On the 9th August in 2015 I attended a rally at RSPB Arne (see my blog post here Hen Harrier Day 2015 at RSPB Arne).....
Just under a year later and today I was at a second rally at RSPB Rainham......
So what was the purpose of this rally ?
To repeat what I say in my Hen Harrier Day 2015 blog post (link above), if we're not careful the Hen Harrier will soon be extinct. Down south we're not lucky enough to have them breed but they did used to and with careful land management there is no reason why they shouldn't again, but up north they are disappearing fast from the moors they call home.
The Hen Harrier lives in open areas with low vegetation. In the breeding season UK birds are to be found on the upland heather moorlands of Wales, Northern England, N Ireland and Scotland (as well as the Isle of Man). In winter they move to lowland farmland, heathland, coastal marshes, fenland and river valleys. Those found in eastern and south-east England are probably mostly visitors from mainland Europe. They arrive back on upland breeding areas from late March and stay there until August and September. Away from breeding areas birds can be seen from October to March and Continental birds will join residents in October and November.
In the UK in 2013 no Hen Harriers fledged, in 2014 just three pairs bred and all three required 24 hour protection, and in 2015 five adult birds mysteriously disappeared from their breeding sites.
This year just three pairs have bred successfully.
Just THREE pairs.
That is a shocking statistic.
There is enough habitat for 300 breeding pairs of hen harriers in England, so what is going wrong ?
The date August 6th was picked for Hen Harrier Day 2016 as it fell on the last weekend before the Red Grouse shooting season begins.
Hen Harriers breed on the same moors that Red Grouse are raised to be shot for sport, therefore the people who run the annual driven grouse shooting are doing their utmost to make sure their sport isn't ruined.
Though, just like fox hunting, how can anyone call grouse shooting a 'sport' ?!?!???
This is the third year of Hen Harrier Day, and although it would be a nice thought that we wont need one next year, sadly we probably will.
So today I was up at 6am, at the train station at 7.30am and attired in my Hen Harrier Day t-shirt I was off to RSPB Rainham....
Rainham was packed. A great sign.
Instead of the handful of sites open for Hen Harrier Day in 2015, this year there were 12 sites to visit and partake in the rallies....
Henry himself was there....
As was Maggie (below with Henry), Sue, Nathalie, Sue B, Duncan, Aleks, Susan, Chris, Carol and Debbie......and they were just some of the people I knew....
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| photo by Nathalie Mahieu |
It was a really good turn out....
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| photo by Nathalie Mahieu |
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| photo by Nathalie Mahieu |
The guest speakers included the dedicated Mark Avery....
the passionately spoken Charlie Moores from Birders Against Wildlife Crime (BAWC).....
Mike Clarke, the RSPB Chief Executive, whose company Nathalie, Sue and I had the pleasure of walking with from Purfleet train station to RSPB Rainham....
and Chris Packham...
Now I'm not going to lie.......I had already decided to attend todays rally at Rainham before I knew Chris was going to be one of the speakers.
But everyone who knows me well, knows I have had a HUGE crush on Packers for years, so I was just a bit excited today....
and I did take a lot of photos....
Chris had a board with him for the whole time of the rally which was clocking up how many people had signed the petition to ban driven grouse shooting.
As the 90 minute rally went ahead, so the figures went up.....
As I'm writing this, the figure has risen to 73,954......
We need to reach 100,000 signatures for this to be debated in Parliament....
There is a link below if you can please add your signature. It takes just a few minutes of your time.
My 'swoon' over Chris was completed when he signed my copy of his book 'Fingers in the Sparkle Jar'.....
Please do check out the link below if you are passionate about our wildlife...
and to add your say to ban driven grouse shooting and help save the beautiful Hen Harrier, please sign the petition below......
Along with bumping in to some good friends I also had the pleasure of meeting both David Morrison (London Peregrines website) and Stuart Harrington (London Peregrine Trust) today, both of whom are names I've become very acquainted with over the last few years thanks to my friend Nathalie (the Charing Cross Peregrines Godmother).
Another name who I admire very much for his dedication to his own patch, Peter Alfrey (Beddington Farmlands NR), was also at the rally, along with this familiar face...
.....Dominic Mitchell, the editor of Birdwatch magazine), who I was fortunate to meet at the 2015 rally at RSPB Arne.
So was the rally good ? Yup. The speakers were clear. They stated facts and figures, and exposed lies, but more importantly they were absolutely 100% passionate and dedicated to the cause.
Will it do any good ? That remains to be seen. The first rally in 2014 was held in Derbyshire and it poured down with rain all day. I didn't attend that one, but I was involved in the 2015 day when a handful of RSPB sites held rallies. As I mentioned earlier, this year 12 sites held rallies. Next year it would be nice to say we will not need a Hen Harrier Day/Weekend, but protecting these stunning birds isn't going to happen overnight, it wont even happen in a year, so I guess I'll be rallying and blogging again in August 2017....
The more publicity this cause gets, the more can be done to not only protect the stunning Hen Harriers, but also to protect any wildlife that is being slaughtered for no other reason than it ruins a so called 'sport' which is basically nothing more than a barbaric practise. Hare coursing, fox hunting, killing Buzzards because of their so called impact on the Pheasant population etc etc etc.....these are all 'sports' that need to be stopped. Now.
Rant over.
The rest of my day was spent walking around the reserve. It was quite warm so not many birds were out, although we did hear an awful lot of 'pinging' Bearded Tits in the usual corner of the reserve.
But it was lovely to meet up with friends, old and new, and have a wander...
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| Nathalie, Stuart and Sue B |
There was a Little Grebe confrontation in front of the MDZ hide, with at least two adults from different families squabbling out their territories whilst a juvenile from one of the families bobbed about just out of reach....
Little Egrets out-numbered Herons by about 12-1......Here are just four of them preening in the afternoon sunshine...
A juvenile Kestrel was spotted on one of the pylons whilst we were looking for any Peregrines....
At least two Marsh Harriers were doing circuits around the reserve (including distant views of them whilst the speakers were talking at the rally). My photos don't do this one any justice, but it was a juvenile with that pale head...
Marsh Frogs were all over the reserve....
We found a possible Lesser Marsh Grasshopper on the boardwalk...
Not many hoverflies around today, but I did find one...and grabbed just one shot before that disappeared. An Eristalis species, but my photo is not good enough for a true id....
A Common Garden Spider had caught lunch....
and a stunning female Wasp Spider was waiting for hers....
And a big thanks to the RSPB volunteer who went and got his scope out of his car so we could see one of the resident Barn Owls sitting on the edge of it's nest box.
It was a lovely wander around the reserve, if not a little warm for most birds to be seen, but then again today wasn't really about my visit to RSPB Rainham as I can visit any time I want, today it was all about Hen Harrier Day....
As it says above.......You have the power to save this bird.....
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