Well and truly hen-pecked

The hen harrier gets a hard time but keeps quiet about it. Graham Holliday reports

The hen harrier is the most persecuted bird of prey in Britain. It acquired its name because of its predilection for taking poultry and grouse.

The bird was driven to extinction from mainland Britain by 1900 and gamekeepers and landowners are still suspected of shooting the bird illegally.

The almost silent hen harrier is a dramatic bird to watch. Its large wings are held in a ‘V' shape as it flies low hunting its prey, consisting mostly of voles, mice and small birds.

The male is nearly all grey with white underparts and the wings tipped black. The females are larger, brown in colour with a long barred tail.

The bird resides in the United Kingdom and Scotland all year but moves to lower coastal areas across the UK in winter. It prefers open expanses of countryside like moorland, marshes and river valleys and always breeds on heather moorland.

Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park near Lochwinnoch in west central Scotland is just 10 minutes from Glasgow airport, yet this is one of the best places in Britain to see hen harriers. The park has been home to harriers for more than 50 years. The population is small, but important.

“Populations go up and down, but on average we have about 10 breeding pairs out of a UK population in the order of 750 breeding pairs,“ says Charles Woodward, regional park manager.

For the last three years, with the aid of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and other partners, the park has been trying to raise awareness about the p...

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• By : Graham Holiday
• In : Wildlife
• Issue : 23
• Page : 22
• Words : 859