What a difference a weekend makes. I last saw the four hen harrier chicks on the screen in the Kirkwall Tourist Information Centre on Friday. Then, they seemed to be spending most of the time under Mum and unless they were being fed it was hard to distinguish them - all you could see was a bundle of white fluff. Having said that, there was one noticeably bigger and more forward than the others and I've no doubt it was the one to hatch first.
When the camera switched on on Monday morning, the female was away and the chicks were all moving around in the nest. They still look like little aliens with their featherless heads, hooked beaks and big blobby eyes. Moving around they try to stand up but, more often than not, topple straight over. Their legs are incredibly long compared to their bodies and they are starting to get their proper feathers under all that fluff.
The female (we never do see the male) then appeared with half a rabbit, dumped it and flew off. I thought this meant the chicks were already able to feed themselves from the "takeaway" but not so. They spent a little while just looking and moving round it, then came a few half-hearted pecks at the furry end of the rabbit - at least they were on the right track if not the right end. In the end the female came back with more rabbit and started feeding them by tearing bits off and popping them into the gaping beaks. I'm sure they'll get the hang of doing it themselves before too long though.
Watching the nest can be terribly addictive, although some of the TIC staff find it quite nerve-wracking. You never know for certain that the female will come back or that they will all get a fair share of the food. But right now they are all doing really well and over the next couple of weeks will start to lose their (baby) fluff and look more like young raptors. We are recording all the live footage so will have a record of exactly how they develop.