Light in the Darkness

Have you read the RSPB Skydancer blog this morning? If you haven't, then you really should. It is great to see such a positive update on the 5 remaining RSPB Life Project satellite tagged hen harriers from 2016, but this blog post will focus on one of the birds in particular, Finn.

Here is the statement from Blanaid Denman from RSPB Hen Harrier Life team on Finn:

"Finn – our one remaining English bird, Finn left Northumberland very shortly after fledging and has made a steady westward tour of the Scottish Borders, ultimately settling in South Ayrshire for the winter months. Unlike DeeCee and Harriet though, it would seem she didn’t need to travel quite so far to find an attractive breeding site, as in the last couple of weeks, she has been discovered sitting on a nest with eggs in an area of Southwest Scotland!"

As a reminder, Finn was in a brood from one of the only 3 pairs of hen harriers that bred in England last year. She was feisty from the start and travelled quite a distance in the months after fledging. This was always a worrying time, not knowing where she would be settling, and having to face the normal struggles of being an inexperienced fledgling combined with the ever present risk of illegal persecution.

So what great news to see published this morning. Not only has she made it through all the dangers so far, but she is also making her first breeding attempt.  And how fantastic to be able to track all this with the RSPB team. 

The satellite tags come into their own at this time of year, as they allow the Skydancer project teams to locate the birds and nests quickly and hopefully reduce the risks of illegal persecution. Although, the dangers are always there, as we saw in the numerous males that went missing in the north of England last year, forcing the females to abandon their nests.

So here's hoping that the positive news on Finn continues to come through. The awareness work done by so many amazing people out there from organisations to individuals is starting to turn the tide a little, as seen in these posts this week by Raptor Persecution Scotland and Mark Avery. 

It is great to see this focus building in Scotland, let's just hope the momentum builds even more and spreads further south. I wonder how many breeding pairs of hen harrier we sill see in England this year.