Using data from 58 satellite tracked hen harriers, we show high rates of unexpected tag failure and low first year survival compared to other harrier populations. Of the 47 hen harriers that Natural England has tracked since 2007, the actual location of 37 birds is unknown. The hen harrier is one of England’s rarest and most spectacular birds of prey. Natural England published a skeletal version of its Hen Harrier tracking dataset back in September 2017, after years of pressure from this blog and others. It has been determined that predation and disease were responsible for five of those deaths. Director of shooting for the Countryside Alliance, Adrian Blackmore stated: “It is clear from Natural England’s summary data that further research is required and we look forward to the publication of the full results next year” This year Natural England tagged 9 hen harrier chicks at sites in the North West, the Peak District and Bowland Fells in England, and at Langholm in Scotland.
The sixth bird may have been illegally shot. This is to be welcomed as what can possibly be gained by keeping secret data that in some cases are seven years old? Of the remaining 10, four are known to still be alive, and six have been found dead. Natural England has just published some of its data (that I believe we paid for – as taxpayers) on satellite-tagged Hen Harriers. We are most grateful to Natural England for making public their initial findings of their Hen Harrier tracking programme between 2007 to 2014. Natural England reported in 2007 three cases where hen harriers were seen still alive even though their transmitter stopped broadcasting.
For 15 years Natural England has tracked hen harriers to research their dispersal behaviour using a combination of radio and satellite devices. Of these only 3 can be confirmed to be still alive (12.5%). Nine tagged birds went missing in It breeds on heather moorland in uplands across the UK and in a range of upland and lowland habitats across Europe…
A total of 21 Hen Harrier were sat tagged in Bowland since 2007 (including the 4 RSPB 2014 birds). 5 of …