Hen Harrier

Taxonomic infomation

Common Name: Hen Harrier

Latin Name: Circus cyaneus

Family: Accipitridae

Description

The hen harrier was formerly a widespread breeding bird in Britain, occurring in lowland and upland heathland habitats. The loss of these habitats, particularly in the lowlands, along with widespread persecution on grouse moors led to a retraction in the bird's range. As a result by the 1900s, the hen harrier breeding population was restricted to the Western Isles of Scotland and Orkneys. From the 1930s, hen harriers slowly began to re-colonise mainland Scotland and by the late 1960s were returning to breed in northern England including the Dales. Despite hen harriers being recorded in potentially suitable breeding habitat in the Dales in most years, there are very few successful nesting attempts. The last time that hen harriers fledged young in the Yorkshire Dales National Park was in 2003.

The hen harrier is at the centre of one of the most contentious conservation issues in the uplands. This is because the preferred nesting habitat for hen harriers is heather moorland, the majority of which in the Dales is managed for grouse shooting. The problems arise because hen harriers take grouse, from moors that are managed specifically to provide the maximum number of surplus grouse each autumn that can be shot. Despite full legal protection, illegal persecution has been cited as the main reason for limiting the hen harrier population in northern England and parts of Scotland.

In 2002 the hen harrier population was so low that English Nature established the Hen Harrier Recovery project to try and prevent the hen harrier disappearing from English moors for a second time. Although the breeding figures collated by the project are encouraging, the total of 12 successful nests located in northern England in 2006 is still well below the 200+ pairs that the uplands moors of England could theoretically support.

In the Yorkshire Dales National Park monitoring work has shown that hen harriers are present at favoured potential breeding sites in most years where the spectacular ‘sky dancing’ display of the males can be observed. It is hoped that with more enlightened attitudes, there will be a gradual increase in the number of breeding pairs of this charismatic raptor in the Dales.