How low will they go? Faking it; death by decoy
The grouse shooting industry doesn’t like to talk about raptor (bird of prey) killing because it’s wildlife crime. It’s not good for an industry which supplies an expensive leisure activity to be underpinned by criminal activity. There are many reasons for wanting change (we’d say a ban) of driven grouse shooting and criminality is one of them.
Incidents of the illegal persecution of raptors on driven grouse moors are well documented and ongoing. They’re also woefully under-punished, with prosecutions few and far between, largely due to the difficulty of securing sufficient evidence and/or witnesses in remote locations. The cases that do make it through the courts are often stacked in favour of the defendant, who is represented by expensive senior lawyers (paid for by the grouse-shooting estate) up against the poorly-funded and under-resourced public prosecuting authority (CPS in England & Wales, COPFS in Scotland). Where a conviction is secured against these odds, strong sentencing options are available but are rarely applied consistently and often these cases result in the equivalent of a slap on the wrist for the offender, providing little deterrent for other would be raptor killers.
Driven grouse shooting is an industry with a problem. It seems many overseeing and working within the industry have a fixation; an urge that they can’t seem to fight, to eradicate raptors. This urge appears to be driving the perpetrators of raptor persecution to carry out shocking crimes against wildlife, as well as engage in acts of deception to cover up their crimes.
And so, in a series of blogs we will be asking the question – ‘How low will they go?’ Looking at case studies from a range of locations, affecting many species of raptors, we’ll look at the lengths that criminals will go to, either to kill birds of prey, or to hide the fact that they’ve done so.
Faking it; death by decoy
How low will they go?
How low will they go? Killers will get crafty, making bespoke tools to help them commit their crimes.
Species:
Hen Harrier
Method:
Using decoys to draw in birds to within close shooting range.
Date:
24th February 2016
Location:
Peak District National Park
Repercussions:
No prosecution; Land owner (National Trust) terminated its grouse shooting lease with the sporting tenant four years before it was due to expire.
The incident:
The problem with many cases of raptor persecution is that they’re very difficult to prove. These crimes often take place in remote areas of moorland; large estates that are unlikely to see heavy footfall from the public. It can be hard to predict where and when incidences of persecution take place when you’re dealing with such vast landscapes. But then, there’s always a chance that you might stumble across something unexpectedly.
That’s what happened to two birdwatchers in February of 2016. The pair were walking in the Peak District, hoping to catch a glimpse of a Hen Harrier that had recently been reported on the National Trust’s Hope Woodlands and Park Hall Estate where a tenancy agreement was in place to allow grouse shooting. . During their walk, one of the birdwatchers spotted a distant bird, approximately 1km away, perched upon a post in the middle of the moorland. Looking through their binoculars they could make out some silvery-grey plumage with black wing tips, and were temporarily convinced they had spotted a male Hen Harrier. That was until one of them noticed the armed man close by.
Only a handful of metres from the Hen Harrier, a man dressed in camouflage, and holding a shot gun, was lying in wait in the heather. Looking more closely, it became obvious to the birdwatchers that the bird they’d spotted wasn’t real – it was, in fact, a fake Hen Harrier.
Scrabbling to capture evidence of the scene in front of them, they filmed the man and fake bird through their telescopes. Only moments after they stopped recording, the man got up, grabbed the fake harrier, and hurriedly walked away from the pair, before getting into a nearby Land Rover and driving away. The birdwatchers thought it was quite obvious that the gunman knew he’d been spotted.
Whilst using decoy (fake) birds to lure in some birds isn’t illegal – it would be illegal to do so in order to kill birds of prey, including Hen Harriers. Decoy birds are readily available to buy, resembling a range of species including falcons, owls and corvids. But decoy Hen Harriers aren’t readily available, suggesting the one the birdwatchers observed was custom-made.
Knowing this, it’s quite reasonable to assume this fake bird was being used specifically to try and lure in a Hen Harrier. Male Hen Harriers are rather territorial, and in spying an ‘intruder’ on his patch, a male might be tempted to fly in and see off the imposter. If this had happened, the bird would have been an easy shooting target for the gunman lying in wait in the heather.
It was very lucky that day that the two birdwatchers not only witnessed – but captured – evidence of such suspicious behaviour. Luck was also on the side of any Hen Harriers present in the area, who avoided an interaction with an armed man at close quarters – at least this time.
Our view:
Raptor persecution is not just a crime of opportunity. Not content with relying upon chance encounters with raptors, criminals within the driven grouse shooting industry will actively attempt to draw these birds in so they can be illegally killed.
Imagine smirks of satisfaction as someone paints the finishing touches on a model Hen Harrier, knowing it will be used to help them kill the real thing. That this happens inside a National Park is even more disgraceful.
Further case studies:
More examples of the industry using decoys in various ways to kill birds of prey can be found here, and more cases involving Hen Harriers can be found here. This is just a single example but the science shows that illegal killing is frequent enough to have a population level impact on hen Harriers and that impact comes from areas rich in grouse moors, such as National Parks like the Yorkshire Dales, the North York Moors, the Peak District and the Cairngorms National Park.
Help us put a stop to this.
When an industry is underpinned by criminality, something needs to change. Those operating driven grouse moors have had plenty of opportunity to do so – but birds of prey continue to be illegally killed.
This is why, along with many other reasons, we at Wild Justice believe driven grouse shooting should be banned.
Over 54,000 people have signed our government petition calling for a band so far. Help us reach 100,000 and secure a parliamentary debate:
- Add your name to our petition – cick the button above.
- Send this blog to friends and family. Click the WhatsApp icon below.
- Share this blog on social media, on BlueSky , Facebook or Twitter – click their icons below.