Delight as seven rare hen harrier chicks fledge in the Forest of Bowland

The first to fledge was a nest of five eggs, all of which successfully hatched and then fledged.

The abundance of food, excellent habitat and robust predator control along with an excellent working relationship between Natural England field workers and the estate gamekeepers has helped this brood to thrive.

Nest disturbance has been kept to a minimum and much of the monitoring has been done using trail cameras, which have shown both the prey brought in and given us an insight into hen harrier nest life.

The cameras would have also filmed any predation of the chicks from foxes, carrion crows, stoats and intraguild predation from other raptor species, which is now appearing to be more common than first thought and is being brought to light through the use this modern technology.

The second brood of hen harriers which successfully fledged have been helped by supplementary feeding of this particular nest by gamekeepers, in the hope that there will be less of a predation impact on red grouse, curlew and lapwing chick populations. Thankfully, this seems to have worked.

Scott Patterson, a head keeper in the area, said: "The Forest of Bowland Moorland Group are delighted that this year's hen harrier chicks have thrived so well in the area, and that the moorland management systems in place have contributed to their success. Hen Harriers have had an excellent year for breeding across the uplands, and the successes in the Forest of Bowland prove that managed moors can help these birds to thrive.”

As ground nesting birds, hen harriers are also highly susceptible to predation. On managed moorlands fox, stoat and carrion crow numbers are able to be controlled to an acceptable level, which helps all moorland ground nesting birds to succeed in fledging good numbers of chicks.

These amazing managed ecosystems are kept in balance by the hardworking moorland gamekeepers who are proud of the variety of species which live, breed and thrive on their moors.