The Hen Harrier's Year

192 Pages·20.006 MB·English

by  Ian Carter

The Hen Harrier’s Year

THE HEN
HARRIER’S YEAR
Ian Carter and Dan Powell
PELAGIC PUBLISHING
Published by Pelagic Publishing
20–22 Wenlock Road
London N1 7GU, UK
www.pelagicpublishing.com
The Hen Harrier’s Year
ISBN 978-1-78427-385-9 Paperback
ISBN 978-1-78427-386-6 ePub
ISBN 978-1-78427-384-2 PDF
https://doi.org/10.53061/OPFD3750
Text © Ian Carter 2022
Illustrations and artist’s notes © Dan Powell 2022
The moral rights of the author and artist have been asserted by them in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Apart from short excerpts for use in research or
for reviews, no part of this document may be printed or reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, now known or hereafter
invented or otherwise without prior permission from the publisher.
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
Cover: A male takes over guard duty as the female returns to the nest
To the watchers on the hill

CONTENTS
Foreword by Roger Riddington xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1
January 15
Communal roosting 15
Distribution in winter 17
February 21
Hunting behaviour 21
Foraging range from roost sites 24
Winter habitats 27
History and status in Britain 32
The long decline 32
Seeds of recovery? 36
March 41
Breeding habitats 41
Setting up territory 45
First-time breeders 46
April 49
Food in early spring 49
The skydancing display 50
Vocalisations 56
Copulation and nest-building 56
Nesting in trees 58
vii
THE HEN HARRIER’S YEAR
May 61
Incubation and hatching 61
Legal protection and nest visits 67
Polygynous breeding 68
June 77
The food pass 77
Nestling development and brood reduction 84
Food in the breeding season 85
Conflict on the grouse moors 90
A unique situation 90
Driven grouse shooting 91
The role of science and technology 92
The killing fields 94
Possible solutions and a way forward? 98
July 107
The growing brood 107
Foraging range from the nest 108
Moult 111
August 113
First flight 113
Towards independence 115
Breeding productivity 116
September 123
Wanderlust – movements and migration 123
October 127
The benefits of communal roosting 127
November 133
Winter food 133
Daily food requirements 135
Threats and survival 136
Land management 136
viii
CONTENTS
Poisoning 137
Collisions and disturbance 138
Deaths from natural causes 140
Life expectancy 142
December 145
Visiting a communal roost 145
Influence of weather conditions 147
The wider picture 152
World status 152
Prospects for the future 153

Further reading 158
Sources of further information 162
Species mentioned in the text 164
Index 168
ix