Future is bleak for hen harriers (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Future is bleak for hen harriers

12:41pm Friday 4th December 2009

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I WAS sorting through some old files this week when I came across a note I had made about 30 years ago.

It was the record of the sighting of a pair of Montagu’s harriers on the North York Moors above Cropton, not far from Pickering. My notes recorded a previous sighting in the same area some two years earlier. However, I have no notes of these harriers being seen again in that vicinity.

The incident was worthy of note because the Montagu’s harrier is one of our rarest nesting birds of prey, especially here in the North-East.

It arrives from the Mediterranean regions and Africa in April and is usually sighted either in East Anglia or in the south-west.

It prefers large areas of conifer trees, and a very small number will breed in this country, often nesting on the ground in hayfields before returning to warmer climates in the autumn. A sighting near Cropton Forest was therefore highly unusual, one attraction perhaps being the conifers of Cropton Forest.

The bird is named after Colonel George Montagu, who was a 19th century naturalist working in Devon. It was Colonel Montagu who noticed the slight difference between these birds and their cousins, the hen harriers.

In 1802 he was compiling a book about birds and noticed the small distinctions between them. Hen harriers were then much more common and were present all the year, particularly in the north of England and Scotland.

The males of each have silver-grey upper parts with black wing tips, but the underparts of the hen harrier are white while those of Montagu’s harrier are striped with reddish-brown. Montagu’s harrier also has a black stripe along each wing.

The adult females are both brown on their upper parts and each has a white rump, thus making positive identification very difficult. Both the male and female Montagu’s harriers are slightly smaller than their cousins, although in each case the female is the larger of the pair.

Both species follow identical means of feeding with the male dropping its prey in mid-air to be caught by the female as she flies below, rolling over in flight to catch it with her talons.

At the time I made those notes, hen harriers were much more plentiful due to the legal protection they were then enjoying. A few centuries ago, hen harriers were extremely common throughout mainland Britain but were considered a threat to domestic poultry and game birds. The birds and their nests on the ground were therefore destroyed at every opportunity with the result that they became almost extinct in this country around the time of the Second World War.

When they became legally protected, their numbers increased, and they could be seen in Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales. Some years ago, I spotted a male hen harrier on the moors above Rosedale in North Yorkshire, but now the situation has changed again with the birds once more under threat.

This time, it is not entirely due to persecution, but the problem arose due to a harsh winter last year followed by a shortage of prey, and this resulted in a fall in their numbers with only six nests being recorded this year. These nests produced a mere 15 chicks.

It seems these handsome birds are very vulnerable to bad weather, with only ten nests being recorded in 2008 and 14 the previous year.

These figures were provided by Natural England, the Government’s own conservation body.

However, illegal killing of hen harriers on grouse moors has not been ruled out and it is hoped that organisations like Natural England, the RSPB and the British Association for Shooting and Conservation can work together to ensure their future.

PLANS are being made to redevelop the famous Lord’s Cricket Ground in London, with the MCC apparently going ahead to seek approval for sponsorship of a muchmodernised and expanded stadium.

The MCC were swift to point out that any changes to the ground would not extend to its famous name. The ground is quite literally the spiritual home of cricket and there is no doubt any plans to change its name would cause controversy among traditionalists.

What is not widely known is that Lord’s is named in honour of a man born in Thirsk.

He was Thomas Lord and the place of his birth is now Thirsk Museum on Kirkgate, almost opposite The World of James Herriot. The museum is not open all the year, so it is wise to check if you wish to pay a visit.

Thomas Lord, sometimes known as Tom, was born in that small house on November 23, 1755 and died in Hampshire on January 13, 1832 aged 76. He became a noted player of cricket especially as a bowler – he could bowl both slow and fast.

It seems he did not live long in Thirsk for the family moved to Norfolk where he was educated and learned to play the sport. His family was well connected – being once wealthy while in Yorkshire they had lost all their possessions because they supported Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745, a decade before Tom’s birth.

From Norfolk, Thomas moved to London where he distinguished himself as a bowler with the important White Conduit Club, but he did not establish his name due to sporting prowess. He was asked by the Earl of Winchelsea to find a new place for the club and, with support from important friends, he secured some land at Dorset Square. Lord opened this as his first cricket ground in 1787; it was enclosed and he charged sixpence for admission with the Kirkleatham is a rare quirk of Viking history THE beautiful village of Kirkleatham, just outside Redcar, is famous today for its museum and its stunning woodland.

However, its name demonstrates that its fame, albeit always local, stretched back many centuries into the past.

Certainly, there was a Kirkleatham in the 12th century when it first appears in writing as Kyrkelidun.

But there was very likely a Kirkleatham before that in the tenth century when it was a Viking stronghold on the dangerous east coast. Working backwards, leatham is a purely geographical term.

It comes from the old Viking word hleothum meaning ‘by the slopes’. The reference is apt and marks the foothills of the Cleveland Hills that begin here.

The first part of the name is more pedestrian but, in its own way, more interesting.

Kirk is the Viking word for ‘Church’ giving us the Church at the Slopes, the old name for a parish caught between the heights and coastal plain.

What is interesting, though, is that most Viking names in the region, and there are many, date back to a period when the Vikings’ first reaction to a church would have been to burn it.

We can assume that this particular church was built or rebuilt then in the tenth century when the Vikings of the North-East were slowly and painfully being converted to the cross.

As such, Kirkleatham is one of the last memories of the missionary stations of the North-East.

From these brave men of God went out to the farmhouses and through the fields bringing the Gospels to a people who had spent much of the previous century slaughtering monks.

newly-formed MCC playing there.

This remained an important location for cricket until the surrounding area became run down and the haunt of criminals, so Lord moved his ground to a new site at St John’s Wood in 1811.

This was not so popular as Dorset Square but when the Government decided to route Regent’s Canal through the ground, Lord moved yet again, this time to the present venue. The date was 1814 and the ground remained in the possession of Thomas Lord until 1829 when he sold it to William Ward.

In 1830, Thomas Lord moved to a farm in Hampshire and lived there until he died in 1832. Even if his famous cricket ground is given a new name, it will be forever linked to his birth in that small house in Kirkgate at Thirsk.

SUNDAY is December 6 which is the feast day of St Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor who is said to have inspired the image of Father Christmas.

Santa Claus is a corruption of Saint Nicholas, and in some European countries the children will receive presents on that day.

One curious custom associated with this feast day was the enthroning of boy bishops.

They held office from December 6 until December 28 (Holy Innocents’ Day). It is thought this practice may have been linked to the Roman Saturnalia when it was customary for servants and their masters to exchange places during festivities or it might be a reminder of the young Jesus addressing doctors in the temple.

The boys were dressed in bishops’ vestments and took part in all services that did not require an ordained priest. They were assisted by other children and on the final day of their duty preached a sermon and blessed the congregation.

During the Reformation, King Henry VIII abolished this custom although it survives in other countries and in some English churches.

One curious fact is that if a boy died while holding office, he was buried with all the ceremonial of a genuine bishop.

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