WildLand's Hen Harriers

During 2020, WildLand Limited fitted eight GSM (Global System for Mobile) tags to young hen harriers within our land holding in the western Cairngorms. In addition to the three tags we fitted in 2019, these latest tags enhance and aid our understanding of this vulnerable bird of prey. Here at Wildland, we strive to make our information on this project as open and transparent as possible, we hope this second update gives an additional insight into the plight of these birds. In this article you will find information about each harrier and our public tracking app.

At WildLand, we offer a safe refuge for these birds to return and breed. In 2020, we recorded five nests and observed many other harriers across our landholding. Since 2015, we have observed a steady increase of our breeding harriers. We applaud the work of some of our neighbouring estates where harriers are also offered a safe refuge. At WildLand we are recording a greater abundance of small mammals due to the reduction in grazing and trampling pressure, in particular field voles - a favourite food of harriers. We are convinced our landscape scale ecological restoration is now beneficial to many species including hen harriers.

Nationally, hen harriers remain at critically low numbers which underlines the value of our 200 year vision. We hope that in the face of this climate and biodiversity crises the time is right to offer these important predators a safe return to our wider countryside. WildLand considers having hen harriers breeding on our ground to be a valuable asset to our long term vision, we hope that this mindset filters out to the wider land owning community. If you are visiting our glens this spring and summer, we encourage you to watch our hillsides and you may be rewarded with the spectacle of seeing a grey male hen harrier 'sky dancing'. This natural spectacle is something that is, unfortunately, absent from much of our country's upland areas.

During the late summer of 2020, WildLand made its tagging data public via the Animal Tracker app. For anyone who is interested, this app can be downloaded free via the App Store and our birds can be followed online.

The app is host to many other projects across the globe, however, if you zoom in to the north of Scotland you will find our birds. By selecting our harriers (and golden eagles) as favourites they will be easier to find should you wish to return to the app. Animations of two weeks and twelve months can be viewed which allows an informative view of the birds movements.

While some may consider such information to be sensitive, WildLand believe in sharing our findings and think this information may be of particular interest to those managing and working in our country's upland areas.

Please click on the link below if you are interested in downloading the app:

Below you will find maps showcasing the recorded movements of each individual hen harrier. Last year, we wrote about hen harriers 1, 2 and 3, in this article we share the fortunes of harriers 4 - 11.

We hope you will enjoy these fascinating maps!

In summary, out of eight hen harriers to be tagged in 2020, WildLand are currently receiving signal from only three of them. While this may seem disappointing, this is actually the first time that any of our tagged harriers, since we began tagging in 2015, have survived past the following February!

Over the next couple of months we will watch our tagged birds closely and hope they will return to safe breeding grounds. Both male and female hen harriers are capable of breeding in their first year, so there is no question that these young birds play a crucial role in the recovery of this vulnerable species.

In early March, WildLand began the annual monitoring of our key species and we are delighted to report that we have witnessed hen harriers returning to our estates. On one particular occasion, we witnessed an adult grey male hen harrier 'sky dancing' over a knoll, a short distance from the road. With a back drop of the snow capped Cairngorms behind, it was quite a spectacle!

During 2021, WildLand urge other private land owners and their staff, alongside Raptor Study Groups to monitor and report any hen harriers on their land. If we are to see these birds return, we ideally require a more holistic approach, particularly in the face of a climate and species crises.

During 2021, WildLand will continue to monitor our tagged birds, those returning to our land and those who are already resident on WildLand. We have purchased a further eight tags for hen harriers. In addition to this we are also hoping to tag goshawk and osprey. We look forward to sharing the journey with you.

WildLand thank you for taking the time to read this article.

Please contact us for any further information. conservation@wildland.scot.