I asked NE some questions about their role in protecting two nests of Hen Harriers in Yorkshire last summer (2018). The two nests were on the same estate and one male was paired with two females.
Natural England’s account of what happened on this moor does not fully accord with what local raptor workers tell me. I’ll come back to that later today (probably at 6pm).
These two Hen Harrier nests represent two out of five unsuccessful nests in England this year (see here).
Natural England believe that they did everything they could to protect these nests.
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“Other raptors did well in the area”. “the area” is a nice phrase isn’t it, open to wide interpretation. Is it the estate? Other nearby land owned by other people? Within a square mile? On land managed in a different way?