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Hen harrier plunges towards extinction in England (1 Viewer)

'Hen harriers feed on grouse, which has brought conservationists into conflict with managers of estates involved in grouse shooting.'

The lay person reading that BBC report could conclude from that unqualified sentence that they fed exclusively on grouse. The last nest watch I was on, it was mainly meadow pipits and the like, but there's no indication in that report that their prey is multi-sourced.

The vast majority of the population probably doesn't even know hen harriers exist and if they use that article as a sole source on knowledge on the species they could conclude that if they were eating all the grouse, then maybe the gamekeepers have a point.

Tragic news about the population in England, but with a 10% decline in the Scottish numbers in only 6 or 7 years the situation is even worse than I thought.
 
Coinciding with increase in 'moor management' (read destruction)...

Yeah, that and wind turbine roads being cut across their habitat furthering the risks of untimely demise. Then there are the blades once operational.

Orkney and Uist are their last real stronghold. Sad. Very, very sad.
 
What a disgraceful situation.

The male Pallid Harrier at Dunsop Bridge in Lancashire was hunting pipits early on, and I saw it snatch 2 from treetops in a gulley, but it seemed to shift its attention to getting baby grouse. Adults were too big for it, and if they stayed put the young were safe.
 
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