Hen Harrier Day has been a regular fixture on the birding calendar since 2014 but this year like so much of our life it had to go online.
Presented by Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin the programme included contributions from poets, musicians and street artists to charities and advocates for nature. Some of the highlights included Revive an animation from Scotland: The Big Picture that showed what grouse moors could look like if they were allowed to reform, a secret postcard art auction that raised nearly £6,000, and the Young Wild Writer Competition, which received over 500 entries.
Hen Harrier Day is organised by Hen Harrier Action a registered charity whose aim is to help protect birds and animals that inhabit the uplands, in particular hen harriers and other raptors. The day’s aim is to raise awareness of the plight of these spectacular birds, and to help put an end to wildlife crime associated and illegal persecution.
It is usually marked with a series of local events that take place across the country on the weekend preceding the 12th August. This day, known as the Glorious Twelfth, is the start of the shooting season for red grouse.
The date chosen is significant. Hen Harrier Action and other charities and organisations believe that the persecution of hen harriers is closely related to the shooting of gamebirds.
Hen harriers are elegant birds, that are sometimes known as grey ghosts due to the distinctive pale plumage of males. They can be spotted flying low over vegetation in search of prey, mainly small mammals such as voles, but occasionally upland birds too. Females and juveniles are brown with a white rump and a long, barred tail giving rise to the name ‘ringtail’.
During breeding season males perform aerobatic courtship displays known as ‘sky dances’, repeatedly soaring upwards before tumbling to the ground, in a spectacular show of strength and endurance. A female looks on calling out to show her appreciation before joining him in his undulating flight.
Hen harriers build their nests on the ground, a simple scrape, lined with sticks, grass, and leaves. To help conceal its location the male will hunt for food, but instead of feeding the female as she sits on the nest, as he approaches, he will call for her to join him in the air. She leaves the nest and either catches the prey as he tosses it to her or takes it directly from his talons.
There are thought to be about 600 breeding pairs in the UK and their UK status is red, meaning their conservation is of the highest concern.
In the spring their numbers are concentrated on upland moorlands, while in winter they move to lowland farmland, heaths, coastal marshes, fenland, and river valleys. Those found in the east and south-east of England are thought to be visitors from mainland Europe.
In the 1800s they were much more common and widespread. However, by the middle of the century when driven grouse-shooting started to become popular records show that hen harriers were routinely shot by gamekeepers concerned that they were preying on grouse chicks.
By 1900 they were almost extinct as a breeding bird in Britain. They began to recover naturally after World War I but since the turn of the millennium regular surveys have shown that numbers are declining again. Conservation organisations are concerned that continued illegal killing and disturbance could drive them to near extinction once more.
In 2013 hen harriers failed to breed in England for the first time in nearly 50 years and the UK population fell by 18% between 2004 and 2010 and a further 13% between 2010 and 2016. Scotland sustains about 80% of the hen harrier population with an estimated 460 pairs in 2016.
It is estimated that the UK could comfortably support about 2,650 pairs of hen harriers which means the population stands at about 20%. The low population size means that any threats such as poor weather, habitat loss, low prey availability, as well as illegal persecution are amplified and affect a greater proportion of the population.
The Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) states that it is an offence to intentionally kill, harm, or take wild birds. Despite this, hen harriers are shot, trapped, and poisoned, particularly on land that is managed for grouse shooting.
It is a controversial subject with groups representing the land owners pitted against conservation bodies.
Last year research published by Nature Communications found that the likelihood of hen harriers dying or disappearing is ten times higher in areas covered by grouse moor.
Between 2007 and 2017, 58 hen harriers were tagged with satellite tracking devices. Of these birds 4 were illegally killed, and 38 simply disappeared suggesting the removal of the tag and disposal of the carcass.
The paper found that the survival rate of juvenile hen harriers was 17% compared with survival rates on the Orkney Islands, where there are no managed grouse moors, of between 37% and 54%.
In 2019 Natural England set up a ‘brood management’ scheme in which hen harrier chicks were removed from their parents and raised in captivity before being released into suitable habitats away from grouse moors.
The aim of the scheme was to reassure grouse moor owners that clusters of hen harriers would not build up on the moor, which in turn would prevent gamekeepers and others illegally killing the birds. Natural England claimed the trial was a success and all 5 chicks from the dedicating rearing facility fledged and were released as healthy birds.
However, critics of the scheme said that rather than appeasing the grouse industry more should be done to stop the end of illegal persecution.
It is unclear how many grouse chicks hen harriers take each year. Between 1992 and 1997 the Joint Raptor Study which took place on Langholm Moor aimed to measure the scale of raptor predation to find out the impact on breeding stocks of grouse.
The study estimated that in 1995 and 1996 raptors killed about 30% of adult grouse during the winter and a further 30% the following summer. It also estimated that hen harriers took 40% of all grouse chicks. If the birds had been absent the study said that August grouse numbers would have been about 4 times higher.
By 1999 they grouse stocks were so low that shooting was abandoned. Opponents said that Langholm was a special case and not typical of other moors although the Join Raptor Study said this was not the case and Langholm had an average number of meadow pipits, so there was no reason for hen harriers to target grouse more than usual.
Gamekeepers argue that without grouse shooting local economies will suffer in areas that already have issues with employment. They also claim that by managing heather and controlling predators such as foxes and crows they are actually encouraging wildlife and the demise of the grouse moors would adversely affect hen harriers. A 2019 report on the Langholm project seemed to confirm this with numbers of curlews, golden plovers, and snipes benefiting despite their numbers decreasing nationally.
What the Langholm study shows is that it is possible for gamekeepers and conservation organisations to co-operate, following the law, and working together to support a controlled number of driven grouse while managing the land for the benefit of all wildlife.
