Sunday 15 October 2017

Some showy migrants ... at Geltsdale the Old Water Hut revisited ... provoking some thoughts on Hen Harriers ...

Sometimes a normally secretive species will unexpectedly pose for the camera .. so it was with this Garden Warbler at Druridge Pools last week ...



... the elder berries adding a touch of autumnal luxuriance ...

... this bird was so different from one on Shetland recently that disappeared into a tussock by our feet ...

Nearby at Druridge a juvenile Red-necked Phalarope delighted as always ...


Closer to home an adult Greenshank posed at Port Carlisle while Redshanks wandered by ...


A Scops Owl in County Durham was an incredible turn up ... a county first and the first for northern England for a century ... all credit to the finder ... it was hard enough to pick out even knowing the bird was there ...


A walk past the Old Water Hut in Geltsdale today provoked some thoughts on Hen Harriers ... 


... it looked so different from how it was, little more than a year ago when we were in the final stages of wardening the successful Hen Harrier nest of 2016 ... the single satellite-tagged chick survived until disappearing on a nearby grouse moor around December last year ... neither the body nor the satellite tag were ever found ...

... recent information suggests that a tag will continue transmitting in the event of a natural death ... this reinforces the conclusion that this bird was illegally killed ...

... there was no successful breeding of Hen Harriers at Geltsdale this year ... any readers of the RSPB Skydancer blog in August might have surmised that we did not have any Hen Harriers around this summer ... in fact the blog was unequivocal about the absence of Hen Harriers ... this is what it said ...


... hmm ... this was not so ... there were not only birds present but there was a breeding attempt which failed before the egg stage ... it failed when the male Hen Harrier ventured towards the grouse shooting estate boundary and was not seen again ... not great work from the RSPB mouthpiece and not a great endorsement of the good work carried out on the reserve ...
... the other important thing that the RSPB refuses to do is to encourage us to sign the new e-petition to Ban Driven Grouse Shooting ... please do sign it !
                                                                                   ... this is the link -                                                                                https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/201443

There are those apart from the workers on the ground at Geltsdale whose efforts in battling raptor persecution are admirable ...
... yesterday I listened to Ruth Tingay being interviewed by Charlie Moores ... 


... available on RPUK website ( linked from this blog ) 12 October 2017 ...
... I had heard Ruth speak persuasively at the Scottish Hen Harrier Days ...
... Charlie ( formerly of Birders Against Wildlife Crime ) is now with LUSH ... so well done Ruth ... well done Charlie and well done Mark Constantine of LUSH ... 




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