It was over in seconds. High over the grouse moor two hen harriers wheeled slowly around each other before, suddenly, the female darted underneath her mate to catch a freshly caught meal dropped from his talons and took it back to their chicks.
“That was a food pass,” said David Frew, the property manager of Mar Lodge, a vast Highland estate near Braemar in the southern Cairngorms. “You’re really lucky to have seen that.”
On many grouse moors in Scotland, hen harriers struggle to survive. The ground-nesting bird of prey is often shot, trapped or even poisoned to protect valuable grouse stocks from predation. On these shooting estates, the sight of a harrier, eagle or buzzard wheeling overhead would be a sign of failure.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: ‘Eagles need to eat too’: grouse moors take new approach to shooting | UK news | The Guardian