Meta tags:
description=Hen Harrier Ireland - Where you can follow the latest research on one of Ireland s most special yet rarest birds of prey;

Headings (most frequently used words):

hen, harrier, 2016, diaries, entry, ireland, forestry, the, we, monday, and, harriers, in, november, august, final, no, about, pages, 25, february, 2019, 22, january, 2018, saturday, 14, october, 2017, wednesday, tuesday, 23, friday, 19, followers, me, blog, archive, beware, big, sell, if, are, at, crossroads, need, to, think, forward, what, road, go, down, irish, winter, survey,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (321), and (182), this (72), for (71), that (66), hen (62), have (60), are (57), forestry (51), they (44), with (41), their (40), pair (39), #harrier (39), from (39), year (36), has (35), been (34), harriers (31), not (31), farmers (29), chicks (23), ireland (23), nest (22), all (22), share (21), there (21), will (20), these (20), last (19), areas (19), can (18), more (18), what (18), breeding (17), male (17), was (17), female (16), now (15), young (15), pairs (14), who (14), environmental (14), over (13), some (13), but (13), diaries (12), her (12), years (12), our (12), two (11), any (11), spruce (11), time (11), would (11), irish (11), 2016 (10), next (10), three (10), into (10), most (10), birds (10), people (10), local (10), land (10), territory (9), also (9), glen (9), after (9), season (9), she (9), hopefully (9), other (9), area (9), where (9), one (9), attempt (9), even (9), penny (9), than (9), january (8), unknown (8), about (8), incubating (8), eggs (8), well (8), again (8), were (8), sitka (8), you (8), weeks (8), many (8), farming (8), small (8), august (7), november (7), pinterest (7), facebook (7), blogthis (7), email (7), comments (7), posted (7), far (7), location (7), heather (7), had (7), rearing (7), few (7), when (7), food (7), while (7), providing (7), way (7), together (7), like (7), winter (7), which (7), through (7), communities (7), environmentalists (7), marginal (7), politicians (7), media (7), october (6), april (6), take (6), his (6), same (6), busy (6), here (6), could (6), update (6), see (6), really (6), work (6), news (6), good (6), seen (6), first (6), very (6), roost (6), those (6), including (6), spas (6), being (6), may (5), july (5), february (5), big (5), new (5), back (5), start (5), close (5), produce (5), decided (5), previous (5), mom (5), dad (5), might (5), six (5), keep (5), both (5), against (5), rear (5), own (5), predation (5), number (5), hope (5), survey (5), watching (5), future (5), species (5), just (5), past (5), reality (5), forward (5), decline (5), put (5), rural (5), sustainable (5), natural (5), groups (5), social (5), planting (5), trees (5), money (5), important (5), habitats (5), biodiversity (5), government (5), value (5), landscape (5), june (4), september (4), 2015 (4), 2018 (4), view (4), finally (4), extremely (4), out (4), active (4), chick (4), kept (4), present (4), off (4), predators (4), going (4), mountains (4), entry (4), much (4), still (4), days (4), updated (4), activity (4), around (4), clearly (4), since (4), abandoned (4), before (4), successful (4), know (4), knowledge (4), bird (4), return (4), early (4), lets (4), didn (4), make (4), such (4), common (4), come (4), your (4), sites (4), often (4), recent (4), consider (4), happening (4), nature (4), article (4), need (4), want (4), point (4), its (4), interests (4), native (4), december (3), 2014 (3), 2017 (3), sell (3), posts (3), turf (3), cutting (3), possible (3), currently (3), another (3), every (3), nesters (3), making (3), relatively (3), mature (3), believe (3), least (3), either (3), down (3), majority (3), however (3), coming (3), highly (3), little (3), away (3), fledge (3), sighting (3), luck (3), watches (3), how (3), stage (3), should (3), odds (3), world (3), fact (3), failed (3), likely (3), green (3), watch (3), seems (3), too (3), disappointing (3), less (3), day (3), say (3), near (3), parents (3), line (3), directly (3), conservation (3), only (3), managing (3), roosts (3), especially (3), kerry (3), actions (3), obviously (3), continuing (3), picture (3), population (3), case (3), negative (3), schemes (3), rather (3), ground (3), real (3), drive (3), loss (3), upland (3), journal (3), decades (3), question (3), organisations (3), date (3), balance (3), industrial (3), agri (3), environment (3), climate (3), carbon (3), water (3), etc (3), scheme (3), concerns (3), long (3), proliferation (3), right (3), west (3), yet (3), lot (3), given (3), private (3), investors (3), programme (3), perhaps (3), community (3), themselves (3), push (3), economic (3), does (3), under (3), issue (3), considered (3), got (3), agricultural (3), market (3), because (3), coverage (3), european (3), forest (3), travel (2), march (2), beware (2), 2019 (2), blog (2), profile (2), home (2), records (2), preferred (2), nesting (2), steep (2), anxious (2), moments (2), returned (2), place (2), keeping (2), eye (2), outstanding (2), beautiful (2), result (2), territories (2), reared (2), information (2), second (2), resident (2), defending (2), intruders (2), chosen (2), secluded (2), use (2), show (2), hard (2), exact (2), maybe (2), proximity (2), plantation (2), nearby (2), straight (2), months (2), follow (2), females (2), thank (2), week (2), attention (2), times (2), monitor (2), situation (2), closely (2), brilliant (2), surrounding (2), specialists (2), subject (2), updates (2), almost (2), possibly (2), continue (2), search (2), things (2), looking (2), positive (2), sharing (2), sufficient (2), provide (2), unfortunately (2), set (2), disturbance (2), someone (2), wildlife (2), taking (2), bad (2), amazing (2), managed (2), them (2), remained (2), several (2), productive (2), better (2), despite (2), deciding (2), stay (2), safe (2), choice (2), face (2), challenge (2), clear (2), obvious (2), best (2), biggest (2), along (2), contribute (2), reporting (2), below (2), four (2), total (2), final (2), tuesday (2), awesome (2), inspiring (2), towards (2), informing (2), pleasure (2), care (2), cork (2), limerick (2), bogs (2), rivers (2), pass (2), everything (2), realisation (2), threats (2), used (2), longer (2), words (2), public (2), impacts (2), idea (2), look (2), greatest (2), review (2), scientific (2), response (2), twitter (2), worth (2), post (2), plantations (2), industry (2), losses (2), associated (2), parts (2), increased (2), direct (2), afforestation (2), semi (2), various (2), journalist (2), papers (2), says (2), otherwise (2), asked (2), himself (2), why (2), devoid (2), represented (2), state (2), uplands (2), further (2), thursday (2), sunday (2), entrenched (2), position (2), properly (2), policy (2), heritage (2), thinking (2), designed (2), manage (2), deliver (2), management (2), peatlands (2), clean (2), economies (2), turning (2), project (2), organised (2), discuss (2), others (2), model (2), mammals (2), survive (2), without (2), between (2), farmer (2), spotlight (2), unplanted (2), live (2), remaining (2), narrative (2), noise (2), story (2), let (2), oftentimes (2), don (2), never (2), help (2), compete (2), stopped (2), disaster (2), targets (2), cut (2), mullaghareirk (2), projects (2), vested (2), sliabh (2), aughty (2), legs (2), created (2), generations (2), production (2), change (2), thinkers (2), thriving (2), goods (2), added (2), non (2), particularly (2), practice (2), crossroads (2), couple (2), monday (2), basically (2), service (2), guy (2), contains (2), radio (2), farmland (2), grants (2), theme, powered, blogger, 2012, 2013, archive, complete, followers, subscribe, atom, older, 1955, covered, bramble, bog, myrtle, excellent, alongside, proceedings, returning, occasionally, check, domain, slope, gorse, evicting, males, neighbouring, pairn, supplying, professionals, thrown, chaos, ounce, energy, unwanted, guests, king, peaceful, watchful, wonderful, something, find, located, flyer, treacherous, abundance, lurking, landing, dropping, indication, introducing, situated, stacks, mullaghariek, special, protection, settled, focusing, trying, establish, status, whereabouts, five, haven, dedicated, liked, report, hooded, crow, focus, probable, unsuccessful, witnessed, vicinity, showing, interest, flying, 16th, kilometre, ominous, sign, developments, fledging, absolutely, always, top, game, fledged, element, mystery, uncertainty, tranquil, believed, certain, ever, started, tried, somewhere, findings, looks, provided, companion, strength, strenght, moment, unclear, exactly, workload, spends, super, amount, prey, remain, fledglings, working, vigorously, plain, sailing, friday, high, standard, remarkable, achievement, faced, obstacles, human, doesn, consideration, photographs, disturbing, mother, tending, weather, dispersed, explore, wish, someday, reported, hunch, correct, cause, stacked, desert, vast, numerous, forcing, huge, distances, forage, sustained, absence, vulnerable, heartbreaking, fault, bit, intrusion, changed, minds, appears, proved, turn, events, turned, feet, venture, sure, reason, failing, gigantic, give, similar, pattern, cases, nests, become, occurrence, debut, across, born, exploring, short, lives, surviving, grace, skies, hills, spring, onto, ahg, gov, summary, commenced, 28th, nearly, later, conclusion, congregate, communal, recording, gives, satisfaction, prospects, undertake, coordinator, barry, donoghue, hardy, souls, winters, border, mountain, country, throughout, fairly, slow, influx, outside, main, site, honour, witness, evenings, makes, forget, normal, everyday, happenings, jerked, experiencing, different, pressures, occupied, ironically, birders, exposing, suit, wider, imperative, sanctity, confidentiality, upheld, shot, claiming, actually, meaning, inadvertently, disturb, sensitive, taken, maintain, low, standing, middle, enough, problems, deriving, broader, inspecting, ihhws, wednesday, doubt, driver, full, peer, reviewed, material, matter, inform, science, behind, threat, plan, published, gone, quiet, indeed, following, results, referring, virtues, supporting, socially, environmentally, damaging, led, describing, commercial, curlew, red, grouse, skylark, experience, questions, observations, fieldwork, lesser, known, effects, risk, operations, largest, downside, habitat, due, predated, extent, driving, rates, higher, irresponsible, saying, saviour, books, evidence, increase, basic, flourishing, instead, write, facts, soon, authors, book, mis, wrote, stated, opposite, blanketing, large, swathes, misleading, heaps, press, suffer, major, paints, thousand, saturday, leap, faith, individuals, likewise, survival, needs, evolution, adaptation, already, bolted, starting, pursuit, vision, marry, centre, governmental, sides, lose, lost, cling, remains, today, lies, resources, earmarked, include, appropriately, targeted, pockets, appropriate, supply, upper, reaches, river, catchments, alleviate, flooding, rewarded, popular, meaningful, worthy, guaranteed, per, hectare, pumped, offered, basis, massive, uptake, meeting, inhfa, conference, foregoing, points, ones, readers, seeing, raptor, study, group, birdwatch, advocated, brighter, lobbied, protagonists, helped, bringing, indicator, indicate, suite, suitable, dependent, correlated, general, shine, leitrim, cavan, dominated, cover, travelling, camera, microphone, talk, precious, supported, voices, heard, lazy, arms, whereas, truth, minority, narrow, aim, tired, old, staple, foot, meetings, carrick, shannon, 25m, injection, scarriff, visually, represent, farm, inherited, children, exciting, death, knell, stands, stacking, favour, greater, duration, investment, artificially, inflate, values, comes, sale, designated, reasons, inflated, told, anywhere, reaching, yes, wanted, neighbours, views, younger, deleted, songs, silenced, fish, removed, replaced, 200, million, staggering, buried, derelict, primary, school, aligning, truly, aims, balanced, input, said, highjacked, word, anyone, cares, stump, exists, circulate, locally, outwards, coillte, places, redressing, quick, buck, drives, decisions, inappropriate, exacerbated, rise, scrutiny, national, examining, happened, left, significant, tracts, farms, end, mindsets, space, quantity, scale, dictate, simply, cannot, considering, sustain, terms, economy, crumbling, solution, sustainability, stool, equally, foundation, depends, trend, entering, bought, neighbour, abandoning, opening, eyes, provision, fabric, replacing, hay, meadows, tax, payer, funds, growing, recognition, strangers, married, realising, importance, pollination, note, term, automatically, virtue, type, underpinning, influence, awake, equation, snippet, applications, breandrum, filter, brussels, symbolic, finds, itself, agriculturally, rich, northwest, perfect, storm, brewing, suckler, viability, floor, brexit, looming, mainly, offset, emissions, expansion, dairy, although, theory, debatable, debated, smothered, owned, frankfurt, london, god, knows, essentially, happen, recently, celebrated, 1916, rising, stood, links, ownership, strong, none, representatives, prefer, excessive, levels, ruining, found, isolated, termed, tall, deserts, reflection, becoming, exercised, addition, notable, among, marian, harkin, member, parliament, takes, mts, above, nowadays, think, road, facilitate, paid, sector, role, regulator, scroll, industries, account, ministers, speak, mind, interview, trump, ascertains, tool, hell, resource, regard, regulations, success, according, him, dogs, street, shambles, dominance, concrete, remember, countries, classed, invasive, excerpts, agritime, aimed, course, foresters, must, votes, deserted, agenda, angle, lobbying, ads, nowhere, impact, east, north, scan, google, maps, satellite, judged, taxpayers, destroy, contrary, law, ago, bigwigs, department, agriculture, met, generous, buying, outright, putting, family, suits, dublin, imagine, grandparents, fought, worked, rush, quitting, minister, tells, thing, inherent, kills, heavily, forested, yourself, quite, shocking, tell, tale, latest, welcome, pages,

Text of the page (random words):
ounger days deleted the bird songs silenced and the fish in the rivers removed communities replaced by more than 200 million spruce trees the last remaining farmers and communities in these areas are so precious and need to be supported properly yet their voices are not being heard the lazy narrative to date for these areas has been that the local farmers are up in arms that they want more forestry whereas the reality could not be further from the truth this narrative has come from a relatively small minority with a narrow aim making a lot of noise and a farmer vs bird story is a tired old staple now at this point for some of the irish media let s be forward thinking oftentimes those making the noise don t even live in the area and those reporting on it have never set foot there the recent meetings against forestry in carrick on shannon and for the hen harrier project a new 25m injection into hen harrier spas to help farmers help hen harriers in scarriff visually represent the reality farmers want to farm they want to pass on the land that was inherited from their parents to their own children if given their choice they will take an exciting agri environmental scheme any day over a death knell forestry scheme but as it stands the government are stacking the odds in favour of forestry and against farmers and biodiversity they put greater money and duration of investment into forestry they artificially inflate land values to the point that local farmers can t compete with private investors when land comes up for sale and to the point that when forestry is stopped in designated areas for environmental reasons that the value of land is de inflated the forestry programme has been a disaster all told even perhaps those that designed the forestry programme would consider it disaster in that it has failed to come anywhere near reaching its targets yes they wanted even more forestry an inhfa conference organised in january 2018 to discuss concerns on forestry a hen harrier project information meeting organised in january 2018 to discuss the new scheme it is now time for our politicians to be forward thinking and put the resources earmarked for industrial forestry into agri environment and climate actions which can include appropriately designed and targeted planting of trees put that money directly into the pockets of the most important people the farmers who can manage and deliver appropriate management of upland peatlands for carbon and water manage and deliver habitats for biodiversity supply clean water from the upper reaches of river catchments alleviate flooding etc and in being rewarded keep local economies turning politicians can be guaranteed that if the same money per hectare or even less was pumped into such schemes as is the case for forestry and that if these schemes were offered on a 15 year basis as forestry is there would be massive uptake far more than for forestry this would not only be far more popular which is what politicians will look for first but it would also be far more meaningful sustainable and worthy it might take a leap of faith for some farming organisations or individuals who have had an entrenched position to date to work with the environmentalists and likewise for some environmentalists who have had an entrenched position to date to work with the farmers but if there is to be survival there needs to be evolution and adaptation many have already bolted from the starting line in pursuit of a sustainable future vision if these two groups come together and marry to have marginal areas properly represented by politicians and to put such areas at the centre of all that is good in irish governmental policy there is hope otherwise all sides will lose and all will be lost the social and natural heritage which we cling on to the remains of today lies in the balance posted by unknown at 04 33 94 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest saturday 14 october 2017 forestry and hen harriers in ireland forestry and hen harriers in ireland just in case there was any doubt forestry is the greatest negative driver of hen harrier population decline in ireland for a full review of scientific and peer reviewed material on the matter see this review which was put together to inform the science behind the hen harrier threat response plan which is still not published after four years and has gone very quiet indeed for those on twitter it is well worth looking at the following search results here and here here are some posts down through the years on this blog referring to forestry and hen harriers sunday 17 april 2016 farming and hen harriers from the ground up a post on the virtues of supporting people and local rural communities through sustainable farming schemes rather than socially and environmentally damaging forestry plantations led by industry thursday 21 january 2016 a picture paints a thousand words a post describing from the ground the losses of nature associated with commercial forestry including hen harrier curlew red grouse skylark and many more also the real impacts on local communities after 40 years of experience any questions take a drive to parts of any of the hen harrier spas sunday 12 april 2015 the hen harrier diaries some observations from fieldwork on hen harriers including two of the lesser known effects of forestry on hen harriers increased predation risk and direct disturbance nest loss from forestry operations the largest and most obvious downside of afforestation is loss of natural and semi natural habitat for the hen harrier and various other upland species thursday 17 july 2014 hen harriers suffer major losses to predators just before hen harrier chicks are due to fledge they are often predated to an extent that is driving population decline predation rates are higher in and near forestry tuesday 10 june 2014 misleading article in irish farmers journal heaps further bad press on hen harriers a response to a highly irresponsible article from a journalist on the irish farmers journal saying that forestry could be the saviour of hen harriers when various books and scientific papers and evidence from the ground says otherwise with the increase of forestry in hen harrier spas going from 0 to 52 in a number of decades the journalist might have asked himself the basic question why hen harriers are not now flourishing in these spas but instead decided to write an article devoid of facts or reality soon after this article one of the authors of a book he mis represented wrote into the irish farmers journal to state the reality of forestry being negative for hen harriers where he stated the opposite has been the case with the blanketing of large swathes of our uplands with mature forestry posted by unknown at 02 48 15 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest wednesday 2 november 2016 irish hen harrier winter survey november 2016 at this time of year it is awesome and inspiring to see hen harriers congregate together at communal roosts to know that your recording of the roost watches is going directly towards informing the irish hen harrier winter survey gives as much pleasure and satisfaction as watching the birds especially for those who really care about conservation and the future prospects for the species in ireland this is more than just bird watching i undertake roost watches for the survey coordinator dr barry o donoghue and i along with a number of other hardy souls have been watching hen harriers for the past 8 winters in the kerry cork limerick border area mountain bogs and rivers country throughout this season so far things have been fairly slow but the past week or so have seen an influx of hen harriers to my roosts possibly from outside of ireland in the three main sites that i watch i have seen a total of 17 birds in the past few days at one site there were at least 11 harriers awesome and inspiring as i say and a honour to witness female hen harrier inspecting her roost at the november ihhws roost watch watching the harriers pass around together over the bogs on these winter evenings makes me forget almost everything from the day of work or normal everyday happenings however i am often jerked back to reality with the realisation that these sites are all experiencing different threats and pressures and a number of sites that i used to see harriers at are no longer occupied ironically one of the threats in recent times seems to be from birders who have been exposing the location of a roost by their words and actions while some sites can suit wider public attention and public knowledge it is imperative that the sanctity and confidentiality of most roosts is upheld especially in areas where hen harriers have been shot and that people claiming to be in it for the birds actually consider their actions and impacts even well meaning people can inadvertently disturb these sensitive birds especially when no care is taken to maintain a low profile standing out in the middle of the roost is obviously not a good idea harriers have enough problems as it is i look forward to continuing to contribute to the irish hen harrier winter survey as i have been for many years and deriving pleasure from watching the birds and also from the knowledge that my records are informing a broader picture as to what is happening to the hen harrier population in ireland posted by unknown at 15 39 62 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest tuesday 23 august 2016 the hen harrier diaries final entry the hen harrier diaries final entry work on the hen harrier diaries commenced on the 28th of february nearly six months later it has finally come to a conclusion it has been a disappointing year to say the least with only two of our six pairs managing to rear young with four chicks reared in total below is a summary of the pairs pair 1 penny penny set a high standard in 2015 rearing three chicks a remarkable achievement for her first breeding attempt this year she faced many obstacles from human disturbance someone who clearly doesn t have any consideration or knowledge for wildlife taking photographs and clearly disturbing the mother who should have been tending to her chicks bad weather to forestry work taking place in close proximity to her nest but against all odds this amazing bird managed to rear two chicks this year the young harriers have now dispersed to explore the world we wish them well and hopefully someday they will return and rear chicks of their own pair 2 heather s mom and dad as reported in previous updates our hunch was in fact correct heather s mom and dad were not successful in their breeding attempt this year we believe they failed in the first weeks of early chick stage with predation was the most likely cause the odds are really stacked against this pair with the majority of their territory now a green desert of sitka spruce this vast area of forestry is home to numerous predators and is forcing the birds to travel huge distances to forage this sustained absence is when the young chicks are vulnerable to predators and is heartbreaking to watch it is clearly no fault of the birds and with a bit of luck this pair can be more successful next year pair 3 the glen nesters it seems the intrusion from other hen harriers changed the minds of this pair and they abandoned their breeding attempt early in the season while the male remained in the territory for several weeks it appears all the activity proved too much for the female and she abandoned early on this was really a disappointing turn of events for this pair as they have been one of our most productive pairs over the last number of years lets hope 2017 can be a better year for the specialists pair 4 it turned out to be a brilliant year for this pair they managed to rear two chicks and both were females despite deciding to nest less than 50 feet from active turf cutting this is their second year rearing young in the same location with turf cutting active both years these chicks were the first to fledge in 2016 and they remained in the area for several weeks before finally deciding to venture into the world on their own lets hope they stay safe and one day they return pair 5 unfortunately this pair also didn t make it this year we can t say for sure but predation was the most likely reason for failing this pair also have little or no choice to nest near mature sitka spruce plantation and face a gigantic challenge to rear young every year this is very disappointing for this pair after such a successful year last year lets hope they stay safe over the winter and return next year to give breeding another go next year pair 6 this pair are similar to the other three pairs that didn t make it and a clear pattern is obvious in all cases sitka spruce parents away from nests predation this has become an all too common occurrence pair 6 didn t have their best year in their debut year in the hen harrier diaries they also didn t make it across the line we believe they they failed at the early chick stage lets hope they return next year and have a better time of it for the young harriers born this year they are now exploring the world on their own and face the biggest challenge of their short lives surviving their first winter hopefully the will grace our skies on the hills again next spring it s now onto the the irish hen harrier winter survey where we will keep you updated along the way you can contribute directly to the conservation of the hen harrier by reporting any sighting of a hen harrier to harriers ahg gov ie thank you hen harrier ireland posted by unknown at 09 39 15 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest friday 19 august 2016 hen harrier diaries entry no 7 the hen harriers from the hen harrier diaries have been working vigorously over the last few weeks to provide sufficient food for their young chicks unfortunately it has not been all plain sailing for three of our pairs pair 1 penny penny and her male companion are going from strength to strenght and are kept extremely busy providing for their young chicks at this moment in time it s unclear exactly how many chicks penny has or what stage they are at we do know that penny is still not sharing the workload of providing food for the chicks and spends the majority of her time at the nest it could well be that her chicks are still relatively young or it could be that the male he is a super male is providing a sufficient amount of prey for penny to remain at the nest with her young hopefully we will have news of fledglings for the next update pair 2 heather s mom and dad things are not looking good for heather s mom and dad it s looks like they may not have been successful in their breeding attempt this year previous watches have not provided us with any activity around their territory and both male and female have not been seen since our last update we will m...