,
_+-^ 14 Th evfa 11
:l RURALUFE - W -?Lt
u re
hen-harriers^ to:breed?in5;-’o.5 Englahtfiast^ 4t/
tea d I i n e^;/i / /
Deopie'^wh o/;/d/ tas a special^ '' * interest’in,.;J' seeing them " return to •‘-"
news*. JdYfcE^ glSHOB;falk*s^> to lo n e o f if it^
' ■•" - >fe - t i t . ' -vr%i Bowland -.; , . ' 4 4 / ' / ,his annual festival features ; V . more than 100 wildflower-inspired
« / ' / activJties across the Yorkshire 1 ; /T-*?a!es “ one ° f the most important
I Protected areas in the UK.
1 / / ^ C o o r d in a te d by the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT), ’^< jth e festival - which runs until •
^ i ^'^-Pftober, includes guided | . walks, identification courses,
: ~ : , l art exhibitions, children's craft j
[
ftiyities, bug hunts and 'grow activities,' all run by expert
?-s'^/IP^ivicItrals and organisations. • i/,p/i/i.9?yes people the opportunity -/sSaito^enjoy and leam more about -
/ / f i e region's wildflower-rich hay
^ /TO ^ d ow s a n d pastures, moorland- -'fs-Twfnngps/open heather moorland, -
^•^andljrnestone pavement- , -''These special habitats are
home to a wide range of wildlife, - including"
..................... ■*" c 'many rare
.:^/;and nationally scarce species, of wildflowers," ;
--«■ ~ grasses, insects,
; birds and small’ ' “ mammals.' -YDMT's
• Flowers of the Dales Project
:-’j-i.;':.Officer, Tanya • - . .■St Pierre, said:
s "Finding time in our hectic lives' ; to relax in the countryside and
. -^appreciate the beauty of nature js ' \ great for the mind, body and soul. "- "Through the Festival we aim to
1ERE is a lot of lying around St
to be done in Jude Lane's job; not all of it pleasant; • ~ ■ ■V /G ; But the many hours she .:
spends, in all weathers, in clqse ■■’ :.■ ■
contact with moorland heather, . have one aim; to monitor one of
. our most threatened birds-..: thev~.:;j hen hanier. ."Yes, it's true that I lie down in - :
the heather," she says with a smile. "I can bethere-forfourorfive hours ■ at a time and if the weather is good, v it's cool. "
»l ' . If it isn't... well, that is the down^S-V
• side of working in the outdoors'v.fA'u for part of the year, especially in r-.r'.: England.*
. ; T. ' Sadly, there has been another ‘ .y-iT''
down'side to Jude's work- in the i/isr-gc: past two years; no hen harriers^^s^.S.i or, at least, none that have chosenWC;, v-i to breed in the area of B o w l a n d a ujjJji where she works, the 26,6d02acfe/.;r»4i| United Utilities site near-Slaidbum: For Bowland, which has hosted 4s v:;-
_ between 50% and 100% of all hen;*- v J harrier nesting attempts in England ;;r/v- since 1991, that is bad news. ” ■ "The first year we didn't have
any breeding birds was 2012," says Jude. "This compares to 201.1 a* - when there were four successful
nests on the UU'site%+the only ones in England"
' -
■ 1960s that the hen harrier had -J - . failed to nest successfully in Eng- .. • land;-For. Jude, that meant a lot of
- Last year was the first since the ‘ j- s 5 I -1 • I I
waiting and watching; but with few” ’ " '--^ I rewards:'"We only had sightings
i
■ pair.-."ihesays/'.We're hoping fo r ^ v .V I them to'retum this year.-i In con- ■; », ,4 | trast,4 in 2011 ,-'tnere wer^six'pains- _ |
'4 - ' t ’ i.V.'+v.' V-J-fi* f: i *-J ’ ! '
© Hen harriers arrive in breeding areas about now -
late March. This is what
to look out for: Male hen harriers are ash-grey with black wing tips and a wing span of just under a metre. They are sometimes known as ghostbirds because of the pale colour of their plumage.
• Female hen harriers are slightly larger, owl-like in appearance, and have a mottled brown plumage, which camouflages them when they nest on the ground. They have obvious horizontal stripes on their tails, giving them the nick name ringtail, and a patch of white just above, on the rump.
prS--*A ‘ /s i r , ' r.jXMl itcher of the skies
in Bowland and four of them bred successfully, with 12 young fledged . that season.
,v - .
. rv In addition to her field work, Jude is part of a team that rolls out a programme aimed at raising awareness and educating the pub lic about the hen harrier. -- : "This isn't a kestrel ora bird that people might instantly recognise,": she says.-j'Awareness is very low. - By educating them they are more likely to .call in'with a sighting, and i f
■ it turns' out to be a hen harrier it can lead us tofinda potential breeding site or roostrf-7 : •. "The other reason to educate
■: people is to get the laws changed. •The government needs to be doing -more for this bird;""
■ One significant
development in this direction
recommendations following a consultation on potential changes to wildlife law in
! England and Wales: - These include
.the recognition of the seri ousness of some wildlife
- crimes and the recom mendation for an op tion for these cases to
.. be tried at the Crown Court, where higher penalties are avail-
: able. Jude believes :
by UU
to.provide sustainable, clean drinking water." The reality for hen harriers, -
# The Hen Harrier Hotline is part of Skydancer, a four-year- - RSPB project aimed a t protect ing and conserving nesting hen Hamers in the English uplands. ■ For more information about the
project, visit
www.rspb.org.uk/ ^ skydancer/........... ' w •
-• -
. that if more'people were aware of' hen harriers, and of why there are
. so few in England, they would be , more likely to lend their weight to
i demands for better protection. ■
. was the publica tion in October ■ 'of the Law '••'• ; 1 ■ Commission's : :
• If you do spot one you can ;
? call the Harrier Hotline on 0845 • :;4600121 (calls charged at local . rate) or e-mail henharriers® ■
-t’-C C: -y *. i ^possible.T-pf'.'.r^ /s ; , r > - jr r
-"
rspb.org.uk." Reports of sight- .■.ings’should include the date - ;and location of sighting, with'a * six-figure grid reference where-
-
. "Mainland England-Bowland - has always been a stronghold for
- hen harriers and that is down to strong partnerships between land
owners, United Utilities, tenants * the AONB and RSPB," saysJudk ; ; United Utilities approached the ■
,RSPB in 1981 because they were - " keen to have help in monitoring the birds, and we've had a presence here ever since.
For us it's a key case study
because, as well as farming tenants,' we have shooting tenants. And,' of
however, is that despite everyone's?; efforts very few of these beauti- - ful raptors choose to call England their home, despite; there being suitable:/ habjtat for up to 3201-' | pairs. -.. .
. -:0.
•• '-The RSPB saystHef dearth of the birds in this country is down >, to illegal persecu- :j tion; hen harriers will;
• - . f take grouse, which 4;
-. makes them unpopular with game-1 keepers. In 2012, the female known- as Bowland Betty, which was satel- ; lite tagged as a young bird, was 4 found dead in the Yorkshire Dales ■, National Park. The post mortem -
• showed she had been shot. Campaigners hope that, among ij.
other reforms to help raptors, . j will be one on vicarious liability, ,.;|
. which will mean landowners taking 1.1 responsibility for birds shot on their-. I estates. ■
■ ■ f l • According to the JNCC Conser/'l
:vation Framework for Hen harners.-j.l in the UK (2011) productivity needs M to be/ . 2 per bceeding attempt toa r
. course, the land is being managed;. ; between 1991 and 2011 was 1,7;p j
; achieve favourable conservation g r
status.iThe UU estate average
m l • J’ ' +L J ■& 5 . fl 'rVi - - -
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encourage people to
do just this, and hope that the
participants will help us spread the word so that the Yorkshire Dales will be valued, treasured and cared for, ensuring it remains
a truly special place for future generations."
More than 19,000 people have enjoyed taking part in Flowers of
■ the Dales events since the first Festival in 2009. The Festival provides hundreds of reasons to
spend quality time in the beautiful dales countryside, and helping people to discover and enjoy the incredible beauty of the landscape and wildflowers of the Dales. The Festival programme can
be viewed and downloaded at
www.ydmt.org/Festival2014; Or “ ■ :
to receive a printed copy of the ' . programme please send an A5 SAE (50p postage) to: Flowers of the ■ Dales, YDMT, Old Post Office; Main
■ -
Street, Clapham, North Yorkshire - LA2 8DP:
- • -
:. Wednesday, March26,2014 fe C
Wednesday, March 26,2014 Flower of the Dales
iid ^ n *V ° .NATUR!E: A bumblebee M ? ■ " '
dentification walk is one of the £ Flower of the Dales Festival
events. Below, a Peacock butterfly ... ;
■
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