Last week Paul Stagg described the challenging process of locating hen harrier nests and the cunning plan that involved acclimatising the birds to the presence of the camera using a screwdriver, a paint-roller, gaffer tape and a little imagination.
This week I am pleased to be able to say that we now have three very healthy looking harrier chicks on the monitor in the Visitor Centre.
When the nest was first discovered we initially had four harrier chicks. The eggs are laid by the female at intervals over a couple of days and the resulting chicks therefore hatch at slightly different times. This means that there can be quite a size difference between the oldest and youngest chicks. As with any group of siblings the oldest and biggest tends to be the one that demands the most food and unfortunately this sometimes means that the youngest does not get fed enough and can perish (especially in poor weather conditions where exposure can be a real danger!). This seems to have been the case with our camera nest and so as it went live on Monday we found ourselves coo-ing (in a very manly kind of way!) over three healthy looking harrier chicks. Harriers can have between four and six chicks so hopefully the remaining chicks will all stand a good chance of making it through the season.
With the camera in place we will now be able to show visitors to the centre the antics of our loveable bundles of fluff as they grow into a bunch of juvenile hooligans crashing around the nest and eventually we hope to see them all take their first flight!
Before anyone asks, we will not be able to stream the hen harrier footage on the internet. Forsinard is a very remote location and to be honest I struggle to check my emails and write these posts let alone get live footage down our historical communications system.
So if you want to see our harriers, I’m afraid you will just need to come and visit us...we don’t bite (honest!).
All the information you need to plan a visit can be found at www.rspb.org.uk/forsinard
Forsinard Visitor Centre (located in the old station building)
Live footage of our harrier nest in the visitor centre
Damp bundles of fluff (already with some proper feathers coming through)
All the import items required for carrying out a moorland bird survey (MBS) - Obviously the caramel digestives are the most important!
Never mind "big-sky country" this is Skylark country!!