Hen Harrier - a rare visitor to Beeley Moor

 I watched this adult female Hen Harrier for over 30 minutes hunting above and below Harland Edge this morning. At the end of this period it climbed until it was a dot in the sky and did two steep swoops, the classic 'sky dance' for which the male Hen Harrier is well known, before drifting off west.

An occasional breeding bird in Derbyshire it has suffered from persecution in many parts of its former range in England and there are typically less than 20 pairs nesting in northern England each year.

Why a lone adult female would be on Beeley Moor in June is a good question. It is perhaps an unpaired bird or a failed breeder from further north.

Hen Harrier - female