Third brood management Hen Harrier goes missing

North Yorkshire Police is appealing for information after a third satellite-tagged Hen Harrier from the controversial brood management scheme went missing in the Yorkshire Dales, just two weeks after it was announced that two of the five birds involved in the project had already disappeared in suspicious circumstances.

The latest Hen Harrier to vanish is a young female, which was tagged at a release site in the Yorkshire Dales on 30 July 2019 as part of the scheme. The bird has not been named and is known to the Natural England monitoring team as 183703.

This is now the third Hen Harrier from the controversial brood management scheme to have gone missing (David Soons).

It is known from satellite tag data that the bird had the bird stayed in the Hawes area since her release, with one excursion to the Sedbergh area on 16 September, then south to the West Pennine Moors near Horwich from 17-19 September. She then returned to near Semerwater, where she had remained for at least a fortnight.

The last transmission from the bird's satellite tag was received on 29 September on Thornton Rust Moor, some 2 miles east of Semerwater, but the bird could have flown on for some distance since the last transmission.

Since then no further transmissions have been received from the tag. Natural England field staff have carried out checks with a hand-held scanner and monitored the area with no findings and North Yorkshire Police has also searched the area with colleagues from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Ranger team, as well as making extensive local enquiries.

The bird is ringed with the BTO ring number FJ48404. This appeal for information sadly follows the disappearance of another of the brood management scheme Hen Harrier in the immediate area, a juvenile male known as 183704, which was last known to be in the area of Askrigg Common, just a few miles away, on 19 September.

This now means that 60% of the harriers chosen to take part in the scheme have disappeared within weeks of being released. Writing on the Raptor Persecution blog, Ruth Tingay said: "This isn't unusual nor is it unexpected – we know from authoritative research published earlier this year that 72% of young satellite-tagged Hen Harriers will disappear in suspicious circumstances on grouse moors in northern England, probably having been killed illegally."

At this time North Yorkshire Police are keen to locate both birds safe and well, but if found deceased (which seems more likely on the basis of the evidence) the birds can be subject to post-mortem to establish if the cause of death was from natural causes or if criminal activity was involved.

If you find the bird or have any information please contact North Yorkshire Police on 101 and quote reference number 12190186540.