They may be the fastest creatures on Earth, swooping on prey at speeds of 200mph. But numbers of peregrine falcons in one of Scotland‘s national parks have plummeted in the past two decades, according to a worrying report. The first major survey of the species in the Cairngorms National Park has shown the number of […]
Tag: Hen Harrier
It skims the moors like a ghost, sports a wingspan wider than your outstretched arms and can drop on prey with pinpoint precision
The elegant hen harrier is perhaps the most iconic bird of prey in the uplands of northern England, but it is also one of the most endangered bird of prey in Britain. These large raptors wheel and soar above the moorland and, in late spring, perform a spectacular ‘sky dance’, exchanging tokens of their affection […]
Anger grows over plan to cull feral goats so moorland can be used for rewilding
They have roamed a moorland in southern Scotland for centuries. Now residents are fighting to save the growing population of wild goats near Langholm in the Scottish Borders after a rewilding organisation revealed it wants to cull some of them as part of its ‘future restoration plans’. Oxygen Conservation, which owns 11,390 acres on Langholm […]
More hen harriers killed in UK during 2023 than in any other year, RSPB says
More hen harriers were killed in 2023 than in any other year on record, a report has found. The RSPB’s Birdcrime report also found that at least 1,344 individual birds of prey were persecuted in the UK between 2009 and 2023, and that 75% of people convicted of offences related to the persecution of birds […]
Scottish grouse moors to be licensed in attempt to protect birds of prey
Grouse moors across Scotland will be required to hold licences and could face shooting bans as part of radical measures to combat bird of prey persecution passed by MSPs on Thursday. The Scottish parliament voted for the controls amid intense pressure from conservation scientists and campaigners after decades of illegal attacks on birds of prey […]
Thousands of wild animals ‘slaughtered’ every year to protect shooting for sport on grouse moors
An Oxford-led academic study has claimed a staggering 260,000 animals are killed in Scotland every year to protect the grouse population for shooting on country estates. They said the practice of using traps to cull predators on Scottish moors causes “tremendous, unjustifiable suffering” to creatures and must be fully banned. Animals targeted include foxes, weasels, […]
Maridalen Mandarin
Yesterday, Rune and I “did” Nordre Øyeren and Aurskog-Høland. Birding was good although it was a great disappointment that the flodd waters at Kjelle have so rapidly declined and with no rain forecast for at least the next week they will disappear very soon. It was dry everywhere and Lapwings were concentrated around the last […]
Eilat day 4 – race day
What an amazing day it was, made even more mentally challenging with the sad news coming from across the pond of the departure of our dear friend and comrade BT3. I received the news while standing at a watchpoint overlooking the Arava Valley and Eilat Mts., watching a River of Birds pouring through the sky. […]