Richard Johnstone is the organiser of the Music on the Marr folk festival, which takes place in Cumbria each summer. Here he tells us why the hen harrier has been chosen as the symbol of this year's festival and how the artistic amongst you could see your very own hen harrier design emblazoned across the chests of hundreds of this year's festival goers.
Each year in late July, the lovely North Cumbrian village of Castle Carrock, nestled under the Geltsdale fells, hosts Music on the Marr, a three-day music festival showcasing outstanding folk and roots acts from near and far. The moors above the village partly comprise the RSPB's Geltsdale reserve, one of the very few recent breeding grounds of the hen harrier in Northern England.
Each year the festival produces a new commemorative T-shirt and has on this occasion decided to feature the hen harrier, partly to raise awareness of its endangered state and partly to welcome it as a neighbour of our festival. The T-shirt design is open to public competition, and the winner will receive two weekend passes to the festival on 21-23rd July this year. The competition is only open until Thursday 20th April though, so you'd better be quick! To read all the T&Cs and find out how to submit your entry, visit the Music on the Marr website here.
A female hen harrier at RSPB's Geltsdale, in 2016. (Mark Thomas: rspb-images.com)
This wonderful film shot at last year's event gives a flavour of the intimate and friendly nature of this event. Just as our area is visited by throngs of migrating birds at this time of year so the festival welcomes performers from such far flung places as the Congo, Zimbabwe and Senegal not to mention all parts of the UK.
The festival's motto, which the village's road signs helpfully reflect is "Please Dance", but this year we'll be changing it to "Please Sky Dance" for obvious reasons! So please visit the festival website and, even if no designs spring to mind take a look at the impressive array of acts lined up and perhaps plan a visit combining the joys of fine folk music with the beauty of RSPB Geltsdale, and who knows? Maybe even a glimpse of an elusive hen harrier...