Our staff on the ground will be blogging soon about what it's like manning a 24/7 nestwatch, but I just couldn't wait to share this first photograph with you of the first hen harrier chicks to have hatched in Bowland since 2011! Can you spot all five?
Bowland hen harrier chicks, 2014 (c) Jude Lane
Rest assured, we take our duty to prevent any undue disturbance to the nest very seriously. Nest visits are only made by staff registered with a Schedule 1 licence from Natural England for monitoring and protection purposes. Typical monitoring will involve three nest visits - one at the start to asses how many eggs have been laid and place remotely operated nest-protection cameras; one visit once we are confident all the chicks have hatched, to check their number and health; and one final visit at the end just before they fledge to fit the chicks with BTO rings and satellite tags. This photograph was taken as part of this monitoring process, the nest visit wasn't extended in order to take the photo, and no specific visit was made to take the photo.