is shed by the bird.

RSPB Scotland said soon after fledging, Red flew across the Border and spent the winter in the North Pennines.

The charity said on January 15, her tag showed her to be roosting on a grouse moor near Hamsterley Forest, County Durham. But shortly after the tag’s transmissions abruptly ceased.

Durham Police carried out a search of the area, but found no sign of the bird or the tag.

RSPB Scotland said two other hen harriers from Tarras Valley have previously disappeared in similar suspicious circumstances, also last seen on English grouse moors, in 2021 and 2022.

Will Hayward, RSPB senior investigations officer, said: “The disappearance of Red is a huge blow for a struggling species. Should a tagged bird die of natural causes, its tag would continue transmitting, allowing us to recover the body. This was not the case, which strongly suggests human interference.

“This latest incident follows a clear pattern of Scottish hen harriers disappearing on driven grouse moors in England. These birds do not respect administrative borders. We are pressing for the Westminster government to follow Scotland’s example and introduce a licensing scheme for grouse and gamebird shooting, and with sanctions to remove the licence to shoot grouse if the police has evidence that wildlife protection laws have been broken.”

Jenny Barlow, of Tarras Valley Nature Reserve, said: “There is always such a buzz of excitement and anticipation for our hen harriers to return each year to the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve here in Langholm.

“A real dedicated community and volunteer effort goes into monitoring and safeguarding our harrier chicks to give these magnificent birds the best possible start on our community-owned reserve. It is extremely sad news for us all to find out that one of our 2024 chicks won't be making her way back home to us again.”

Last year, the RSPB Scotland published a report claiming a total of 400 confirmed cases of illegal raptor persecution in Scotland over the past 15 years.

The report claims these crimes are continuing “at considerable scale year on year”, and that “many more incidents will take place in remote and unpopulated areas where they go unreported”.

Other rural groups, however, disputed the charity’s comments, including Scottish Land & Estates (SLE), which pointed to the Scottish Government’s official wildlife crime reports that demonstrate a decline in bird crime to the lowest levels on record.

At the time of the report, SLE’s director of moorland Ross Ewing said: "It is a great pity that the RSPB refuse to acknowledge progress made across the shooting sector - not only to reduce bird crime, but to conserve some of our most endangered bird species. We do not condone wildlife crime in any shape or form.”