Raptor Politics

Today licensed field workers visited two ground nesting Peregrine nests, in both instances each site was known to contain 4 healthy chicks, up until today that is!.
Site 1, previously photographed on United Utilities property, the second Site 3 located on a private and keepered Estate.

In the many years that field workers have been monitoring and studying in Bowland, a lot of experience is gained about individual sites, birds and rearing capabilities. These can obviously vary as the same bird and even same pair of birds aren’t guaranteed to be in the same site every year, but to a point, [...]

Site 2 now has 2 healthy chicks and 1 unhatched egg – chicks very healthy, and approx 10 – 14 days old.
Site 6 – it was assumed that all 3 eggs had been “tampered” with. However, on inspection today one chick was found  just hatched (within last the 12 hours) and the other egg pipping/hatching.
This [...]

During the last few decades direct human persecution of birds of prey throughout England’s moorland uplands have taken a different and sinister tack. No longer do we find nests containing smashed eggs or dead chicks with their heads decapitated. No, the strategies being used today to reduce brood sizes have now become much more [...]