NOT again. Surely. Tarras, a young hen harrier who was raised on Langholm Moor in Galloway less than a year ago, has disappeared. The tag she was carrying suddenly cut out, with no warning or explanation, and no sign of her body has so far been found. You’ve probably already guessed what’s coming next, haven’t you? She had been hunting on or near grouse moors.

How many more times are we going to have to go through this? Last year, I followed the story of Marlin and Hoolie, two hen harriers who fledged in Scotland in 2018. Marlin flew to Yorkshire and Hoolie to Ireland before they both returned to the Cairngorm National Park. About a month later, Hoolie’s tag stopped transmitting, then the same thing happened to Marlin. Two more animals added to the very long list of birds that have disappeared in areas managed for grouse.

I have to say: the whole thing gets me down, it really does. The hen harrier is the most beautiful of raptors; a bird that makes, in the words of the nature writer James Macdonald Lockhart, a ballet of the sky. And what adds to the tragedy of Tarras is that she was female; Will Hayward, an investigations officer with the RSPB, said it was devastating that she’d been denied the chance to become part of the breeding population in future.

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So what are we dealing with here? I’ll never forget coming across an old book from the 50s called Grouse Shooting and Moor Management which described the hen harrier as a “nasty bird of evil habits … it must be got rid of at all costs” and wondering: how much has that attitude really changed? The grouse moor model is effectively based on the killing of birds of prey; any threat to the grouse must be controlled or exterminated and everyone, including the gamekeeping and shooting community, accepts it leads some people to killing the birds illegally.

The Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association says, in defence, that it expels anyone convicted of wildlife crime and takes a hard line on the issue. But the important question here isn’t the punishment of the few who are caught – although they should be punished - but how to prevent the birds being killed. Marlin. Hoolie. Tarras. And all the other ones that will come after them.

I’m afraid the only realistic answer is a ban on driven grouse shooting. I know there’s a proposal for a licensing system – and I’ve spoken to people on all sides about it – but I have little faith in the idea I’m afraid. Think about what’s happening: the people who are illegally killing birds of prey are unlikely to be deterred by a licensing system if they’re not deterred by the law as it stands which has protected the hen harrier for more than 60 years.

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I’m aware, obviously, of the argument that we need grouse moors economically – and who wouldn’t be sympathetic to that when finding work in many rural areas is so hard? – but the argument is under strain. Look, for example, at the report this week by Common Weal and Revive, the group campaigning for grouse moor reform (so admittedly coming at it from that angle). The report accepts jobs would go but suggests new ones could be created by using land differently, forestry or tourism for example. Even better, the jobs are likely to be more highly paid (let’s face it: it’s shocking how little many of the folk who work on grouse moors earn).

There may be another way to save the lives of Tarras and others like her, but if there is, I can’t see it. What happened to that beautiful bird of prey is happening repeatedly on or near driven grouse moors, and away from the moors, the hen harrier is thriving, so until we remove the reason for the persecution, the persecution will continue. Some of us, you see, look up and see a pest and reach for the gun, but some of us look up and see the ballet in the sky.

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