More gas guns positioned on another grouse moor in Yorkshire Dales National Park

Jun 30, 2023

I’ve recently been blogging about a number of mannequins (hen harrier scarers) that have been installed on a number of grouse moors in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the Peak District National Park (here, here and here).

I also wrote about an active gas gun (a bird-scaring device designed to ‘boom’ loudly and intermittently), that had also been placed out on one of those grouse moors (here).

Another blog reader has now been in touch with photographs of two more gas guns that have been positioned on another grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, one out in the open and the other one set inside a grouse- shooting butt:

I’ve blogged about the use of gas guns to deter breeding hen harriers many times before, as has Mark Avery, which led to us seeking advice from SNH (now NatureScot) and Natural England for guidance for their use on grouse moors during the breeding season (see here).

The eventual advice from SNH (here) and Natural England (here) was unimpressive to say the least, although it was clear that if Schedule 1 birds (i.e. hen harriers) were present in the area, the user was advised to ‘ensure that gas guns are located so that they do not disturb breeding Schedule 1 birds. This includes all breeding stages from nest building through to young that are still dependant on the adult birds‘.

The difficulties associated with determining sufficient evidence to demonstrate a disturbance offence in this scenario was coherently examined by former Police Wildlife Crime Officer Alan Stewart on his blog (here), at least in terms of wildlife protection legislation in Scotland.

So here we are, seven years later, and this issue is still not resolved.

I’d also like to know how the firing of gas guns, and the installation of mannequins, on grouse moors during the hen harrier breeding season fits in with DEFRA’s ludicrous Hen Harrier Action Plan (and the associated hen harrier brood meddling trial), where we’re supposed to believe that grouse moor owners and their gamekeepers are all welcoming breeding hen harriers with open arms.

Incidentally, the gas guns photographed earlier this month on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (see above) just happen to be on the same grouse moor that was at at the centre of a police investigation in 2017 into the suspicious disappearance of a satellite-tagged hen harrier and another police investigation in 2020 into the alleged shooting of another hen harrier. Imagine that.