Last month the RSPB announced the successful fledging of six red-listed Montagu’s Harrier chicks from two nests at a secret location in England (see here).
The UK’s rarest breeding bird of prey, this year’s breeding success was down to excellent partnership working between farmers, birdwatchers and the RSPB.
Two of the six young harriers were fitted with state-of-the-art satellite tags to monitor their 7,000 mile migration journey to West Africa. These were two females named ‘HV’ and ‘FH’.
Sadly, ‘FH’ has already met an untimely end.
An update posted on the RSPB’s Meet the Montagu’s Harriers web page on 3 September 2026 reads as follows:
HV continues to make great progress and has now passed through Luxembourg and is just inside France! Will she continue south and avoid the Alps?
However, we also have some terrible news from FH. We were initially worried by a cold tag temperature, as this indicated that she was probably dead. But the data also suggested that she was rapidly moving between two locations around 30 miles part. Looking into it showed that these locations match those of a west to east railway line and, with the help of the staff, we have now located her body.
Sadly, FH had been struck by a train and carried along the route. The tag was still in perfect working order enabling us to locate and recover her body. This is a terrible shock for the team and just highlights the unpredictability of working with this species.
To follow HV’s journey, see the RSPB’s Monty’s web page, here.
Raptor Persecution UK 