One of six chicks born to Britain's rarest bird of prey has been killed by a train, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) announced this weekend. The young Montagu's Harrier had been hatched alongside five others at a secret location earlier this year.
The bird was initially tagged and tracked by satellite as it began its natural southward migration to Africa for the winter. However, conservationists became concerned when the bird's tag indicated a death in England, while separate location data suggested rapid movement along an east-to-west railway line.
Assistance from rail officials led to the discovery of the harrier's body, confirming it had been struck by a train. "The tag was still in perfect working order, enabling us to locate and recover her body," said Mark Thomas, RSPB species lead for the bird, adding that the incident highlights the unpredictability of working with the species.
Montagu's Harriers, named after British naturalist George Montagu, were recently placed on a 'red list' of birds most at risk in the UK. Numbers have declined significantly, with a period between 2020 and 2024 showing no evidence of breeding. This year's six fledged chicks from two nests offered a glimmer of hope for the species' survival in the UK.
The RSPB has taken measures to protect nesting sites, including keeping locations secret and installing protective fences against predators. Last year, four chicks successfully fledged from the same farmland site, and three of them returned to Britain this summer. The father of this year's chicks, identified by the ring AU, was first ringed as a chick in Wiltshire in 2016 and appears to have returned to breed for the first time since 2019.
Another juvenile, ringed HV, successfully migrated from Britain through several European countries before reaching France. A different juvenile was recently sighted flying over RSPB Minsmere.
Montagu's Harriers are long-winged migratory birds that breed in Europe and winter in Africa. They typically nest on the ground in agricultural fields, making them vulnerable to farming activities. "This is a species right on the brink, and climate change is not helping that," Thomas noted. He explained that earlier harvests, like the one this year, can increase the peril of nests being inadvertently destroyed by farm machinery.