The harassed harrier

HEN HARRIERS are in the news. As Gordon Deegan reported in The Irish Examiner last week, the developers of a €10 million windfarm in Co Clare have been asked by the Department of the Environment to incorporate measures to protect harriers.

These magnificent birds of prey are also in trouble in England. Richard Saunders of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, speaking on BBC Radio 4, claimed that only 12 pairs of hen harriers bred in England this year and most nesting attempts failed. The birds started to nest and then suddenly disappeared. Foul play is suspected. The English population is confined to the grouse moors of northern counties. Harriers take grouse chicks and shoots are big business. Game-keepers are almost certainly responsible for the harriers' demise.

The hen harrier is a large hawk with a long tail. The male, blue-grey all over with black wingtips, could almost be mistaken for a gull. The female, bigger than the male, is dark brown. Both sexes have a conspicuous white rump, making it easy for birdwatchers to tell hen harriers apart from other birds of prey. The flight too is characteristic; harriers fly low with their wings held in a shallow V.