Sunday 12 January 2014

Heather and Miranda survive the storms

Both Heather and Miranda are still at their home ranges in North Cork and North West Mayo respectively.

The weather since the Christmas period has been shockingly bad, with stormy wet weather surely not helping matters for Hen Harriers.

It is interesting to see Heather's daily hunting routine, travelling from her roost in a mountain area dominated by forestry to hunt an area of tillage fields approximately 6km away - clearly preferring this to what surrounds her in her roost. Perhaps if the roost which was once all heather moorland was not planted with forestry, Heather would not have to travel as far to find food. The pressures on the uplands are being shown by Heather's movements. Miranda uses the blanket bogs of NW Mayo daily to find food.

Scoil Ruáin of Killenaule, Co. Tipperary made it to the main event of the BT Young Scientist Competition 2014. An interview with Lee Warner who undertook this socio-economic appraisal of what is happening in the Hen Harrier Special Protection Areas can be heard at Hen Harrier interview at the BT Young Scientist Finals, RDS, Dublin, 2014

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