With only a few days to go until the third annual Hen Harrier Day, my thoughts are inevitably with this year’s newly fledged chicks and the challenges facing them as they stretch their wings and take to the air for the first time over the previous and coming weeks.
Despite RSPB’s recent departure from the Defra-led Hen Harrier Action Plan, we remain fully committed to securing a sustainable future for these birds and our European-funded Hen Harrier LIFE Project has been, and will continue to deliver on-the-ground conservation through nest protection and winter roost monitoring (in partnership with NERF and SRSG), investigations work, and importantly, satellite tagging.
Skydancer bath bombs from LUSH have funded additional satellite tags
This year, thanks to cosmetics company LUSH, and sales of their fabulous Skydancer Bath Bomb, we’ve be able to double the number of satellite tags the project can fit. So far this year, we have fitted satellite tags on birds as far north as Banffshire in Scotland, and soon hope to tag a chick on our Geltsdale reserve in Cumbria, the first hen harrier to hatch at that location in ten long years. Tags have also gone on birds at National Trust for Scotland’s Mar Lodge Estate in Aberdeenshire, amongst other locations. From the end of the summer, you’ll be able to follow the fortunes of 11 of these birds on the LIFE Project website here.
Hen harrier chicks in the nest at Mar Lodge estate, Aberdeenshire, 2016. (c) Shalia Rao
I sincerely hope they fare better than our previous satellite-tagged birds.
Bowland Betty – fledged in 2011, found shot dead on a grouse moor in Yorkshire Dales in June 2012.
Sky – fledged in July 2014, disappeared in Forest of Bowland in September 2014 when tag suddenly and inexplicably stopped transmitting
Hope – fledged in July 2014, disappeared in Forest of Bowland in September 2014 when tag suddenly and inexplicably stopped transmitting
Burt – sibling to Hope, fledged in July 2014, disappeared after tag showed signs of battery failure with transmissions slowly fading and eventually stopping in December 2014, near Exmoor
Highlander – sibling to Sky, fledged in July 2014, disappeared in April 2016 when tag suddenly and inexplicably stopped transmitting
Chance – fledged in 2014, disappeared in South Lanarkshire in May 2016 when tag suddenly and inexplicably stopped transmitting
Lad – fledged in July 2015, found dead with injuries “consistent with shooting” in September 2015, in the Cairngorms National Park
Nile – fledged in July 2015, died of unknown causes in Northern France in November 2015, body not recovered
Hetty – fledged from Isle of Man in July 2015, found dead of natural causes in August 2015
Holly – fledged in West Scotland July 2015, disappeared in Central Scotland in October 2015
"Bowland Betty" - female hen harrier having her satellite tag fitted, 2011 (c) RSPB
I look forward to sharing the stories of our new birds with you on our website and @RSPB_Skydancer. In the meantime, I'll be speaking at Hen Harrier Day Northeast this Sunday, hosted at RSPB Saltholme, which is one of many events being held across the country this weekend.
See you there?