The past 20 years has seen a perilous decline of an already tiny English hen harrier Circus cyaneus population, to leave it barely clinging to existence in England. A 2011 joint survey of the English uplands by the RSPB and Natural England found that only four nesting pairs of hen harrier had successfully raised young. This is believed to be the lowest population in England since they recolonised in the 1960s following extinction in the late 19th Century. A 2010 hen harrier survey recorded an estimated 646 pairs of hen harriers nesting in the UK and the Isle of Man, down from an estimated 806 pairs in 2004.
Source: The Clitheroe Advertiser, 8 December 2011
http://www.clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk/news/four_steps_from_extinction_1_…
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