This week, Heather travelled to Waterford - the first time she has done so and adding to what is now a long list of counties that she has visited throughout Ireland from North to South, since leaving Kerry as a fledgling.
However, her sojourn was short and she returned to Cork and her home territory the next day. Why did she leave the area that she has known since the start of September? Was it to explore new potential sites while the tillage habitat that she finds her food over is currently being sprayed and ploughed? The coming weeks will be very informative. When she travelled to Waterford, Heather roosted at a site that was previously unknown to host roosting harriers - interestingly this site was less than 3km from a known roost site which until recent years has been a communal roost well used by Hen Harriers. If harriers were still using that site, would Heather now be there, rather than 40-50km away in her present home territory?
Miranda's tag has not transmitted data for a whole week now, something which we would obviously prefer was not the case but may be related to the solar panels on her tag failing to gain enough light energy, something that had been apparent in previous transmissions. We will of course keep a watching brief.
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