The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reported that a male Montagu’s harrier identified as “AU” has successfully bred in the same undisclosed location on English farmland for a second year. The bird mated with two different females and fledged six chicks total from two separate nests, building on four chicks from the previous year’s breeding at the same site.
Montagu’s harriers face significant conservation challenges in the United Kingdom. The species was designated a red-list bird most at risk in 2021, reflecting a dramatic decline in breeding populations. Numbers dropped from nine successful nests in 2011 to no documented successful breeding attempts between 2020 and 2024, making recent reproductive success particularly significant for the species’ survival prospects.
Conservation efforts have become increasingly sophisticated. The RSPB and local farmers have implemented protective measures including fencing around nests to exclude ground predators such as foxes. This year marks a notable milestone as conservationists attached satellite tags to two of the fledged chicks, the first time such monitoring has been deployed. The tags are intended to track migration patterns, identify juvenile dispersal routes, and determine return rates to the United Kingdom, filling critical knowledge gaps about the species’ lifecycle outside the breeding season.
Additional pressures threaten the species beyond traditional predation. Montagu’s harriers nest on the ground within crop fields, making them vulnerable to accidental destruction by farm machinery during harvest. Climate change has compounded these risks, with earlier harvest times this year potentially increasing nest destruction hazards. Mark Thomas, head of investigations at the RSPB, emphasized that the species remains precariously positioned and requires continued monitoring and protection efforts.
Conservationists have appealed to birdwatchers to report sightings of the juvenile harriers through the RSPB’s dedicated hotline, facilitating broader monitoring of this critically endangered population.
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