All sides agreed that diversionary feeding (scattering dead chicks on the moorlands – room service for harriers) was a good way to reduce nesting hen harriers' predation of grouse.
Grouse moorland is "the best and the worst place for the hen harrier," added Murphy.
"There would not be a feather on a hen harrier chick's head harmed," said Anderson.
He admitted that the presence of hen harriers was a threat to the profitability of the grouse shoots.
Some birds of prey also thrived on grouse moors because of these plentiful food supplies: merlin were four times more numerous on grouse moors than in other locations (although this may be because, unlike hen harriers, they are too small to kill grouse).
So many grouse-guzzling hen harriers thriving in the area meant the grouse population was reduced too far to sustain a commercial shoot.
"No new hen harriers this season means that the hen harrier is on the brink of extinction in England," said RSPB spokesman Graham Madge.
It's a pink-Stetsoned hen party stampeding over your heart.
A male hen harrier's silhouette gliding low over the moorland is an eerie sight greatly prized by bird lovers, but the bird is best known for its aerobatic displays of climbing, twisting and rolling, known as sky dancing.
As a scientist working for Natural England, the government's conservation watchdog, Stephen Murphy has spent the last eight years fitting hen harriers with £2,700-satellite transmitters to better understand the lifestyle of these birds, and the reasons for their demise.
Around 70% of hen harriers die of natural causes in their first year and of Murphy's 47 tracked birds, 37 disappeared without a trace.
