When British Birds arrived this morning that tipped me off to the six pairs of Hen Harriers that nested in Northumberland this year. Six pairs of Forestry England land and private land nearby produced 18 fledged young.
A Hen Harrier named Sofia, hatched in 2018, who bred last year, was the most successful female this year with five ringed chicks. Two other Northumberland-born birds bred suxccessfully in Scotland and Yorkshire.
Tom Dearnley Forestry England Ecologist said: “We are delighted that the nation’s forests have again provided a suitable habitat for hen harriers with record numbers fledging this year. More than 60 young have fledged over the last 6 years so this partnership work gives future generations the chance to see these magnificent birds in England.“
Gill Thompson chair of the Northumberland Hen Harrier Protection Partnership added “It is great to know Northumberland is consistently supporting hen harriers that continue to produce young. Thanks to the team who were able in this difficult year to continue the work. I was so pleased to hear Sofia was successful again and it shows we can get great information from the satellite tags. We will continue to watch where our birds go in future.”
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Thats good news, well done to FC and all the folk that put energy into this. But I am left in a familiar dilemna – (a) I want them to spread out a bit to my area so I can see them, (b) I want them to stay put in their current area so they don’t get blasted out of the sky within days or weeks. And it’s (b) I have to go with, being a realist.
Is a further breakdown of numbers available for FC , private landowner, and land use .
This is of course very good news, I know that the group of organisations involved in monitoring these nests puts in a lot of joint work so well done.
One hopes that we soon have the figures for other areas so that we can see how well or otherwise the population of England as a whole has done. Not Sure why everybody is being so reticent about this year?