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I saw lots of hailstones on the fell yesterday but not many harriers. No harriers in fact. In fact I’ve not seen a harrier all year. Now I should point out that I am not on the hill every day like Mick (Bowland Assistant Warden) but even Mick hasn't seen many. If this were a typical year...

The excitement was palpable 10 days ago when I took a call from Mick (the RSPB’s Assistant warden) to say that a food pass had been seen between a male and female harrier on the United Utilities estate. I could almost feel my pulse quicken with excitement, the first food pass in two years, this...

It feels like a while since I last put fingers to keyboard to bring you some news from the United Utilities estate in the Forest of Bowland so now we have reached the end of the first week of April it seems like a good time to give you an update on what’s been going on in this part of the country...

If any of you didn't manage to catch it last night or happen to live outside the region, you can now watch Jude Lane talk about the tragedy of Bowland Betty and the issues facing hen harriers in England on Inside Out North East & Cumbria on BBC iPlayer ! It's only 8 minutes long but it does...

Science and technology play an integral part these days in allowing us to learn more about our native wildlife and in the fight against wildlife crime. The satellite transmitter fitted to ‘our Betty’ as a young chick, is a fantastic example of this. In the first instance we learnt a huge...

Following on from Dan’s inspiring blog of hen harrier sightings a plenty on the Dee over the last few weeks (what a fantastic picture he included!) I just wanted to let you know about the events RSPB and United Utilities* will be running in the Forest of Bowland again this spring/summer. If...

Christmas is just a week away. A further seven days hence, and the world will quietly slip into the New Year, with all the hopes, anticipation and promises of fresh starts that brings. But what of 2012? What lessons can we take with us from this, The Year that Almost Wasn’t for hen harriers in...

In response to my guest post on Martin Harper's blog on Monday, Gavin Jones, who lives near the Forest of Bowland, was inspired to write a beautiful yet haunting poem. Thank you Gavin for sharing it with us. You can read it for yourselves by visiting Martin's blog here . © RSPB...

Those of you who followed the Skydancer blog over the spring/summer this year will have been familiar with hearing about the exploits of the female hen harrier 74843 or Bowland Betty as she was known to us locally. The reason I've been unable to provide you with regular updates since my last post...

Moorland is a wonderfully diverse and complex habitat, made up of so much more than just heather. Pupils from Hornby St Margaret's CE Primary School, Bowland, had the chance to really get to grips with this on a Skydancer moorland visit and explore the variety of plants and mosses hiding between...

Boys from Honrby St Margaret's CE Primary School get close up and personal with some of Bowland's moorland mini-beasts on a Skydancing Schools moorland visit, July 2012.

A male hen harrier takes a dive at the camera - photo by Amy Challis, Bowland 2008

With his pale ash-grey colouring and black wingtips, this male hen harrier cuts a striking figure against the greens and the browns of the moorland landscape. This ability to stand out will make his skydancing antics even more breathtaking to behold and most importantly, even more obvious to a female...

Female hen harrier who laid 13 eggs in 2010 and fledged 5 chicks in 2011, Bowland - photographed by Mick Demain

Hen harrier chicks photographed in a nest in Wales, in 2009, by Jude Lane, Bowland Project Officer in a previous job.