10/08/2014 Look North (Yorkshire)

Good evening. the late news here on

Hundreds of conservationists joined TV presenter Chris Packham

in the Peak District National Park this morning.

They fear hen harriers, a protected bird of prey, are being killed to

increase the number of grouse ahead of the new shooting season.

Conservationists gathered today over concerns that only three pairs

of hen harriers successfully nested and reared young in the North

They are protected birds of prey and killing them is a criminal offence.

Conservationists say gamekeepers are responsible for declining numbers.

If I'm very honest with you, we the conservationists have failed and we

are left with this handful of birds, should have hundreds of them.

We need to find a new strategy and that is what we hope to do.

The first thing we want to do is send out a very clear message to

the shooting fraternity that among the large number

of responsible shooters, there are a few bad apples in that barrel.

We would like them to sort them out, to stop killing these birds so that

we can talk about their future in our landscape and find compromises

Hen harriers are attracted to our moorland because of the way it

They nurture the heather to encourage grouse to live and breed.

This creates the perfect habitat for a large number of wild birds.

Heather moorland is beautiful and it would almost have been lost

if it wasn't for grouse moor management over the last 200 years.

The harriers are attracted to them because the heather is there

Because there is a wonderful abundance of wader birds like curlew

And also, the gamekeepers control the number of predators giving

everything that nests on the ground, including the harrier,

Gamekeepers argue the numbers of hen harriers need to be

controlled otherwise a grouse shoot becomes uneconomic, threatening

rural jobs and the carefully managed habitat hen harriers rely on.

The government is currently working on a plan to increase the number of

this endangered bird of prey while allowing our moorland to flourish.

A West Yorkshire MP has accused Lady Warsi,

who resigned from government last week, of "embarassing herself" by

Lady Warsi resigned from government because she disagreed with

In newspaper articles today she predicted the Tories will be unable

to win an outright majority because they haven't done enough to

It's a claim dismissed by Elmet and Rothwell MP Alec Shelbrooke.

In answer to the specific question, has she embarrassed the party?

I think it is more of an embarrassment to herself today, that

she has moved from her principled resignation about an issue she

believes strongly in, to then start criticizing the government in many

other areas which haven't reflected in her original resignation.

Police say road signs marking the route of the Tour de France

through Yorkshire are being stolen as souvenirs.

The brown signs allow cyclists and motorists to follow

the route taken by the professional riders in early July.

But North Yorkshire Police say some of the signs have been offered

They're asking people who took the signs as trophies to give them back.

Huddersfield Town manager Mark Robins has left the club after

The 44`year`old took charge of the Terriers in February 2013, helping

But there were boos around the ground yesterday as Huddersfield

His contract was ended by mutual consent.

On to Sport and it'll be an all Yorkshire affair in this years'

Castleford Tigers blew Widnes Vikings away in the semi`final

Classy Cas booked their first trip to Wembley Stadium in 22 years.

Jake Webster's try providing an emphatic victory, by 28 points to 6.

The win sets up an all West Yorkshire final against

Leeds Rhinos, who beat Warrington yesterday.

And it was a good day for Yorkshire's pro cyclists

at the Ride London Surrey Classic this afternoon.

Adam Blythe and Ben Swift came first and second

With just a few metres to go, Blythe sprinted away from the leaders,

But Blythe held on and crossed the line first.

It follows Lizzie Armitstead's success in the

The remnants of ex`hurricane Bertha have brought some very wild weather

If we take a look at the radar image of some very

squally showers that we have seen so far this afternoon, we can see

a very distinct line and we have had reports of some funnel cloud

We will continue to see some further heavy rain

A Met Office yellow 'be aware' warning still in force,

but it really is the winds that are of concern overnight.

There is a warning as we could see gusts of up to 50 to

60 miles per hour up over the hills and by the coast as well.

And we'll continue to see this rain push further away towards the east,

becoming a bit drier by the early hours.

Temperatures dipping to around 11 to 13 Celsius as our low.

Tomorrow, another very blustery day with strong to gale force winds

There will be some heavy showers, which could be thundery,

but plenty in the way of drier weather around them.

Some sunnier spells and temperatures generally in the high teens but

That is as far as we go for now. We are back at 10:20pm tonight.

Hello there. With reports of flooding and wind damage in some

parts of the UK, hurricane