Hen harriers again.

Do male hen harriers even visit the nest before the eggs hatch? Having read up on it I suspect not!

He will visit on occasions to drop off food for her whilst she is sitting hard, but normally they exchange food in the air. Sometimes a Male will service and feed two females and you would never trap a male at the nest. No point in setting a trap in the nest, much easier to walk up to it if you want to kill the hen and evil men will know this. She will fly at you initially so very easy to shoot.
The whole thing has to be a set up, just like the eagle" killed "in the Borders a year or two ago. The policeman holding up a dead eagle might have believed it to be true, but it was not that eagle he was holding up, I know because I worked on that beat for two years and "My Eagles" had been there for eight years before that and I could identify that hen out of any twenty eagles. It makes you wonder how many dead birds of prey reside in fridges or freezers belonging to antis to be used as and when required.
 
He will visit on occasions to drop off food for her whilst she is sitting hard, but normally they exchange food in the air. Sometimes a Male will service and feed two females and you would never trap a male at the nest. No point in setting a trap in the nest, much easier to walk up to it if you want to kill the hen and evil men will know this. She will fly at you initially so very easy to shoot.
The whole thing has to be a set up, just like the eagle" killed "in the Borders a year or two ago. The policeman holding up a dead eagle might have believed it to be true, but it was not that eagle he was holding up, I know because I worked on that beat for two years and "My Eagles" had been there for eight years before that and I could identify that hen out of any twenty eagles. It makes you wonder how many dead birds of prey reside in fridges or freezers belonging to antis to be used as and when required.
I have a dead bird of prey residing in my freezer for that very reason, but given that the keeper who shot it is now in jail anyway I don't think I'll be needing to use it....

(Incidentally, does that make me an "anti"? I don't think so. We all need to do our bit to tidy up our industry from within if we ever want to be able to defend fieldsports from a strong position.)
 
I have a dead bird of prey residing in my freezer for that very reason, but given that the keeper who shot it is now in jail anyway I don't think I'll be needing to use it....

(Incidentally, does that make me an "anti"? I don't think so. We all need to do our bit to tidy up our industry from within if we ever want to be able to defend fieldsports from a strong position.)

Totally agree with your sentiments Tim and it does not make you an anti. However, be very careful what you are doing, because a shot BOP in your freezer could get you into a lot of trouble if some enemy got the law to raid you and it was found( and we all have some enemies). That is unless you have a legal letter allowing you to store it.
 
You are playing with Fire there Tim, if such an item were seized for the purposes of evidence in any case against another, say innocent person, it would be clear to all concerned that it had spent time 'asleep with Lenin', lead or no lead, which would definitely backfire on you and your suitability to hold a FAC . Just saying :tiphat:
 
Taxidermists have been hauled through the legal system in the past tim because they had protected species in freezers that were found to contain pellets
 
He will visit on occasions to drop off food for her whilst she is sitting hard, but normally they exchange food in the air. Sometimes a Male will service and feed two females and you would never trap a male at the nest. No point in setting a trap in the nest, much easier to walk up to it if you want to kill the hen and evil men will know this. She will fly at you initially so very easy to shoot.
The whole thing has to be a set up, just like the eagle" killed "in the Borders a year or two ago. The policeman holding up a dead eagle might have believed it to be true, but it was not that eagle he was holding up, I know because I worked on that beat for two years and "My Eagles" had been there for eight years before that and I could identify that hen out of any twenty eagles. It makes you wonder how many dead birds of prey reside in fridges or freezers belonging to antis to be used as and when required.

Interested in your comments on the borders eagle. I had thought one of the pair did go missing around that time, but more than happy to be proven wrong.

Certainly a bit of a savage intro for the new keeper at the time dealing with that sh**storm anyway.

A different species granted, but after the Bleasdale case last year, guess the antis are all over the fenn in the nest scenario, which makes you wonder whether any keeper would be stupid enough to try that tactic now.

Novice
 
"No point in setting a trap in the nest, much easier to walk up to it if you want to kill the hen and evil men will know this."

The scene-setters of this little charade appear not to have been so aware, FH, which of course points to it being a set-up. Woudn't the pic depicting Chris's fenn trap on the vets table be somewhat an article of some import as an exhibit of evidence, or is it the vets or CP's 'prop'-erty? And the departed bird's eyes appear to have receded alarmingly quickly, no??
Laughably inept.....
 
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Whoever is doing this is doing us no favours:
I'm afraid that Chris is acting like a bad luck charm with BOPs, whenever he sets foot on a Grouse moor of several thousand acres he goes straight to a bird held by a rusty old trap just a few square inches in size. How does he do it, he's like a guy who really can find a needle in a haystack?
 
Interested in your comments on the borders eagle. I had thought one of the pair did go missing around that time, but more than happy to be proven wrong.

Certainly a bit of a savage intro for the new keeper at the time dealing with that sh**storm anyway.

A different species granted, but after the Bleasdale case last year, guess the antis are all over the fenn in the nest scenario, which makes you wonder whether any keeper would be stupid enough to try that tactic now.

Novice

Yes it did go missing, but she was old. My wife at the time said "That was not the eagle we know" and she had studied them every day to aid her profession.
It must have been awful for the lad who had just been set on but I never followed what happened because it was so unbelievable.
 
Another reverse-case of 'innocent until proven guilty'? Plenty of that going on already; they should go into the un-limited 'print' edition framing business...:-|
 
I'm afraid that Chris is acting like a bad luck charm with BOPs, whenever he sets foot on a Grouse moor of several thousand acres he goes straight to a bird held by a rusty old trap just a few square inches in size. How does he do it, he's like a guy who really can find a needle in a haystack?
Ha ha! He'd be a great guy to have on side when you'd just dropped a roe buck on a big block of featureless clearfell! He'd be onto it's quicker than any tracking dog!
 
It's no good people on here saying it's staged. That's what we all want to believe, but until someone proves that's the case (and brings CP down in flames) the spotlight is fairly and squarely on the the shooting community.
It was staged and reported to the police at the time, traps were stolen and vandalised at the time. Evidence was submitted to the police. Also the estate is monitored by 3 separate raptor study groups! why would a keeper do this knowing they were being watched. I have said it before and Ill repeat here, keeper are not stupid, they talk with one another and every keeper will know how to get rid of HH legaly. But it pays keepers to have harriers and merlins on their ground, bragging rights etc
 
Totally agree with your sentiments Tim and it does not make you an anti. However, be very careful what you are doing, because a shot BOP in your freezer could get you into a lot of trouble if some enemy got the law to raid you and it was found( and we all have some enemies). That is unless you have a legal letter allowing you to store it.
Yes, I'm aware it's dangerous ground, but I believe I kept sufficient documentary evidence (and info from witnesses) to cover my own back in the event that things went wrong. However, it's history now. Sadly a young lad lost his life and another two their liberty, so events overtook me somewhat and the carcass will now be disposed of as no longer relevant.
 
Yes, I'm aware it's dangerous ground, but I believe I kept sufficient documentary evidence (and info from witnesses) to cover my own back in the event that things went wrong. However, it's history now. Sadly a young lad lost his life and another two their liberty, so events overtook me somewhat and the carcass will now be disposed of as no longer relevant.
I think quad bike Tim?
 
Yes, I'm aware it's dangerous ground, but I believe I kept sufficient documentary evidence (and info from witnesses) to cover my own back in the event that things went wrong. However, it's history now. Sadly a young lad lost his life and another two their liberty, so events overtook me somewhat and the carcass will now be disposed of as no longer relevant.
Ah yes the poor young lad who got shot in the vehicle
 
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