Hen Harrier Action Walk & Talk on the ‘Glorious 12th’ Puts Spotlight on Raptor Persecution

Hen Harrier Action led a Wildlife Walk & Talk on the “Glorious 12th”, which is now also known as Hen Harrier Day, on an estate near Comrie in West Perthshire.

Hen Harrier Day events have been taking place across UK since 2014 following the extremely low numbers of successful harrier nests during that year’s breeding season. In England, there were no successful nests that year. Many of the nest failures were attributed to human interference and occurred on moorland managed for driven grouse.

The purpose of these events is to raise public awareness of the prevalence of raptor persecution, and particularly the plight of the hen harrier which is the UK’s most persecuted bird of prey. The charity Hen Harrier Action was formed to support those wishing to hold events, but it has also funded the fitting of satellite tags on young harriers in England and Scotland and produces an online Skydancer Day in the spring. This year’s event was hosted by Megan McCubbin and Hen Harrier Action’s youngest Trustee, Indy Kiemel Greene.

The walk started out ‘dreich’, but it brightened up along the way. Stopping periodically at suitable points, talks were provided by Hen Harrier Action’s Andrea Hudspeth, RSPB’s Head of Investigations, Ian Thomson and Duncan Orr-Ewing, Head of Species and Land Management. The talks were focussed on the issue of raptor persecution and the difficulty of prosecuting individuals; where we are in the journey towards the introduction of new legislation which will bring about the licensing of grouse shoots in Scotland; the work of Hen Harrier Action and details of the move away from driven grouse shooting on the Invergeldie Estate where the event took place.

The show of raptors during the walk was fantastic. There were lots of families of red kites, buzzards, ravens (honorary raptor), kestrels, an osprey and even a stunning adult male hen harrier graced us with its presence, making everyone’s day.

It was a great walk with great talks and great birds in typical Scottish summer weather.