July 2013

This wonderful period of weather has created some fantastic opportunities to enjoy the moorland vegetation; the cotton grass and bog asphodel is looking wonderful, young heather can be found in abundance in the areas managed for restoration and the main swathes of heather are looking healthier than they have for several years.

We are lucky at Langholm to enjoy views of  a range of moorland birds including Red and Black Grouse, passerines such as Whinchat, Stonechat, Skylark and Meadow Pipit, waders including Curlew and Lapwing and a range of raptors - Merlin, Short Eared Owls, Raven, Peregrine and Hen Harrier.

The Hen Harriers are perhaps the most well known - a bird suffering serious persecution  - such an incredible bird to watch. I am a firm believer that unless the general public are encouraged to watch and appreciate these birds, their future is bleak to say the least. Hen Harriers are a Schedule 1 protected species and it is illegal to approach the nest or disturb the birds, but it is possible to get very good views of the adult birds from the road withiut causing any disturbance.  We will have video clips form the nest cameras posted on here as soon as I get them edited and we are hoping to be able to follow the progress of the satellite tagged harriers on this blog over the coming months. As soon as I have access to data it will be posted here.