THE RSPB is offering a reward of £1000 for information leading to conviction of armed men responsible for targetting rare marsh harriers on moorland above Ilkley.

North Yorkshire Police is investigating the incident which happened in May after a pair of marsh harriers was discovered nesting on moorland forming part of Middleton and Denton moors near the village of Denton.

The site was monitored by RSPB investigators who photographed the nest containing five eggs and set up a camera to record activity. Video images recorded on May 17 show at least two individuals, who appeared to be men, wearing dull, brownish green coloured jackets, traditional country caps, and carrying what looked like shotguns and a brown game bag approached the nest site on six occasions between 12.40pm and 9.30pm.

The sound of several shots fired in the vicinity of the nest were recorded, as was the noise of an engine, believed to be a quad bike. One of the men stood over the nest, bent down, and appeared to pick up something from the nest before walking away.

The following day, May 18, a further visit by a man, similarly attired, along with a green rucksack, was recorded at around 9.40am. This individual stood over the nest, bent down, and appeared to remove something from the nest.

An RSPB investigator checked the site on May 19 and discovered the nest had no eggs in it, with no sign of any debris from damaged eggs.

The people shown on the video at the nest site have not been identified. A number of men have been spoken to by police as part of the investigation. Marsh harriers are a scarce species and it is an offence to intentionally or recklessly disturb birds while they are at, or near, a nest with eggs or young.

This species is typically associated with marshes and agricultural areas in the south east of England. It is rare for the bird to nest in North Yorkshire and this is believed to the first breeding attempt in the uplands of the county for many years.

Unfortunately, this area of moorland has a particularly bad history of raptor persecution, with 12 red kites known to have been poisoned or shot within five miles of the nesting attempt during the last ten years.

PC Bill Hickson, of North Yorkshire Police said: “The video evidence provided by the RSPB shows illegal activity around a marsh harrier nest, and the activity shown speaks for itself. The pictures on the video are, unfortunately, too small to produce an image from which any of the individuals shown could be identified.”

The RSPB has no doubt from the nature of the incidents that the individuals are not egg collectors and these were deliberate acts carried out to stop the birds from breeding.

RSPB Investigations Officer Howard Jones said: “North Yorkshire is consistently the worst county in England for the illegal killing of birds of prey, with recent confirmed reports of a poisoned red kite and buzzard, as well as a shot tawny owl and kestrel. It’s therefore not surprising that this rare breeding attempt of a marsh harrier has also succumbed to human persecution.

“We are grateful for the efforts of the North Yorkshire Police who investigate these crimes and who rightly take them very seriously. If anyone has information about this incident we would urge them to contact the police.”

Anyone with information should call North Yorkshire Police on 101, choose option 2 and ask for PC 820 Bill Hickson or email bill.hickson@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk, quoting the job reference 165 27 05 2017 or call the RSPB Investigations team confidentially on 01767 693474.