At Foulshaw Moss, they can be easily seen from a raised viewing platform that was erected especially to observe such birds and wildlife. Hen harriers rarely fly in wet weather, but in dry conditions the birds spend much of the day on the wing. Each day, you can best see them at day-break searching the same ground.

In the breeding season, hen harriers are to be found on heather moorlands of Wales, northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. In winter, they move to lowland farmland, heathland, coastal marshes, fenland and river valleys because of the shelter and protection from predators that such habitats afford. At Foulshaw Moss, they live in the open area with low vegetation. During winter evenings, you can sometimes see numbers of birds congregating at communal roosts.

John Dunbavin, Reserves Officer for Foulshaw Moss, said “Although the birds do not breed on Foulshaw Moss, the nature reserve plays a vital role in supporting the species throughout the winter months. It is a fantastic opportunity to see one of these graceful birds in a wild part of south-Cumbria”.

The hen harriers will probably be leaving Foulshaw Moss during March and returning to their upland breeding areas to stay there until August and September.

The hen harrier is one of the UK’s most intensively persecuted bird of prey and illegal interference of hen harriers is considered the number one wildlife crime by the police and government. 

Males hen harriers are a pale grey colour and females and immatures are brown with a white rump and a long, barred tail that give them the name 'ringtail'. They fly with wings held in a shallow 'V' shape, gliding low in search of mainly small birds and mammals to eat.

Females are responsible for looking after their eggs and chicks when they are young, and for the first five weeks of nesting they spend most of the time on the nest. During this time, males provide nearly all of the food required by both adults as well as the chicks. Males returning from a hunting trip deliver food to their mates in a spectacular aerial manoeuvre called a ‘food pass’. The male can drop food for the female to catch in mid-air, she sometimes swinging upside down beneath him to take the prey from his feet into the grasp of her own talons.

Foulshaw Moss is owned and managed by Cumbria Wildlife Trust and is located south of Kendal on the Kent Estuary, near Witherslack.