Evidence and references Hen harrier reintroduction. Both proposals seem to avoid the underlying issue of illegal wildlife persecution. © Hen Harrier by Amy Lewis Our main concerns in supporting the plan are: Brood management (removal of chicks to an alternative location). On 16 January 2018, Natural England issued a license permitting the trial of a brood management scheme for hen harriers. Neither The Wildlife Trusts or RSPB support this decision. Click here to read The Wildlife Trusts’ response to these proposals. Hen harrier reintroduction. Both proposals seem to avoid the underlying issue of illegal wildlife persecution.1 Illegal Killing of Birds of Prey1a. Hen Harriers A Joint Nature Conservation Committee commissioned report in 2011 provided an estimate of the potential hen harrier population that England could support as 323–340 pairs. Notes of caution were given in the research, e.g. because the model could not use English data to calculate the potential population in England because there is so little actual data to use. Nonetheless because the modelling of potential population was based on data drawn from actual surveys, e.g. in Scotland, where birds were subject to limiting factors such as illegal persecution, predation (which could affect productivity), prey densities (voles cycle) and habitat quality (heather cover for nesting birds), this potential population estimate was still felt to be conservative given the potential habitat available in England. In 2013 there were no breeding pairs in England, in 2014 there were three breeding pairs. 2015 saw England’s biggest increase in years with six successful nests, but this was down to just three again in both 2016 and 2017. The ‘missing’ hen harriers may be due to a number of reasons, and the 2011 report consider a number of constraints in turn eg grazing, predation, climate, wind farms. But the two main issues identified were persecution and, in one Scottish region, prey shortages. Nesting/foraging habitat and predation pressures may also be locally important eg buzzards preying on hen harrier chicks. The 2011 report concludes that ‘England is unlikely to achieve this (favourable conservation status for hen harriers) unless illegal persecution is significantly reduced’. In 2016, Defra produced a Joint Hen Harrier Action Plan supported by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, Moorland Association, National Gamekeepers Organisation, National Parks UK, Natural England and the RSPB. The RSPB later withdrew its support, later also terminating its involvement in the Peak District Bird of Prey Initiative. In March 2019 a report called ‘Patterns of satellite tagged hen harrier disappearances suggest widespread illegal killing on British grouse moors‘ was published in Nature Communications which showed hen harriers are significantly more likely to die on grouse moors than other habitats, with the majority of birds killed illegally. Click here to read the report. 1b. Peregrines, buzzards, short-eared owls and goshawks Within the Sheffield boundary, which includes the moors above Howden Reservoir, the South Peak Raptor Study Group (SPRSG) have monitored birds of prey in the Upper Derwentdale area since the late 1990s, and some of their members have monitored the area for more than forty years. For peregrine, their data shows that, despite growth in the White Peak from 6 successful nesting sites in 2000 to more than 32 sites in 2011, sites in Derwentdale remained between 2 to 4 over the same period. For buzzard, their data shows that, despite exponential growth in the White Peak from 11 successful fledglings in 2000 to over 37 in 2011, successful fledglings in Derwentdale remained at 0 over the same period. The ‘missing’ birds of prey recorded by the SPRSG may be due to a number of reasons, but giv