News

Raptor Workshop: Hen Harrier Monitoring 

Species monitoring data is vital to Governments and other agencies to help inform conservation decisions. Raptor data is usually collected in decadal surveys e.g. the National hen harrier, peregrine and merlin surveys and annually by volunteer fieldworkers e.g. local raptor study groups.

Interpretation of these data depends on the depolyment of standardised survey methods, however, as present data are collected by differen volunteers in various formats. The workshop was designed to provide training in raptor monitoring techniques to all volunteer fieldworkers and focussed solely on hen harriers in Northern Ireland.

The topics covered included:

• Field ecology and signs
• Habitat requirements
• Ranging & foraging behaviour
• Regional hen harrier ecology
• Licencing and legislation

We also introduced advanced techniques including buccal (mouth) swabbing for DNA samples and radiotelemetry research. The workshop concluded with participants taking the lead and the development of a regional scheme for standardised hen harrier monitoring.

Support and advice for workshop participants is on-going and we hope to have further workshops, field training days and increase the numbers of people involved in the monitoring efforts for hen harriers and other raptor species.

The workshop was organised by Natural Research Ltd in collaboration with Quercus and was funded by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and Quercus and supported by the Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group (NIRSG). For further information please contact either Dr Marc Ruddock (m.ruddock@qub.ac.uk) or Dr Ruth Tingay (ruth.tingay@natural-research.org).