The elegant hen harrier is maybe probably the most iconic chook of prey within the uplands of northern England, however it’s also probably the most endangered chook of prey in Britain.
These massive raptors wheel and soar above the moorland and, in late spring, carry out a spectacular ‘sky dance’, exchanging tokens of their affection in mid-air to cement their bond.
Be taught extra with our knowledgeable information to hen harriers, together with tips on how to establish them, why they’re so uncommon and the place you possibly can see them.
What’s a hen harrier?
It’s a chook of prey that usually nests in combined heather and grass moorlands. It hunts birds and small mammals by flying slowly and silently simply above the vegetation hoping to shock its prey.
How you can establish a hen harrier
Males are a hanging pale gray whereas females are brown however with a particular white band on the tail resulting in their nickname of ‘ringtails’. The chook is barely smaller than the extra acquainted buzzard.
These massive (one-metre wingspan) mottled-brown (feminine) or gentle gray (male) birds of prey glide and hover over upland moors and pluck meadow pipits or voles from among the many heather. Look out for his or her aerobatic courtship ‘sky dance’ wherein birds name and wheel by the air.
How massive are hen harriers
Hen harriers are between 44-52cm and have a wingspan of between 100-120cm
How briskly are hen harriers?
They’ve a high pace of 38 km/h
What number of hen harriers are there within the UK?
The British Belief for Ornithology estimates fewer than 700 pairs within the UK – the species’ strongholds are in Orkney, Shetland, Isle of Man and the north and west of Scotland. There are as much as 60 pairs in Wales.
The place do hen harriers dwell?
The Forest of Bowland in rural Lancashire helps one of many largest populations of hen harriers in England.
Round 5 per cent of the UK’s harrier inhabitants lives on the Isle of Man. The island’s inside of sparsely populated heather-clad hills presents the perfect habitat for the harriers’ principal prey species. Head to Snaefell, Sulby or Kirk Michael to identify harriers.
Most of Scotland’s Hebridean islands assist resident populations of hen harrier. Loch Gruinart on Islay, the uplands of Arran and the Isle of Ulva off Mull are promising areas to identify a harrier.
The Antrim hills and lakes of Fermanagh are dwelling to nearly all of Northern Eire’s breeding inhabitants of hen harriers. A go to to the RSPB’s Aghatirourke Nature Reserve or Cuilcagh Mountain Park are a superb guess for spring sightings.
Why is it referred to as a skydancer?
This title comes from the birds’ courtship flight the place a female and male swoop, roll and glide in elegant patterns round one another as a preface to forming a bond in the beginning of the breeding season.
What’s the historical past of hen harriers in Britain – and the reason for their decline?
Within the early Eighties, there have been greater than 30 nesting pairs of harriers throughout Bowland, forming the spine of the English harrier inhabitants. In some years, this was the one place in England the place the birds nested efficiently.
“In response to Pure England, the naked minimal of birds we must always have in Bowland is 12 or 13 pairs, and prior to now, the realm supported nearly thrice that quantity,” says RSPB Bowland Challenge Officer James Bray. “So at present we have now 1 / 4 of the inhabitants that the Authorities is legally obliged to nurture and shield.”
Characterised by more and more scarce upland peat lavatory and unenclosed heather-clad moorland riven by steep-sided valleys, this austere panorama is a perfect habitat for voles and small upland birds such because the meadow pipit, that are the harriers’ principal sources of meals. However harriers may even take the chicks of grouse launched on to the moors for capturing, bringing them into battle with gamekeepers and making them probably the most persecuted chook of prey in Britain.
The steep declines witnessed in the midst of the final decade adopted the disappearance of 4 male hen harriers from the Forest of Bowland in 2015. Whereas the feminine is on the nest, the males do a lot of the looking, making them extra susceptible to persecution as a result of they’re very apparent within the panorama whereas looking meals to feed their chicks.
There are different components at play, too. Heavy spring rainfall can have a huge effect on nesting success, as can fluctuations within the vole inhabitants; every now and then vole numbers crash, making it tough for the birds to seek out sufficient to eat.
Conservation of hen harriers
In 2015, hen harriers nesting within the Forest of Bowland failed to lift a single chick. The identical factor occurred the next yr. This raised critical issues concerning the viability of the Forest of Bowland’s breeding inhabitants of harriers – a doubly tragic final result as this stunning chook is the image of the Forest of Bowland AONB.
However since then, because of the concerted efforts of the AONB, the RSPB, conservation volunteers and one of many largest landowners within the space, the hen harrier has loved higher breeding success, with 13 chicks efficiently fledging in 2018 and 22 chicks in 2019.
For the second, Bowland’s fragile inhabitants of hen harriers seems slightly safer, however the mixture of habitat loss, local weather change and persecution means the menace stays.
To assist the Bowland harrier inhabitants get well, in 2018 as a part of the Hen Harrier LIFE mission, the RSPB deployed six paid workers, supplemented by a devoted workforce of 15–20 volunteers who put in simply over 2,000 hours between April and the tip of August.
The three profitable nests in 2018 had been all on land owned by United Utilities, which has invested tens of millions of kilos in fastidiously managing the delicate upland habitat to enhance water high quality, with useful spin-offs for wildlife.
“We’ve had a few actually constructive years and the Bowland inhabitants of hen harriers is trying barely more healthy,” says Forest of Bowland AONB supervisor Elliott Lorimer. “However one other couple of dangerous years like 2015 might have a catastrophic impression on the native inhabitants. We’re nonetheless a good distance from having the ability to describe the way forward for the hen harrier in Bowland as safe.
“Sadly, raptor persecution continues to suppress hen harrier populations inside the UK. The AONB Partnership is at present planning work with native police forces, as a part of Operation Owl, to assist elevate consciousness of this difficulty inside native communities in Bowland and additional afield inside the counties of Lancashire and North Yorkshire.”
Bray provides: “It’s good that we had three profitable pairs this yr, but it surely’s means too early for us to say with any confidence that that is the beginning of a restoration. We want a number of successive years of birds nesting efficiently earlier than we are able to say issues are working as they need to.”
Among the best methods to safe the persevering with restoration of this severely endangered species is to have extra ft on the bottom and eyes on the skies within the distant valleys of the Forest of Bowland, which is among the most stunning locations in Britain to take pleasure in a spring stroll.
Why is that this species within the information?
Hen harriers are the rarest resident chook of prey in England with simply six pairs recorded nesting in 2015 (up from a low level of 0 in 2013) – having been far more widespread prior to now. A report by Pure England in 2008 declared that “only a few nesting makes an attempt are profitable on grouse moors” and that “there may be compelling proof that persecution continues, each throughout and following the breeding season.” A report by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee in 2011 got here to related conclusions.
What’s the proof that persecution is in charge?
Numerous research (Etheridge et al. 1997; Potts 1998; Sim et al. 2007; Fielding et al.2011; Hayhow et al. 2013) have examined hen harrier breeding densities alongside conventional administration of pushed grouse moorland and different varieties of upland administration and landscapes. These research conclude that breeding densities and nesting success of hen harriers are decrease in areas with a excessive proportion of grouse moor than in different areas.
Why are hen harriers seen as an issue by lots of these managing grouse moors?
As soon as identified for its ability in taking home chickens – therefore its title – the hen harrier usually preys on younger grouse – wild recreation birds that gamekeepers shield and encourage for the game of pushed grouse capturing. The Joint Raptor Research on the Langholm Property in Dumfries and Galloway (1992-) http://www.langholmproject.com/ have discovered that “raptor predation at Langholm lowered autumn grouse abundance by 50%, resulting in the cessation of pushed grouse capturing”. Pushed grouse capturing will be essential for rural economies – the Sport and Wildlife Conservation Belief (GWCT) says that pushed grouse capturing “generates £100m for the UK economic system, helps 2,500 jobs – and maintains our heather hills”.
Are hen harriers protected by regulation?
The hen harrier is listed on Annex 1 of the EC Birds Directive and is protected underneath Schedules 1 and 1A the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Because of this it’s an offence to kill the birds or disturb their nests.
How do pushed grouse capturing pursuits reply to allegations of persecution of hen harriers?
The grouse capturing trade acknowledges that some unlawful persecution of raptors is carried out by ‘rogue’ gamekeepers. Organisations together with the GWCT, The Nationwide Gaemkeepers Affiliation (NGA) and British Affiliation of Capturing and Conservation (BASC) have been vocal in condemning unlawful persecution. Nonetheless, advocates for pushed grouse capturing additionally stress that grouse moor administration is helpful to many wild species and that there could also be different components concerned within the decline of hen harriers.
What different components can constrain hen harrier numbers?
Hen harriers nest on the bottom so their eggs and younger are susceptible to foxes and badgers. Goshawks often kill and eat hen harriers. Lack of habitat – for instance when heather moorland is transformed to forestry – may even impression on harrier numbers as will poor climate within the breeding season.
Can the battle over hen harriers be resolved?
A plan has been developed by Defra together with the RSPB, Sport and Wildlife Conservation Belief, Moorland Affiliation, Nationwide Gamekeepers Organisation, Nationwide Parks UK. Pure England will lead on the plan, working with organisations to:
• Monitor hen harrier numbers in England and the UK by way of satellite tv for pc tagging and monitoring;
• Encourage the availability of other meals sources for birds of prey;
• Monitor and shield nests and winter roosts from disturbance and destruction;
• Work with landowners to reintroduce hen harriers to appropriate areas within the South of England;
• Scope out feasibility for trialling brood administration (this could see younger birds faraway from nests in areas the place harriers have reached agreed densities. The birds can be raised in captivity and launched into the wild as adults.
RSPB Birdwatcher’s Code
• Keep away from going too near birds or disturbing their habitats – if a chook flies away or makes repeated alarm calls, you’re too shut. And if it leaves, you gained’t get a superb view.
• Keep on roads/paths the place they exist and keep away from disturbing habitats utilized by birds.
• Take into consideration your fieldcraft. Disturbance isn’t just about going too shut – a flock of birds on the foreshore will be disturbed from a mile away when you stand on the seawall.
• Taking part in a recording of calls to encourage a chook to reply can divert a territorial chook from different essential duties. By no means use birdsong to draw a species throughout breeding season.
This article by Mark Sutcliffe was first revealed by Countryfile on 21 November 2025. Lead Picture: Getty.
