The conflict between driven grouse shooting and Hen Harriers like Henry (or rather, not very like Henry) is a real one. Hen Harriers eat enough grouse seriously to reduce grouse bags when they are shot for fun. Grouse shooting interests illegally kill enough Hen Harriers in the UK to reduce their population to c6-800 pairs rather than the 2,600 pairs that there should be. You must choose. Do you want more natural uplands which are better at reducing flood risk, storing carbon and have a full range of upland wildlife or do you want the current knackered uplands to remain?
If you want less flooding, more carbon storage, better water quality, more blanket bogs, less wildlife crime and a restoration of predator populations then please sign this e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting.
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Looking back through these there’s been some great moments over the last year. Not to deny for an instant that there’s been some dark times as well but it’s exciting to see people talking about harriers, not just within the entrenched positions of conservation vs grouse moors but amongst the wider public as well. This year I feel there’s been a real groundswell, an upwelling of passion for these beautiful birds and a feeling of rebellion against the status-quo that would doom them to an inevitable end. Things are grim for harriers at the moment, and at times the situation looks intractable and hopeless, but every time I see an osprey or a red kite I’m reminded that (although we still need to be vigilant) we can turn things round for a species if we work at it.
Speaking of hen harriers have you see this? https://janiceduke.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/forsinard-mural-project-complete/ Another striking piece of artwork that emerged this year that puts harriers where they belong, at the heart of our wild landscapes, an icon for the uplands. We need more harriers in art, more harriers in the public eye, to remind us all that these are not obscure birds living in remote places, but important to all of us and well worth saving.
Thank you Mark for the postings of Henry on his adventures, and the second on general images. Perhaps most of your regular readers know the event/people/place depicted (and some are obvious), but I don’t, and I would like to know what some of the pictures are about. The images may have more impact that way…
… and re Paul Stagg’s comment about needing more harriers in art – we need more ‘nature’ art in general (Chris Packham commented on this recently – I think in BBC Wildlife mag) because strong visual and verbal images are a particularly powerful way to impact on consciousness. So art, as well as being valuable for its own sake, can work positively for raising awareness about any kind of endangered species or environment.
I’m a writer, rather than a visual artist, but always try to link image and text whenever I can. Re Hen Harriers in particular, there’s a great review here:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/08/hen-harrier-poems-colin-simms-review-robert-macfarlane
Although in general, it seems to me that within creative writing about birds, there is less about harriers than many other bird species. I am sad to say I have no powerful experience of Hen Harrier (Marsh, and Montagu yes) or I would oblige. If anyone wants to take me with them when HH is their next objective, I will go. Although I imagine the ‘can’t guarantee anything in nature’ is particularly true for HH sightings.
Incidentally, I’m not sure if these links work: the one in Paul’s comment doesn’t, and my one here doesn’t look as if it will…