By Crime Reporter on 01/03/2018
at 12:35pm
Durham Constabulary and the RSPB
are appealing for information following the disappearance of a satellite-tagged
hen harrier near Middleton-in-Teesdale.
The harrier, named Marc, was one
of a nest of two chicks tagged as part of the EU-funded Hen Harrier LIFE+
project in July this year from a nest in the Scottish Borders.
Marc’s tag had been transmitting
regularly, showing no signs of any problems, until it suddenly stopped on the
afternoon of 5 February. Data from Marc’s tag indicated he had been in the same
area of upland farmland since late November before moving 10km North West on 27
January to an area of driven grouse moor, from here he posted several positions
on the 5 February until 2.04pm, after which the tag inexplicably failed to send
any further data.
Second hen harrier disappearance
'devastates' RSPB
4 March 2018
The disappearance of two tagged
hen harriers from northern England could threaten the survival of the species,
experts say.
Siblings Manu and Marc were
fitted with satellite tags after being born in the Scottish Borders last year.
They fledged to northern England,
where Manu's tag stopped
transmitting in October. Marc's ceased on 5 February.
The RSPB described their
disappearance as "absolutely devastating".
'Vanishing population'
Manu had settled on the
Northumberland Cumbria border and Marc near Middleton-in-Teesdale in County
Durham.
The latter's tag stopped
transmitting over a grouse moor. No damaged tags or remains of the protected
birds have been found.
No comments:
Post a Comment