News

HARRIERS HANGING ON - ON GROUSE MOORS

25th May 2005

The Moorland Association expressed its disappointment today (25 May) that an adult pair of hen harriers has deserted its nest and five eggs on a grouse moor in Durham.

There has been concern over the small numbers of hen harriers successfully breeding in England for some time and it is hoped that the eight remaining nests in Lancashire – all on or near grouse moors - will survive and fledge healthy chicks later this year.

Said Martin Gillibrand, Secretary for the Moorland Association: “ The desertion of this nest is a blow to furthering the distribution of harriers in England. It is reasonably common for a male not return to feed a female incubating the eggs, leaving her no choice but to abandon the nest as well. We hope that the pair may try and nest again somewhere nearby. The success of harriers on moors managed for red grouse pays tribute to the excellent conservation job that moorland keepers are doing. Britain has 75% of the world’s remaining heather, which is globally rarer than rainforest and red grouse are only found in Britain.”

Migrating from coastal areas in early spring, hen harriers nest on the ground and appear to prefer heather moorland for breeding. There are only about 750,000 acres of heather left in England, most of which is managed for red grouse shooting at no cost to the tax-payer by 150 full time gamekeepers. The gamekeepers’ main activities are to carefully burn small patches of heather to encourage fresh shoots for the grouse to feed on and to control predators such as foxes, stoats, rats and crows that prey on small chicks, eggs and sometime the adults, of vulnerable ground nesting birds.

The management for red grouse shooting creates ideal habitat and breeding conditions for a suite of important and rare ground nesting birds such as skylark, merlin and ring ouzel. RSPB research shows that golden plovers and lapwings are five times more abundant on grouse moors compared with non-sporting moors, and 90% of all black grouse are associated with the fringes of (red) grouse moors.

Hen harriers tend to nest close together in clusters where conditions are suitable and they feed their own chicks on the chicks of red grouse and other moorland birds and small mammals. A male feeds the female an average three meals a day as she incubates the eggs and then both parents feed the chicks, bringing increasing amounts of food as they grow to fledglings over six weeks. If there are more than one pair of harriers feeding from the same moorland area, this can have an increasingly devastating effect on the bird populations around them – particularly if voles are scarce.

Continues Gillibrand: “ There is plenty of scope for more hen harriers in England – but not all on grouse moors. There are vast tracts of uplands where heather could be regenerated in association with predator control to provide suitable breeding and feeding habitat for the birds. The cluster of eight harrier nests in the Trough of Bowland is reaching English Nature’s own Recovery Project target.”

- Ends –

>Notes to editors.

There is a lot that remains unknown about the natural history of hen harriers. They are not a rare or threatened bird globally, with an estimated 167,000 nesting females. Many moorland managers in England, however do not see harriers migrating over their ground or attempting to nest.

Studies of hen harriers nests in Scotland and Wales show that they take meadow pipits, voles, red grouse, skylark, curlew, lapwing, merlin, golden plover, snipe, oystercatcher, stonechat and wheatear to feed their young.




Hen harriers are very easily disturbed by people and dogs whilst nesting. English Nature’s own research in the Trough of Bowland since the start of Open Access in the area has revealed that over zealous bird watchers have been responsible for a pair abandoning a nest this spring.

There are many other factors that affect successful nesting. In recent years, harrier nests in England have been lost due to accidental wildfires and torrential rain. Some have been unsuccessful at rearing young due to polygamy and infertility.

At Geltsdale, an RSPB upland bird reserve in Cumbria, nests in 2004 were lost due to fox predation. The RSPB carry out a tenth of the fox control that is usual on moorland managed for driven grouse shooting and they do not control rats or stoats. No harriers, as yet, have settled and nested at Geltsdale this year.

Despite broad allegations, round the clock nest vigils, three national emergency hot-lines and dawn raids on gamekeepers’ premises, no evidence has ever been found to bring a single prosecution for illegal persecution of a hen harrier against an English grouse moor estate.