Hen harriers are coming in from northern Sweden and Finland. They are fine, large raptors that fly slowly over lonely fields and marshland, now making a few wing-beats, now gliding with their wings raised in a shallow “V”. They keep low, looking and listening out for voles and mice, and they go systematically across (or “quarter”) the ground over which they are hunting. About 500 pairs breed on the Scottish moors, but only a handful nest south of the border. However, the winter immigrants can turn up almost anywhere on occasion in the English lowlands. The females and young birds are seen more often than the males. They are a streaky brown with a narrow but conspicuous white rump, which has given them the name of “ring-tails”. The males are silvery-grey. A battle royal has been going on for years between the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the seasonal shooters of red grouse. The RSPB claims that moor owners persecute breeding hen harriers — which undoubtedly eat red grouse — but the accusation is hotly denied. Attempts to find a solution protecting both game-bird and raptor are constantly, though unsuccessfully, being made.