Thursday, 24 November 2022

Harrying the Hen Harrier?

The Hen harrier was driven to extinction in the South of England. This bird of prey had the temerity, to occasionally kill and eat game birds. these included commercially valuable Red grouse. The Hen harrier consequently became persona non-grata of land owners and their gamekeepers. There's now a plan to reintroduce captive-bred Hen harriers to Salisbury plain (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/23/hen-harriers-to-be-bred-in-captivity-and-released-on-to-salisbury-plain). Attitudes to raptors have changed to a degree in recent times. There's still evidence, however, that some gamekeepers are more than prepared to break the law by shooting or poisoning such birds. The reintroduced Hen harriers are likely to have a difficult time, especially initially.

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Birder's Bonus 241

Noted a Curlew ( Numenius arquata ) on the Loughor estuary at Bynea.