Henry visited the village of Moy recently. If he had been in this region in 2010, this might have been Henry caught in an illegally set fenn trap. See the excellent Raptor Persecution Scotland blog for more details – if you can stand them (and here too). Of course, if the person who set the…
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Get your Hen Harrier Day news here!
This new website is where you should go to find out about what is happening on Hen Harrier Day, 9 August 2015. And if you are preparing an event yourself – and why not? – let the guys at Birders Against Wildlife Crime know and they’ll help advertise it for you. You’ll see that an…
What next?
There’s been an outpouring of frustration mixed with anger on social media, and in my head, over the fifth disappearance of a male Hen Harrier from the English uplands this year. Yesterday I was quite distracted whilst doing a BBS visit – I had to keep telling myself to concentrate and count the Carrion Crows!…
Oscar Dewhurst – cute Avocet chicks
Oscar writes: These Avocet chicks were taken at Minsmere this Spring. I’ve never seen them close – to get them so near the hide was a good start to the morning! Nikon D800, Nikon 600mm f/4 AF-S II lens, Nikon 1.4x TC Mark writes: Awwww!! It’s good to have Oscar back after his exams –…
Mayhem
The fifth ‘disappearance’ of a male Hen Harrier from an active nest in England marks 2015 as ‘May mayhem’ year (see here and here). If five male Blackbirds disappeared from a small number of monitored nests it would be pretty odd, and Hen Harriers are designed to live a good deal longer than Blackbirds. A…
Sunday book review – In Pursuit of Butterflies by Matthew Oates
Matthew Oates has worked for the National Trust for ever and is one of the country’s leading experts on butterflies. With this book, he becomes a leading writer about them too. The book is a celebration of British butterflies and is an account of butterfly days going back for over fifty years. Do you remember…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
Mark writes: I haven’t seen much Springwatch this year – I’ve been dashing about too much. There’s been a bit of Twitter discussion, though, about the fantastic footage of Hen Harriers from Orkney (with Iolo Williams). I thought that was just wonderful – and exactly the type of exposure that Hen Harriers need. The mention…
Henry occupies another butt
It was a dreich day in the Lammermuirs when Henry occupied this grouse shooting butt. Earlier we had seen a Short-eared Owl, it seems to be another good year for them, and Henry was rather keen to look for voles. I was rather keen to look for a bacon sandwich. This line of grouse butts…
Being open
Members of the ‘Sodden 570’ at last year’s Hen Harrier Day event in the Upper Derwent Valley will recognise this area – we were getting soaked just off the left hand (western) side of the map on 10 August last year. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act provided open access to open ground (in…
Woodland Trust withdraws from Forest Holidays sponsorship deal
Comments Off on Woodland Trust withdraws from Forest Holidays sponsorship deal
See the Friends of Fineshade website for details. Well done Woodland Trust!