The Hen Harrier's Year

Author: Ian Carter
Publisher: Pelagic Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1784273864
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Book Description
Most British birds of prey have largely recovered from historical persecution, but the beleaguered Hen Harrier is still struggling and remains far less common than it should be. This is a particular shame, because it is one of our most inspiring raptors. Spectacular sky-dancing displays and balletic food passes from male to female brighten up the moors in summer. And in winter, communal roosts in the lowlands attract birders from far and wide to catch sight of this now-elusive species. This book follows the Hen Harrier over a year: from rearing young hidden away in dense heather, to the fight for survival in the harshest months of winter. Interspersed among the monthly accounts are chapters on the history and status of this iconic bird, as well as an overview of one of the most intractable conflicts in modern conservation: the Hen Harrier’s liking for grouse moors (and the Red Grouse that live there) wins it few friends among shooters, and ongoing persecution continues to hamper its recovery. There are tentative signs of progress, but its fate as a breeding bird in England hangs in the balance. Evocative illustrations, in part based on privileged access to the handful of breeding birds that remain on England’s moors, showcase the Hen Harrier’s exploits through the seasons. These will delight admirers of this species and hopefully foster a greater interest in its wellbeing. The Hen Harrier needs all the help it can get.

Hen Harrier Poems

Author: Colin SIMMs
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781848614291
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Book Description
Hen Harrier Poems is Colin Simms' fifth collection with Shearsman, and his third devoted to poems on a specific species, following Otters and Martens (2004) and Gyrfalcon Poems (2007). Future plans include volume devoted to poems on merlins and on goshawks. Simms is a naturalist who has observed the harrier and its North American cousin, the marsh hawk, for decades; his poems fuse a rich Bunting-esque diction and sonority with a focused eye and imagination.

Bowland Beth: The Life of an English Hen Harrier

Author: David Cobham
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
ISBN: 0008251924
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 165

Book Description
‘An outstanding book’ Spectator The story of the short life and tragic death of Bowland Beth – an English Hen Harrier – which dramatically highlights the major issues in UK conservation.

Sky Dancer

Author: Gill Lewis
Publisher: Oxford University Press - Children
ISBN: 0192749269
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description
Joe has always loved the moorlands above his home: the wildness, the freedom, the peace. But since his father died, everything has changed, and the moors are no longer a place of refuge. Now the whole community is divided over the fate of the hen harriers that nest up there in the heather - and Joe is stuck right in the middle, with a choice to make, and a huge secret to keep. Joe can't do what's right for everyone. But can he find the strength to fight for what he really believes in? Expert storyteller Gill Lewis presents a beautiful tale of loss, expectation, and change - with an important and thought-provoking environmental message.

The Life of Buzzards

Author: Peter Dare
Publisher: Whittles
ISBN: 9781849951302
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
An account of Common Buzzards gained from extensive studies by the author over 60 years and also from enthusiasts across Britain and northern Europe.

Hen Harrier

Author: Gerold Dobler
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783946429395
Category : Circus cyaneus
Languages : en
Pages : 27

Book Description

The Hen Harrier

Author: Donald Watson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 147294612X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 417

Book Description
An acknowledged classic of narrative nature-writing, Donald Watson's The Hen Harrier was the culmination of a lifetime's study of this beautiful upland bird. A gentle, warm and wonderfully written book, The Hen Harrier stems from an age of 'amateur' conservation, from the pen of a man who cared deeply about birds and their habitats, especially of the Scottish borders where he conducted much of his research and painting. The book was among the last of a dying breed; it would be thirty years or more before writing on our natural history would again reach the heights of accessibility to nature-lovers exemplified by Donald Watson and his peers. The book starts with Watson setting down more or less everything known about harriers – which at that time often consisted of information sent by letter to the author, rather than published in a journal – before moving on to the story of Watson's years studying nests in the south-west of Scotland. With a foreword by conservation champion Mark Avery, this edition of Watson's greatest work is particularly timely. The conflict between grouse-shooting interests, which has overseen the virtual extinction of the harrier as a breeding bird in England through illegal persecution, and an increasingly vocal conservationist lobby is the number one conservation issue in Britain today. Donald Watson's narrative soars like a sky-dancing harrier throughout this book. Read it, and be taken back to a simpler age of nature conservation by a true master of the art.

Raptor

Author: James Macdonald Lockhart
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022647058X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 391

Book Description
As evidenced by the incredible success of Helen MacDonald's H is for Hawk, and the legions of fans of Pale Male, the incredible red-tailed hawk of 5th avenue, we are full of rapture for raptors. James Macdonald Lockhart, is among the many who have sought out these incredible birds, and in this lyrical work of natural history he seeks out 15 different raptors, in 15 different landscapes across England: a journey in search of raptors, a journey through the birds and into their worlds. Raptors are by nature scarce and extremely elusive. Of Pandionidae (osprey), Accipitridae (broad-winged harrier, eagle, buzzard, red kite) and Falconidae (peregrine, sparrowhawk etc.) only widespread buzzards, kestrels and kites are easily seen. Lockhart follows loosely the trail of 19th-century Scottish naturalist and artist William MacGillivray (1796-1852), As Philip Hoare wrote of it, James MacDonald Lockhart puts the rapture back in the raptor. This is in-the-moment writing, raw in beak and claw. With its gorgeously felt sense of life and place, Raptor rips at its words, turning them into exquisite portraits of the utter wild, shaping soaring, obsessive beauty out of the British landscape and its imperial birds"

Conflicts in Conservation

Author: Stephen M. Redpath
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107017696
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 343

Book Description
An insightful guide to understanding conflicts over the conservation of biodiversity and groundbreaking strategies to deal with them.

Harriers of the World

Author: Robert E. Simmons
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780198549642
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Book Description
Harriers are a charismatic group of birds of prey with a worldwide distribution that have long fascinated bird watchers and scientists. Here for the first time the biology of the world's harriers is treated within one over, in readily accessible language. There are detailed comparisons of northern and southern species, descriptions of mating systems and population dynamics life histories, and insights into the selection pressures shaping the birds' life histories. The author addresses such questions as how females choose partners against their apparent self- interest, how they adjust to prevailing circumstances to produce the perfect clutch size, and what underlies variations in size dimorphism and copulation patterns. New information resulting from a DNA examination of the group reveals three new harrier species and allows construction of a new phylogeny of the harriers. The author's twin brother brings the book to life by fine original line drawings of these impressive birds. It will be a treat for all raptor biologists, amateur raptophiles, and behavioral ecologists interested in birds of prey.