Table 17 Prey at Moorland and Forest Breeding Sites (Areas A, B, C and E)
Invertebrates
Beetles:
Carabid
3 in 3 pellets
Elaterid
4 in 3 pellets
18 in pellets
Otiorrhynchus (Weevils)
11 in 4 pellets
Total Items:
Kills or Remains:
129
in Pellets:
80
209
Table 18 Prey Identified from:
Table 19 Prey Identifi ed at Breeding Sites on Moorland Area A
Table 20 Prey at Breeding Sites on Moorland Area B (R. C. Dickson)
Table 21 Prey at Forest Breeding Sites, Areas C and E
Mammals
Field Vole
4 in 4 pellets
Shrew?
1 in 1 pellet
Total mammals:
Invertebrates
Beetles
Carabids
3 in 3 pellets
Elaterids
4 in 3 pellets
Otiorrhynchus (Weevils)
11 in 4 pellets
Table 22 Analyses of Pellets Collected from Hen Harrier Nests
The following analyses of 22 pellets from forest nests were carried out by the late Ernest Blezard and are given in full, as examples of detailed investigation by an expert in this field.
1.
Field Vole fur and bones.
2.
Pipit, Red Grouse feathers, bone scraps. Carabid beetle—? Pterostichus. 2 weevils—Otiorrhynchus, bound molinia.
3.
Red Grouse (? juv), feathers, bone scraps. Heather tips and grit from victim, bound with molinia.
4.
Feathers and other remains including lower mandible of a Red Grouse chick. Elaterid beetle—Corymbites cupreus Fabr. Small carabid beetle (? sp.). Small quartz grit: large amount Molinia binding.
5.
Meadow Pipit including entire leg. 2 Elaterid beetles—Campylus lineatus L. Grass and heather scraps.
6.
Pipit remains: scraps of heather.
7.
Pipit remains: grass.
8.
Small pellet, simply soil with merest pulped feather remains.
14.
Meadow Pipit feathers. Field vole fur. Beetle fragments.
15.
Mostly field vole fur with Meadow Pipit and Snipe feathers and beetle fragments.
16.
Meadow Pipit feathers. Beetle remains ? spp. Bulked with Molinia or ‘Flying Bent’.
17.
Field vole fur, bones and teeth.
18.
Pipit and Snipe feathers. Beetle fragments including Elaterids and Otiorrhynchus. Bound with grass.
19.
Pipit feathers. Beetle fragments including a Carabid. Shreds of grass.
20.
Pipit feathers and bones including part of skull. Peaty soil.
21.
Pipit feathers and bones. Minute fragments of beetle. Bits of heather and rush, bound with grass shreds.
22.
Feathers of Redpoll or Linnet, scraps of bone. Remains of 6 weevils —Otiorrhynchus—comprising one body and six heads with other bits. Shreds of grass.
Table 23 Prey almost certainly Caught in Forest
Table 24 Most Numerous Birds of Moorland A in Breeding Season, in Approximate Order of Abundance
1.
Meadow Pipit.
2.
Skylark.
3.
Red Grouse, Curlew.
4.
Golden Plover, Snipe, Wheatear, Whinchat, Wren.
5.
*Black Grouse, Lapwing, Common Gull, Black-headed Gull, Cuckoo, Carrion Crow, *Rook, *Mistle Thrush, *Song Thrush, Stonechat, *Starling, Pied Wagtail, Linnet, Reed Bunting.
6.
Mallard, Kestrel, Pheasant, Oystercatcher, Short-eared Owl, Swallow, Ring Ouzel, Blackbird, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler.
* Species which, generally, use the area for feeding, etc, only, and do not nest there.
Table 25 Nesting Birds on Moorland B (listed by R. C. Dickson, not in order of abundance)
Table 26 Most Numerous Birds of 5–15 year old Forest, in Areas C, D and E, in Breeding Season in Approximate Order of Abundance*
1.
Chaffinch. Wren, Robin, Goldcrest, Willow Warbler.
2.
Wood Pigeon, Coal Tit, Song Thrush, Meadow Pipit, Redpoll.
3.
Red Grouse, Black Grouse, Pheasant, Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Mistle Thrush, Stonechat, Whinchat, Grasshopper Warbler, Bullfinch.
4.
Common Gull, Short-eared Owl, Dunnock, Whitethroat, Tree Pipit, Siskin, Reed Bunting.
5.
Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Jay, Chiffchaff, Crossbill.
* The comparative numbers of different species change greatly during the 5–15 year period. Some, such as Meadow Pipit and Red Grouse disappear after the early years while others, such as Wood Pigeon, Sparrowhawk, Jay, Siskin and Crossbill, only appear towards the end of the period. According to D. Moss, Sparrowhawks do not usually nest in the forests until the trees are about 20 years old, but they were quite often seen in summer in 14–15 year old blocks of trees.
Table 27 Prey Identified in Pellets collected from the Winter Roost (Roost 1) adjacent to Area C, in April 1968, February 1971, and February 1975
1. April 1968: 23 pellets
Note: Additional remains of Red Grouse, fi eld vole, hare, water vole and beetles were found in broken up pellets.
2. February 1971: 30 pellets
3. February 1975: 50 pellets
Table 28 Prey Analysis from Pellets at Winter Roost 1 near Area C, Collected April 1968, February 1971 and February 1975
(In addition, Beetles were found in at least 12 pellets and moth cocoons in 2)
Birds and Mammals in Pellets (above)
(In addition remains of Field Vole, Water Vole and Hare were found in an unspecified number of broken up pellets.)
Table 29 Numbers of Diurnal Sightings of Adult Males and Ringtails within 24 kilometres of Roost 1 in 3 Winters (Sept.–March)
Table 30(a) Monthly Totals of Hunting Hen Harriers sighted within 24 kilometres of Roost 1, Sept.–March (1953–1976)
Table 30(b) All sightings, as above
Acknowledgements
This book is a blend of personal experience and wider study. Although more intensive work on some aspects of my subject may soon be published by others I hope that my book will interest the general reader as well as the more scientific ornithologist. Difficult as it is to strike a balance for differing tastes and degrees of knowledge I believe that there is a place for ornithological books which attempt this task.
I have received valuable help from a great many people. To mention them all individually would make a very long list. All those whose written communications have been referred to in the text will, I hope, find their names and the subjects in which they have particularly assisted, in the bibliography. I have received verbal information about Hen Harriers and related species from many others. To them all I express my warm thanks. There are, at the same time, a number of people without whose help the book could hardly have been written at all.
Eddie Balfour, the pioneer and acknowledged master of British Hen Harrier studies, not only gave me priceless information on his work but inspired me by his own monumental achievement in fieldwork and documentation of Orkney Hen Harriers. All those who knew him must have their own special memories of his quiet but dedicated enthusiasm which lasted for more than 40 years until his untimely death in 1974. Lately, James Cadbury has taken on the huge task of analysing Eddie’s unique collection of data on Hen Harriers in Orkney and the full results of this will obviously be of great interest. Mrs Sunniva Green worked keenly with Eddie Balfour during his last few years and I am indebted to her for the loan of slides and for additional information, especially on harrier roosting in Orkney. I
also owe a very special debt to Nick Picozzi who has recently researched extensively on Hen Harriers in Deeside and Orkney. He has somehow found time to read and comment on a large part of this book. His deep knowledge and professional approach have resulted in many improvements. The publication of his own work on Hen Harriers and their prey on a Kincardineshire moor is eagerly awaited.
I thank Bill Sinclair for kindly sending me tape recording of a lecture by Eddie Balfour on the Birds of Orkney.
I owe much to R. C. (Bert) Dickson who has studied Hen Harriers in Galloway for many years and has sent me many communications on his findings, generously allowing me to make use of his data, especially on nests, food and roosting. Louis Urquhart has not only been a valued and expert companion on innumerable expeditions but has read and commented usefully on the text; he has frequently saved me from errors of detail. Chapter 17 owes much to the map on which he plotted over 250 winter sightings of Hen Harriers and he has freely shared with me his numerous personal observations. It is impossible to give adequate thanks to Dr Ken Brewster who has taken upon himself the role of intermediary with harrier students in many parts of the world, has lent me numerous important books and papers which I might never otherwise have seen and made many stimulating suggestions. I owe another very special debt to Desmond Nethersole-Thompson for allowing me to quote verbatim from his unique and colourful account of the old collectors, which he wrote specially for me. His personal knowledge of Hen Harriers in Orkney and in the Highlands has also been very valuable, while his son Bruin sent me his own interesting account of Hen Harrier nests in east Ross-shire.
Graham Williams gave me the benefit of his wide knowledge of Welsh Hen Harriers and even made a special visit to find out if harriers still featured on the inn sign at Llanuwchlyn, while he and Peter Schofield gave me a memorable introduction to the beautiful Welsh nesting grounds of the Hen Harrier. I am most grateful to Geoff Shaw for his help in several ways and for an account and map of the breeding areas in Central Scotland; and to Peter Strang for much valuable information on his 23 years in Hen Harrier country in Kintyre.
When I began this book, I knew little about the Hen Harrier in Ireland, although Major R. F. Ruttledge had kindly told me the basic details of the situation when I spoke to him some years earlier. From him I learned that Hen Harriers had never died out in Ireland. I had also met David Scott, the Secretary of the Irish Wildbird Conservancy, and discovered our common enthusiasm for Hen Harriers. When I wrote to him asking, hopefully, for a little information, I received almost daily letters, each crammed with news of Irish Hen Harriers, their history, distribution, nesting habitats and food. David Scott also sent me slides of a beautiful albino Hen Harrier. Much of this information came from his own fieldwork and researches but he supplemented it with contributions from harrier specialists in different parts of Ireland. I am extremely grateful to David Scott, but also to Ewart Jones, Ken Preston and Frank King for their willing help; the latter delighted me particularly with his news of an unusual Hen Harrier roost in County Kerry.
A young Dutch ornithologist, Jaap Rouwenhorst, who chanced to visit me in Scotland, has most kindly sent me useful information on harriers in Holland. Through him I was encouraged to approach W. Schipper, at the Ryks Instituut voor Natuurbeheer, who so helpfully sent me copies of his important papers on harriers and freely answered my questions. Dr E. Nieboer generously gave me one of the last remaining copies of his fascinating dissertation on ‘Geographical and Ecological Differentiation in the Genus Circus’.
The late Ernest Blezard gave me the results of his expert analysis of pellets and remains; and more recently Ian Lyster, of the Royal Scottish Museum, has kindly done similar work for me. He has also allowed me to borrow numerous cabinet skins of harriers and given me every assistance on my visits to the museum. The Ringing and Migration Committee of the British Trust for Ornithology kindly allowed me the privilege of copying the recovery details of ringed Hen Harriers and I thank them; and particularly Bob Spencer and Chris Mead for making Chapter 7 possible. I also thank Chris Mead for giving me photocopies of his own maps which greatly helped in the preparation of mine. I am grateful to Tim Sharrock for sending me a pre-publication copy of the Hen Harrier map for the Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland and my thanks are due to the British Trust for Ornithology and the Irish Wildbird Conservancy for permission to use the Atlas map as a basis for my 1975 status map.
I much appreciate the facilities provided by John Davies, South Scotland Conservator, Forestry Commission, for studying harriers within the forests and also for smoothing my path on a visit to the forests of Kintyre. I also thank my many other friends among district officers, foresters and rangers in the Forestry Commission, for their assistance; John Corson, Alec Marshall, Mike Spernagel and Ian Watret have particularly helped by reporting sightings of Hen Harriers. Many other people have helped to make the South-west Scotland section of the book as complete as possible, notably K. W. W. Bartlett, Colin Campbell, Les Colley, Frank Dalziel, Sir Arthur Duncan, Dr and Mrs Kenneth Halliday, Raymond Hogg, David Irving, Richard Mearns, Mick Marquiss, the late Alan Mills, Dick Orton, Langley and Madelaine Roberts, Dick Roxburgh, Dr John Selwyn, Geoff Shaw, Brian Turner, Jeffrey Watson, David Whitaker, Jim Young and John Young. Both Will Dalziel and Jimmy Stewart, in the course of their shepherding work, became invaluable harrier watchers and gave me much friendly assistance. I thank Mrs E. Murray Usher, Mr A. Graham and Douglas Craig, as landowners and farmers, for their tolerance of my activities.
I have received useful information on harriers from many quarters and especially thank the following in addition to those already mentioned; D. J. Bates, Dr D. M. Bryant, Dr Bruce Campbell, the late Dr J. W. Campbell, David Clugston, Dr Peter Hopkins, Donnie Macdonald, John McKeand, Dr Ian Newton, Hugh Ouston, A. D. K. Ramsay, Dr Derek Ratcliffe, R. W. J. Smith, Bobby Smith, Alan Walker and Dr George Waterston. Tony Bell of the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Monkswood, willingly abstracted from his records all the data on analysis of harriers and their eggs.
Lars Svensson kindly sent me a copy of the Swedish journal, Vår Fagelvärld, with his valuable paper on the identification problems of closely related harriers. Arthur Gilpin generously sent me prints of his fine photographs of a male Hen Harrier brooding chicks, and of a nest with a clutch of ten eggs. Harold Lowes also kindly gave me excellent photographs of Hen and Montagu’s Harriers at the nest. Jim Young and Brian Turner allowed me to make full use of their photographic hide and I am especially grateful to the former for presenting me with a splendid selection of his Hen Harrier slides. My thanks are due, too, to Nick Picozzi, C. E. Palmar and Dr D. A. P. Cooke for making their excellent photographs available.
I thank Martin McColl and the Dumfries and Galloway Regional Library Service for going to the limit in providing me with books and for unfailing courtesy. I also thank the Librarian of the Edward Grey Institute for sending me an important paper. Trevor Poyser has been a most understanding publisher and shown great forbearance.
Finally I say thank you to my wife, Joan, for her prodigious work in typing the manuscript, for checking and often correcting my calculations and for her continuing encouragement and patience. All my family, too, have helped in various ways; Pamela by her constructive criticism of illustrations and Jeffrey by reading and improving much of the text as well as providing much help in the field; Katherine helped by abstracting the relevant passage in Turner’s Avium Praecipiuarum from the Bodleian Library and Louise spent invaluable hours in sorting out the data on ringing recoveries and drawing maps.
Male Hen Harrier
Plates
Male and female Hen Harriers in forest breeding habitat.
Nestling Hen Harriers: top, 1-3 days; centre, about 2 weeks; bottom, 26-28 days, male at left and female on right.
Studies of female Hen Harrier brooding and feeding chicks
Top, adult Hen Harriers over moorland breeding habitat. Centre, Marsh Hawks: left, 1st winter and 2nd winter male; right, a
dult male. Bottom, Hen Harriers at winter roost: top left, 1st winter male; centre top, adult female; centre, adult male; bottom left, 2nd winter male; lower right, 1st winter male
Index
Sub-headings in italics indicate maps and tables.
Alexander, Edwin here
Ali, S. here, here, here
Amadon, D. here, here, here, here, here–here, here, here, here–here, here, here, here, here
Anderson, T. here, here
Andris, K. here, here
art here–here
flight drawing here–here
photography here–here
setting here–here
sketching materials here
tonal studies here
Arthur, George here
Audubon, J. J. here, here, here, here, here
Austin, Willie here
Bahr, P. B. here, here
Balfour, Eddie here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
The Hen Harrier Page 34