Hen harriers remain rare in England, with a welcome increase in their population over the last few years stalling in 2024. Poor weather and food availability may cause their numbers to fluctuate, but ongoing illegal killing remains a serious threat …
Hen harriers are very rare birds of prey found in moorland landscapes. They are rare because of illegal killing and disturbance, and Natural England monitors their numbers closely, tags individual birds to track their whereabouts, and supports efforts to tackle …
The hen harrier southern reintroduction aims to establish a wild, farmland nesting population of hen harriers in the south of England. Supported by a conservation breeding programme, the project plans to introduce up to 100 juvenile hen harriers to a protected …
Hen harriers are rare birds of prey that breed in the uplands of northern England. While we have welcomed increases in breeding numbers in recent years, up to a high of 54 nests in 2023, their recovery remains threatened by …
A recap In Autumn of 2022, ten captive hen harriers were transported to the UK from a rescue centre in France for Natural England’s conservation breeding programme (Hen harrier Reintroduction NE Blog). This forms an important step in the Southern …
By: John Holmes, NE Strategy Director Natural England, in partnership with the International Centre for Birds of Prey (ICBP), is establishing a conservation breeding programme for hen harriers as part of a pioneering project to reintroduce this iconic species to …
By: John Holmes, NE Strategy Director This year has seen another encouraging increase in the breeding population of one of our rarest birds of prey. Natural England and partners are pleased to report that a total of 49 hen harrier …
Regular readers of this blog will be aware that Natural England is involved in several initiatives under the Hen Harrier Action Plan, one of which is the brood management trial. Natural England is committed to protecting and conserving hen harriers, …
This is one of a series of blogs intended to share updates on our Hen Harrier recovery work. The last blog was on Hen harrier monitoring, and the actions taken when a tagged bird is lost, while this one covers …
For many years Natural England has been involved with monitoring, tagging and satellite tracking hen harriers. To date, more than 60 individual birds have been tagged by Natural England, helping to determine their fortunes and inform our wider hen harrier …