In a statement on the parlous GOV.UK website, Natural England commented on the loss of a fifth male Hen Harrier from an English nest this summer. Rob Cooke, Natural England’s Director of Terrestrial Biodiversity said: The sudden loss of so many birds is of great concern and something that England’s fragile breeding hen harrier population…
Tag: hen harrier
The media coverage of the Hen Harrier today
As predicted in my morning blog, the plight of the Hen Harrier has been given plenty of publicity in the coverage of the results of the national bird vote (won by the Robin). These are two examples that were easy to find – there will be others, no doubt. The Guardian quotes David Lindo and…
A great victory for the Hen Harrier
The Hen Harrier came a glorious ninth in the poll for our national bird – left fluttering in the wake of the Robin and a host of other species, but edging ahead of the Puffin (which must be gutted!). It’s enough to set us all off on a sky-dance! It was remarkable that the Hen…
Coming up soon on Springwatch unsprung
…the results of the vote for a national bird – on BBC2 at 9pm. Will Henry the Hen Harrier win? I would somehow doubt it! Getting into the final ten is quite an achievement for a lovelorn six-foot Hen Harrier. If the Hen Harrier comes higher than tenth it will be an enormous achievement. And…
Henry – Lanarking about
We’re back in Scotland! I’m fairly sure Lanarkshire is in Scotland but I don’t know much about it. And it seems that Henry will be safe and sound – as far as driving is concerned anyway. There’s a bit of grouse moor in the background. Henry may have to go and have a look over…
Henry at Geltsdale – the only grey in the village?
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Henry called in at Geltsdale a while ago – he said he thought that he was the only grey male in the village. I don’t know quite what he was on about. Here is Henry looking intently at the interpretation boards in the car park. He also met a very cheery postman and some…
Oy! Henry at Moy!
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…
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!…
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…