Hen harrier hawks face extinction
It is thought that only one breeding pair of hen harriers now remains in England due to illegal hunting, making the bird near extinct in this country.
Grahame Madge from the RSPB blames illegal persecution, calling Yorkshire a “black spot” for British birds of prey. Recent results of scientific tests on a ringed hen harrier found in the Yorkshire Dales have suggested illegal shooting. “Traces of lead in the bird's leg” Madge says, suggests she was illegally shot, providing 'evidence that there is deliberate, illegal persecution of our birds of prey going on.” Madge says that hen harriers are not the only example of birds of prey being illegally killed or trapped.
Charles Nodder of the National Gamekeepers Association says such activity is uncommon but acknowledges:
"There is some persecution of birds of prey and very regrettably some of it is done by gamekeepers. We condemn it.”
These birds are more common across the border with Scotland, though it is thought numbers are still 13% lower than they would be without human interference. In Orkney however, numbers are currently at a 10-year high, with 100 females producing 100 chicks last year due to the successful tactic of reducing numbers of sheep grazing in their habitat.
Adrian Blackmore of Countryside Alliance suggests that other factors alongside illegal hunting are to blame for the hen harriers near extinction in England. They are he says:
"Susceptible to bad weather, disturbance, poor habitat and lack of available food, as well as factors that are as yet still unclear, as is the case on the Isle of Man, where the RSPB's 2010 Hen Harrier Survey found that the population had halved for reasons that remain unknown."
Blackmore also asserts that hen harriers are no more successful in areas that are not managed for grouse shooting.
The BSAVA has opened submissions for the BSAVA Clinical Research Abstracts 2026.
