Scheme to protect hen harriers in England a waste of money, says wildlife group

Wild Justice says government initiative to relocate broods away from grouse moors ‘rewards past crimes’ of illegal killing A £900,000 government scheme to “meddle” with nests of hen harriers is a waste of money and rewards those who kill them, a wildlife campaign group has said. The claims are contained in a report produced by Wild Justice and released to coincide with the Glorious Twelfth, the official start of the grouse shooting season, on Saturday. Grouse moor gamekeepers have historically killed hen harriers illegally because they eat smaller birds, including grouse. Since the start of a government brood management scheme in 2018, 98 hen harriers have been confirmed as missingin suspicious circumstances or are known to have been illegally killed in the UK, many of them on or close to English grouse moors. In order to combat the problem of the birds, which are endangered in the UK, continually going missing over moors, Natural England began a scheme which involves taking the eggs or chicks of some hen harriers nesting on grouse moors into captivity, rearing them to fledging age and releasing them back into the wild in the uplands of northern England. They say th practice reduces the density of active hen harrier nests on grouse moors and is thought to reduce predation pressure on red grouse during the breeding season, so there is less incentive for harriers to be persecuted. Nests containing young have in the past been stamped on, and mothers killed – leaving the chicks to starve. The government is working with grouse moor owners to discourage this behaviour