The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Concerns after hen harrier disappears
A hen harrier has disappeared in the Cairngorms National Park.
Marci was satellite-tagged as a chick last year as part of the RSPB’s Hen Harrier Life project.
The tag stopped transmitting on April 22 near Strathdon, west Aberdeenshire.
Searches by the charity and police have found no trace of the bird or tag.
The female harrier’s last recorded position was in an area known for driven grouse shooting.
Dr Cathleen Thomas, Life project manager, said: “These sudden disappearances of our satellite-tagged hen harriers are depressingly frequent.
“Marci didn’t even get to make it through her first year before vanishing. The satellite tags are highly reliable, so a sudden stop in transmitting gives us immediate cause for concern.”
She added: “A recent published study indicates that 72% of hen harriers are being illegally killed on Britain’s grouse moors, while another study found 31% of tagged golden eagles in Scotland were illegally killed.”
Ian Thomson, RSPB Scotland’s head of investigations said: “It is abundantly clear that current legislation is completely failing to protect our birds of prey, and robust regulation of the driven grouse shooting industry is both vital and long overdue.”
Scottish Gamekeepers Association chairman Alex Hogg said: “The SGA condemns persecution and we act accordingly in proven cases.
“There is no grounds to say this is what has happened here.
“Satellite tags fail, some are poorly fitted, some are never found – whether persecution is suspected or not – and some tags signal hours apart. This can make final signal locations meaningless.”
He added: “In Orkney, where there are no grouse moors, almost 70% of Harriers die in year one.
“Until these tags are monitored independently and not by campaign organisations, the public are only getting an interpretation.”