Hen harriers are on the red list of endangered species. Photo: Dennis Jacobsen

Police in the Yorkshire Dales said four hen harrier chicks were deliberately killed in their nest earlier this year.

The brutal deaths of the legally protected birds earlier this year occurred in a county notorious for raptor persecution.

Investigators said a camera at the site was subject to a ‘whiteout’ caused by a bright light or the lens being covered at the time of the crime.

The incident happened in June this year near Whernside, Yorkshire’s highest peak.

North Yorkshire Police said the nest was being monitored by fieldworkers from Natural England, the government’s advisory body on the outdoors.

A police spokesperson said: “The nest was progressing well, and by 10 May there were four chicks, aged approximately eight- to 12-days-old. The parent female was satellite-tagged Susie, who was tagged in Cumbria in 2020.

“Natural England staff became concerned on 20 June when Susie was unexpectedly and abruptly shown tracking approximately 35km away from her nest. An adult female should be attentive and close to her nest during this period. Her sudden exit from the nest area was worrying.

“For this reason, on 21 June, Natural England field staff acting under licence checked the nest, and made the grim discovery of three dead hen harrier chicks.

“There were no clear signs that the chicks had been killed by a predator. The situation was suspicious and so the police were informed.

“Natural England staff retrieved nest camera footage which confirmed that there were four chicks in the nest before the incident, that they were well fed and provisioned by the parents, and looked fit and well.”

Officers said at 9.54pm on 15 June the camera showed the nest site appeared normal with Susie settled in the nest with chicks. However, at 9.59pm a sudden irregular ‘whiteout’ of the camera occurred, blinding the camera.

“The camera used is movement-activated, and it was not triggered again until the following morning when footage captured apparently dead chicks in the nest and Susie attempting to feed them.

“She can then be seen removing her dead chicks from the nest. Three of these were found just outside the nest, and it is not known where she deposited the fourth.

“A whiteout has not occurred with a Natural England nest camera before, and the camera itself continued to operate normally since then, and once Susie returned to her nest the following morning her movement triggered further recording of images.

“There was no trace on the ground that a vehicle had driven over the nest, nor did the nest camera footage indicate that this had happened. There was, however, a footmark impression in the vegetation at the nest site, strongly indicating that a person had approached the nest. Natural England staff are careful to approach using known routes. The footprint observed was believed to be recent, and not made by Natural England staff.”

The spokesperson said the three chicks were subject to a post-mortem examination, which showed each suffered multiple fractured bones including the humerus in one chick, both femurs in the second chick, and in the third chick, the humerus and a crushed skull. The fractures were complete and showed a considerable trauma had taken place for each chick.

Although avian flu virus was detected in one of the chicks, the post-mortem examinations also showed that the birds had been eating up until their deaths. “This implies that deaths were sudden rather than a result of a chronic disease process.”

The incident happened near Whernside, Yorkshire's highest peak. Photo: Bob Smith/grough

North Yorkshire Police said, having considered all the evidence, they strongly suspect that someone approached the nest after dark and deliberately killed the chicks.

“A predator would normally be expected to return and remove the dead chicks. Stoats can kill without rendering much obvious damage, but as the chicks were within the nest, it would be reasonable to expect nest camera footage of a predation or other event.

“The living status of the chicks, followed by a whiteout of the nest camera – possibly by a bright lamp, or something placed in front of the camera – followed by all chicks being lifeless on the next footage, together with the post-mortem results showing broken bones in all the chicks and a crushed skull, suggests human illegal persecution activity.”

The North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: “Despite there being encouraging news this spring regarding the numbers of successful hen harrier nests this year, we sadly continue to be regularly called upon to investigate cases of illegal persecution of hen harriers and other birds of prey. There is no place for the selfish and illegal killing of our wildlife in our countryside.”

Paul Cantwell, investigative support officer with the Police UK national wildlife crime unit, said: “This incident unfortunately shows that despite more recent breeding success in hen harriers, people still appear to be determined to cause harm to this vulnerable species through cruel criminal acts.

“We urge anyone with information about this matter to report it to the Police or Crimestoppers.”

The Hen Harrier is on the red list of birds of conservation concern in the UK and is considered vulnerable within Europe. It is protected under law.

John Holmes, Natural England strategy director, said: “The evidence points to this being one of the most clear-cut and brutal cases of hen harrier persecution we’ve ever found, and we would urge anyone with information to come forward.

“We were diligently monitoring this nest and moved quickly to ensure collection of forensic and other evidence to support a police investigation as soon as persecution was suspected.
“We have recently seen welcome increases in hen harrier numbers, but despite our best efforts there are still those who are set on disrupting this progress. We will continue to work to monitor hen harrier nests, to increase understanding of hen harriers and to support our enforcement and forensic partners where foul play is suspected, following every evidential lead possible.

“We call for all landowners and managers to help police identify and prosecute anyone who commits these horrific crimes against birds of prey.”

A group that includes representatives of shooting organisations, country land businesses, gamekeepers and land managers condemned the killings.

The Yorkshire Dales Bird of Prey Partnership, which also has as members the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and two police forces, said it was shocked to hear of this apparently deliberate destruction of a hen harrier nest containing four chicks.

It said: “The group condemns raptor persecution in the strongest possible terms and agrees with North Yorkshire Police that there is no place for the selfish and illegal killing of wildlife in our countryside. All birds of prey are protected by law and killing them is a criminal offence.

Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to contact North Yorkshire Police on 101 and quote incident reference number 12220107140; log it online via the North Yorkshire Police website, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.