Thirty years ago I started working for the RSPB on a six month upland bird surveying contract – with the additional challenge of helping to protect England’s only regular nesting hen harriers. The Forest of Bowland was the only stronghold for hen harriers in England in 1982 – it still is. I’ll be contributing a series of guest blogs over the spring and summer and tweeting in real time on @andrefarrar
My time with Bowland’s hen harriers was coming to an end – and thankfully a positive one. Young harriers in several of the nests I was monitoring had been exercising their wings and blundering about on the tops of heather clumps around the nest.
And then the first flight – just a few meters and then back onto the heather wings akimbo.
With each attempt, longer and stronger.
My harriers were fledging. Not mine, clearly, but make no mistake, I felt very close to them. Now they were up and away I was finding fewer excuses to tackle the paperwork and write up the season’s records.
But for a few more days I carried on with my rounds – young birds where appearing all over the place, the redstarts and spotted flycatchers were feeding young. Small flocks of golden plovers were gathering, a sign that the year was turning.
It’s interesting that my note books of the time make little reference to the other waders – the priority in those days was the open moorland and I was giving little attention to the lapwings, redshanks and curlews – a pleasurable accompaniment as I walked up to the moorland, but not a priority for record taking.
The retreat of waders from our countryside was still some years off in Northern England. Of course, today they are a major focus of our work as you can read here.
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