Rare hen harriers are going missing from English grouse moors, says RSPB

The protected birds have been found dead and mutilated but perpetrators are hard to identify because of a lack of evidence in rural areas.

At least 20 individuals of a rare bird species have gone missing in the last year, including one that was found with its head pulled off, the RSPB has said.

Hen harriers are on the red list of birds of conservation concern as their numbers in the UK are so scarce.

Despite being legally protected, killings are common enough that a Natural England study found that young hen harriers living on grouse moors in England are 10 times more likely to die than their counterparts in other remote areas like Orkney.

The researchers said some gamekeepers view hen harriers as a threat to their grouse stocks and that it has long been thought that illegal killings are holding back the species’ recovery.