Best of Natural History Radio - Lindsey Chapman's Living World From the Archives - Hen Harrier

Download Lindsey Chapman's Living World From the Archives - Hen Harrier

Ghosts of the Moor are how the pale grey male hen harrier is sometimes referred to as it glides seemingly without effort across an upland landscape. To find out more and to revel in actually seeing a hen harrier on the wing, in this episode Brett Westwood & lolo Williams are on the Berwyn Moors in Wales in search of this enigmatic bird of prey. lolo has brought Brett to this particular spot as since seeing his first hen harrier here as a young boy, lolo has returned every year to study their ecology and biology. As the duo watch harriers on the moor, lolo expands his understanding of how harriers utilise this unique man made habitat, especially in early spring when the males perform their spectacular "sky dances" to attract the female. Not everyone is as pleased to have hen harriers on their moorland so discussion falls to how rare in England & Scotland they are due to loss of habitat to conifer plantations or sheep, as well as conflict on grouse moors.

In this episode, Lindsey Chapman will bring this story up to date since the episode was first broadcast, offering some recent updates into one of our most enigmatic raptors..

Published on Sunday, 23rd September 2018.

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