5th
September
By Nan
Spowart Journalist
BEHAVIOUR
never seen before in a rare bird of prey has been recorded by cameras in a
Scottish conservation project.
The
“exceptional” footage shows male hen harriers standing guard over nests and a
hen harrier brood being hunted by two species of owl.
Conservationists
say the pictures tell an amazing story that shows the kind of hurdles hen
harrier chicks – the species nests on the ground – have to overcome to survive.
The
discoveries were made as part of Heads Up for Harriers, a Partnership for
Action Against Wildlife Crime Scotland (PAW) project, led by Scottish Natural
Heritage (SNH).
Figures
released today also show 30 young birds have successfully fledged on
participating estates.
On two
occasions, a male harrier was recorded spending up to 35 minutes standing over
or beside a nest, guarding the chicks when the female harrier was away.
This is
believed to be highly unusual harrier behaviour as the only time a mother
usually leaves a nest for the first six weeks is to briefly catch a food drop
from the father to feed the chicks.
The
footage has also captured a hectic night of activity involving a fox and a
short-eared owl which ended with five chicks being killed by another owl.
According
to the pictures from the nest camera, the mother spent eight days taking care
of her five newly-hatched chicks, until she was scared off the nest by a fox.
The unattended chicks were then surveyed first by a short-eared owl before
being killed by a long-eared owl.
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