Although a protected species, Hen Harriers are being illegally killed. Help prevent these crimes.
Hen Harriers are a rare, Red-listed species. But the illegal killing of these birds is a significant issue and the main factor preventing their recovery.
Watch our special animation below and see how you can help these beautiful birds.
In just five years (2020-2024), over 100 Hen Harriers were confirmed or suspected to have been illegally killed in the UK. A total of 89% of these incidents were recorded in England where the Hen Harrier population is currently just one tenth of its potential. The majority of these incidents took place on or near land managed for grouse shooting.
Crimes against these birds include the shooting, trapping or poisoning of young and adult Hen Harriers, the destruction of their nests and eggs, and also the killing of chicks whilst still in the nest.
Our latest report on the illegal killing of Hen Harriers in the UK.
In spring, male Hen Harriers perform a complex and breath-taking display of aerial acrobatics, known as sky-dancing to attract a female. In a typical year, the female will lay one brood of four to five eggs. They nest on the ground, hidden amongst dense vegetation.
Currently, all Hen Harriers in the UK breed solely in the uplands where much of the landscape is dominated by land managed for grouse shooting.
Hen Harriers were persecuted to extinction in mainland Britain in the late 19th century, largely as a result of the growth of grouse shooting in the Victorian era. Until the 1940s, the species clung on at the very edge of their range on Orkney and in parts of the Western Isles of Scotland. From the 1940s onwards, the Hen Harrier slowly began to recover, expanding its range across the UK. However, in recent decades, this recovery has stalled. In Scotland and England, the suppression of Hen Harrier numbers is a direct result of persecution.
Although Hen Harriers have been legally protected since 1954, for decades they have been illegally killed across the UK. The majority of these crimes are linked to land managed for grouse shooting where some individuals on some shooting estates are willing to ignore the law in order to remove these birds from their land.
Along with many other birds of prey species, Hen Harriers are frequently killed illegally in an effort to remove any possible threat to Red Grouse. Often financially motivated, those killing Hen Harriers commit these crimes in an attempt to maximise the number of Red Grouse available to be shot during the designated shooting season.
Research has shown that Hen Harriers are ten times more likely to die or disappear when on grouse moors, and that the average life span of a Hen Harrier in the UK post-fledging is now only four months due to the impact of persecution.
As many of these incidents take place in remote and inaccessible areas of the UK’s uplands, the number of crimes detected represents only a fraction of the true numbers being illegally targeted and killed.
Of those that are detected, few result in the criminal being brought to justice. Without irrefutable evidence that leads to the criminal involved being identified – including eye-witness accounts, covert footage or forensic evidence – these persecution incidents go unpunished, leaving the perpetrator undeterred, able to continue to commit these crimes.
In the last 25 years, only three people have ever been convicted with Hen Harrier persecution related offences in the UK. Two took place in Scotland in the early 2000s, and one – the first ever case in England – happened in January 2026 in Yorkshire. In all three cases the person guilty of committing the crime was a gamekeeper employed on a grouse shooting estate.
Since 2014, the RSPB has fitted solar powered satellite tags to Hen Harriers in an effort to track their movements and survival. These lightweight devices are carefully fitted under licence to a small proportion of Hen Harrier chicks before fledging. Transmitting near real-time data, these enable the bird’s condition and location to be tracked.
As well as revealing previously unknown insights into their behaviour and ecology, satellite tag data has exposed several confirmed persecution incidents and highlighted dozens of incidents where it is highly suspected that a Hen Harrier was killed.
When a satellite tagged Hen Harrier dies, the tag will continue to transmit in most cases, giving the location of the bird’s body and tag. In these instances, the remains of the bird and the tag are recovered and sent for analysis – including post-mortem and forensic testing – to establish the Hen Harrier’s cause of death. In many cases, however, satellite tags suddenly stop transmitting without any sign of tag malfunction. In these circumstances it is highly likely that the tag has been damaged or destroyed, and the bird illegally killed.
Between 2010 and 2024, 112 satellite tagged Hen Harriers suddenly disappeared under suspicious circumstances in the UK. The majority of these tags sent their last transmission on or near grouse moors.
In England, current laws are failing to give Hen Harriers the crucial protection they desperately need. In 2024, Scotland took the progressive step to challenge and deter illegal persecution, with the introduction of a licensing scheme for grouse shooting, under the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Act. Under this new law, if evidence suggests a bird of prey has been persecuted, based on a civil rather than criminal burden of proof, the licence holder’s rights to shoot can be revoked.
Scotland has taken the lead, and we now need the UK Government to follow suit and give Hen Harriers in England the protection they deserve.
Contact your MP and join us in calling on the UK Government to license gamebird shooting.
