Heather checks out potential summer homes, Sky Dancing illuminates the skies!



Heather's ramblings over the last couple of days 28 - 30 March 2014





Last week Heather broke from her traditional territory and headed for the Ballyhouras, a mountain range holding breeding Hen Harriers to the north. Interestingly, she also visited some other known breeding ranges in the meantime, including the Boggeragh Mountains and the Carriganimma/Musheramore area to the west. It appears as though she is checking out potential places to stay for the summer, perhaps attracted to these mountains on the horizon by other Hen Harriers circling (the harriers’ latin name is Circus) high in the sky. Hen Harriers advertise their presence back on territory by circling higher than any other bird in Ireland, going so high that they can disappear into tiny specks even when you watch them with binoculars. Other harriers can see this from miles away. What is really spectacular is when the harriers plummet down from the clouds to perform their sky dance, hurtling at breakneck speed towards the ground while performing awesome acrobatics, pulling back up into the sky again just metres from the ground. This is a really special time of the year to witness this, one of the most amazing sights in all of Irish nature and it has been great to hear of people around the country witnessing the Sky Dance so far this Spring. Be sure to get out and see it this April – it is becoming a rarer sight with every year.

A new chapter in Heather's life!

Today Heather moved from the area she called home for the past three months and is roosting in the Ballyhouras

Has the big move just happened?!

Heather has today moved from her Nagle Mountains home territory where she has stayed since the middle of December 2013, for a total of over three months. Along with the home territory she established in South Cork, this is the longest amount of time she has spent in one place, but now at this time of year, change is in the air and life may never be the same for Heather again. Today at 15.40 she was still in the Nagle Mountains and the Blackwater Valley, but half an hour later she was in the Ballyhoura Mountains, just over 20km to the north. 

Will she try to establish a breeding territory in this mountain range? The decisions Heather makes over the next few weeks may be among the most pivotal in her life. Let's hope if she does find a mate and establish a breeding territory that it is a productive one. Right now, there is every chance that Heather will be seeing silver male Hen Harriers sky dancing for the first time in her life. Wonderful stuff!

Weather improving and the minds turn to Sky Dancing!!

The breeding season, Bring It On!!

After the washout of December, January and February, the weather is improving and the days are brightening, the breeding season is around the corner!

Saint Patricks's Day normally marks the turn of the seasons for Hen Harriers here in Ireland. They go from normal mode into breeding mode! Sky dancing can be seen in the bright sunny spring sky and a whole new world opens up again. This is another beauty of Hen Harriers, things are always moving, always refreshing.

For those who have harriers nearby in normal time, enjoy these few weeks that remain.

For those who live in breeding areas...hold on for a great time ahead!!

All well with Miranda in Mayo, Heather in Cork and Hattie and Grainne in Langholm.

Heather and Miranda as of 01 March 2014, last winter roost watches of the 2013/14 season

The 1st day of March is here and we are so glad to have Heather still with us, but remember her sister Sally

The majority of studies on bird of prey survival have shown that if a Hen Harrier makes it to the 1st day of March, out the other end of its first winter, then its chances of surviving to make future birthdays is greatly increased. It is with great joy then that we find Heather and Miranda still with us in Ireland (Gráinne and Hattie are also well in Scotland, see www.langholmmoorland.blogspot.com).

When we look back on both Heather and Miranda's experiences in their first winters, there is just so much that we could talk about (and that's nothing compared to what the birds themselves would have seen).

Heather went from the moors of Kerry to the mountains of Wicklow to the shores of Lough Neagh to the coast of Cork, settled in different places, used different roosts, hunted different habitats, met different harriers. Miranda made the great leap from Scotland across to Ireland via the Isle of Man. She explored the reedbeds of the River Shannon, the rugged Malin Head, the glens of Antrim and the expanse of NW Mayo.

Satellite tracking has enabled a great insight into these birds movements. Just imagine what the birds themselves would have seen and experienced along the way! Now that the days are stretching, allowing the solar panels on the tags to charge well, Heather and Miranda's tags are transmitting regularly and giving full sets of data. Let's hope for more great experiences in the future, particularly now as we look forward to the impending breeding season!

At this time, we should also remember the majority of Hen Harriers born last year that weren't so fortunate to have made it and would have unfortunately died. Research by Dr. Barry O'Donoghue of the National Parks & Wildlife Service has shown about 5 out of every 6 Hen Harriers in Ireland die in their first winter, a mortality rate that is just too high to sustain a population.

Finally, March is your last chance to get out and do a roost watch for the Irish Hen Harrier Winter Survey. Could all volunteers please submit their records for this season to harriers@ahg.gov.ie at their earliest opportunity please.

Fab Four Females in Feb!

It is great to be following the progress of four young female Hen Harriers coming into the Spring.

Heather and Miranda are still at their home territories in Cork and Mayo, while Miranda's sister Gráinne and another female from Scotland, named Hattie are still doing well in the very area where they were both reared last summer.

As the days lengthen, thoughts will soon turn to the breeding season. It will be interesting to see what happens. Heather, Gráinne and Hattie are already in areas which are known to be breeding ranges, but that doesn't mean they will stay there for the duration of spring or summer. Miranda is in a very interesting situation - for all the time that she has been in Ireland and for all the thousands of kilometres that she has clocked up here, she has only seen one established breeding range - in Antrim. She is currently in good Hen Harrier habitat, with blanket bog as far as the eye can see, but she has no company.

Hen Harriers can breed at one year old and it will be interesting to see if either of these fab four females are motivated to engage in any breeding attempts in 2014. We'll continue to follow their progress, but of course the main thing is that they continue to survive. Having come through one of the most difficult winter's imaginable for Hen Harriers (wet and windy is worse than cold for a harrier) doesn't gurantee any future success. Birds of prey constantly live life on the edge of suvival or mortality and any moves from the ranges they all now know so well could present major difficulties. God Speed to them all.

For more information on Gráinne and Hattie and what is happening on their ranges, see the wonderful Making the Most of Moorlands blogspot http://langholmmoorland.blogspot.ie/ and Natural England's webpage on Tracking Hen Harriers

The Fab Four Females! Clockwise from Top Left: Gráinne, Miranda, Heather and Hattie 

As normal with Heather and Miranda, Golden Eagle seen at Hen Harrier roost this weekend

Hen Harrier and Short-eared Owl, both share similar habitats

Heather and Miranda are still at their respective territories in Cork and Mayo. Both travel up to 10km each day from their roost in search of food, often tracing the same flights on different days. They know where the best places are for hunting and they know where the safest spots are for sleeping each night. They have both done very well in their first winters to have survived, especially considering the memorable storms and rainfall that we have had over the past couple of months.

Over the weekend a Golden Eagle was seen at a roost in North County Clare. Over the years, every single Irish bird of prey has been seen by volunteers on the Irish Hen Harrier Winter Survey. Whether our smallest bird of prey, the Merlin, plucking a single starling out of a murmuration of 5000, a Marsh Harrier flapping over potential prey in the reeds, a Short-eared Owl quartering a bog or a White-tailed Sea Eagle perched high on a tree, there have been some spectacular and memorable moments on the survey over the years, and much interesting and important information gained.

Wing Tagged Birds provide really interesting info!

A young male, wing tagged in West Clare in 2008

Wing Tagging began in Ireland in 2006 as a pilot project between the National Parks & Wildlife Service and the Irish Raptor Study Group. Since then much has been learned from simple colours on the birds, identifying what year they were born, where they were born and which individual they are. More on wing tagging can be found on this blog by clicking here: Wing Tagging

Over the weekend, three sightings of wing tagged Hen Harriers have come to light. One of a bird born in the Slieve Blooms in 2013, now at South Wexford after arriving with a companion to add to two other harriers that have been at the roost all winter long. The interesting thing about this is that another roost in North Wexford, which has held 2 harriers heretofore, including a 2013 Slieve Blooms wing tagged bird, now apparently has no harriers. So did the two from the North Wexford roost travel together to the South Wexford roost? This is highly possible if not indeed likely and would lend further credence to the hypothesis that Heather our satellite tagged bird from Kerry, travelled from Northern Ireland to South Cork with a colleague (see previous posts in September 2013).

Another very exciting potential find through wing tags came from Scotland, where what sounds like a female Hen Harrier with a left green tag was seen near Glasgow. As with all sightings, quality control was applied and there is a very good chance that this indeed was a Hen Harrier from Ireland, wing tagged in 2008. In 2008, a female from West Clare was seen in NE Antrim and again in SW Scotland so is this the same individual?

Finally, Heather and Miranda are still at their home ranges in Cork and Mayo respectively. Lets hope for an improvement in the weather. It is very tough for all widlife.