Grey clouds tumbled through the North Tynedale site for much of last weekend and this week, but we did see a female and male hen harrier which was uplifting. The female bird swooped along the top of some crags before dipping below the ridge and... straight past a peregrine nest. When the harrier came back into view, she was being shown the door, as it were, by our male peregrine.
After no sightings of a female hen harrier for over a week, it was a shame she was given such a frosty reception. Hopefully, she'll be back soon.
As for our male hen harrier. He has gone AWOL, again. You will recall that he was not seen for 5 days a few weeks ago and then he returned so we've seen this before. We did get a brief glimpse on Sunday, though he appeared to head towards a nearby grouse moor. It is one of his regular hunting grounds but we'd like him to return home soon!