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Over the weekend I had to adjust my plans. On Saturday I was supposed to go out with friends walking in the Pennines but as I am also volunteering as a body guard for one of the rare raptors that nest in the region, I had to cancel going on the walk for guard duties.
When at the nesting site, I was told that as the wind was gusting sixty and seventy miles per hour on the Pennines, I realised I had made the right choice.
I have been given permission to talk about this here, but obviously I can not say anything that will disclose or reveal the exact location of the nesting site. Its unfortunate that there are still people who collect eggs and deliberately disturb and destroy the nests of raptors. Thus the reason for helping protect the nest and the site. I, or better to say We, are not too close to the nest, but still close enough to have the reasonable view of the pair. But as the main reason for being there is to stop people approaching the nest, my main task was people watching rather than bird watching.
Just at the point that my relief arrived, a group of walkers decided that they were going to move off the public path. So I was not involved in trying to dissuade them from taking that route. Even informing the walkers that they were at risk of disturbing rare wildlife didn't dissuade them. Normally people will respond positively to requests like this, but this group were determined and militant.
I guess that I need to explain to my overseas readers, that in the UK we have a “Right to Roam” enshrined in law. However, this can be suspended to protect wildlife or if work using heavy machinery is being used, such as the tree felling that has been going on in my local woods. These walkers were adamant that they had the right to walk where ever they wanted. This stand off went on for over twenty minutes, so my fellow volunteer asked me to call the land owner. This I did. It took some ten minutes or so before he turned up, what surprised me was that the police arrived too. This changed the attitude of the walkers and suddenly they were keen to leave.
Following the police checking who the walkers were, it emerged that one was related to a person previously convicted of raiding nests.
It shows that the role of guarding this nest site and the many others up and down the country is vital. I had been thinking that I would have been having more fun had I gone off walking, but this experience shows why this work is so important.
Then on Sunday, I got a call from one of the people I would have been walking with and it turns out that they an eventful time too. As I said the weather was rather windy, when I heard the where they were walking I realised just how silly (I could use stronger words) they were. Two of the party came back injured as they were blown off their feet on the ridge top. I told my caller that I thought they had been irresponsible to even attempt to walk in such a location in weather conditions like that. Fortunately, while late back, they all got back safely. But even my friend agreed that it had not been wise. The problem is that the boldest person in a party can lead others into danger. Anyway, I looked up this article about some of the stupid things that people do when out walking.
Back in the spring, I don’t know if you can remember that far back, I had the rare opportunity to see a pair of Hen Harriers as they tried to establish a nest in one of the felled areas in my local wood. I was surprised to see them and knowing how rare they are, I contacted the RSPB. Unfortunately in no time at all the birds abandoned the nest and site because of disturbance.
However, less than a week later I received a telephone call telling me that the pair I had seen trying to nest were nesting again. Further, I was asked if I wanted to help protect and guard the nest. Under strict rules of secrecy that would make the government jealous (Especially HMRC), I started aiding the effort that was staged to safeguard the nesting pair. Even before posting this I had to get permission to say anything.
Eventually the Hen Harriers raised five chicks and made the experience of being in the cold and wet of summer worthwhile. However, this is all just background to what happened today. During my stint as slave to the birds, I met a chap who does more than watch the birds, he often takes in injured or sick birds of pray. Further as he helps police and animal charities with gathering evidence of wildlife crimes, I can’t say too much about him other than he is an amazing man.
Anyway, while on my guard duty, we talked about the problems of protecting wildlife and he acknowledged he was sad that because of the attitudes of many in our society, we couldn’t disclose the locations of rare nests etc, because of the few that are determined to destroy beauty. It was encouraging to hear him, as I am always worried about talking about the wildlife I encounter in case some of the oafs who would harm it read my postings too. But he assured me that the more that the lovers of diverse fellow inhabitants of this planet know of what’s out there and why we need to protect them, the less opportunities the brainless ones will have to destroy habitats and individuals.
Well yesterday I got a telephone call from him, did I want to do something really special? I jumped at the chance. So up and out before even the milkman arrives, I was taken to a secret location with two Tawny owls that had been nursed back to fitness. They had been injured by either a shotgun or an air rifle, and had not been able to fly.
So I got the chance to handle a wild owl and with a mixture of delight and regret, I saw this owl fly off and disappear into the trees.
Not that far from where this mouse lives is Derwent Reservoir. As well as being an important water resource it is also important as a trout fishery and a nature reserve. It is somewhere that I want to make time to visit but that will have to wait until I have more time. However, today I was close by, I had an appointment to attend, and I was frustrated as I was not really able to take my camera with me, especially as I was seeing Herons in the air. However, while I was waiting for the bus home, I saw a bird of prey that was unusual to my eyes. It was a distance away but it looked like it might be a Buzzard, but that looked wrong. I wracked my brain, and in the end I thought that it could be an Osprey. Now I cannot say for certain that is what I saw but it does appear that the Scottish ospreys do travel via this route on their migration to Africa so all the behaviour traits fit.
If it was an Osprey, it just shows that keeping your eyes open can provide rewards.
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