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Bowland Beth: The Life of an English Hen Harrier
The story of the short life and tragic death of Bowland Beth – an English Hen Harrier – which dramatically highlights the major issues in UK conservation.
‘The sun was blood red as it broke the horizon and lit the communal roost where the female hen harrier had spent the night. She watched the other harriers as they left to go foraging for food out on the moor. She didn’t join them, for she had felt a quickening in her body, an urge to move to Mallowdale Pike, a rocky crag from where she had fledged nine months ago. After preening, she lifted off from the roost and soared up over the fell.’
David Cobham enters Beth’s world to show what being a hen harrier today is like. He immerses himself not only in the day-to-day regimen of her life, the hours of hunting, bathing, keeping her plumage in order and roosting, but also the fear of living in an environment run to provide packs of driven grouse for a few wealthy sportsmen to shoot.
The hen harrier is seen as a totemic species in the battle between the conservationists and ruralists, and as one of the key players in this emotive debate, David Cobham is uniquely placed to reflect on Beth’s story. In this powerful narrative, he provides us with a profound tale which helps to illuminate the larger implications of the species’ decline, highlighting the urgent need for conservation efforts to reverse this.
‘The sun was blood red as it broke the horizon and lit the communal roost where the female hen harrier had spent the night. She watched the other harriers as they left to go foraging for food out on the moor. She didn’t join them, for she had felt a quickening in her body, an urge to move to Mallowdale Pike, a rocky crag from where she had fledged nine months ago. After preening, she lifted off from the roost and soared up over the fell.’
David Cobham enters Beth’s world to show what being a hen harrier today is like. He immerses himself not only in the day-to-day regimen of her life, the hours of hunting, bathing, keeping her plumage in order and roosting, but also the fear of living in an environment run to provide packs of driven grouse for a few wealthy sportsmen to shoot.
The hen harrier is seen as a totemic species in the battle between the conservationists and ruralists, and as one of the key players in this emotive debate, David Cobham is uniquely placed to reflect on Beth’s story. In this powerful narrative, he provides us with a profound tale which helps to illuminate the larger implications of the species’ decline, highlighting the urgent need for conservation efforts to reverse this.
- GenresBirds
208 pages, Hardcover
Published August 10, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 11, 2021
A plea to end the hen harrier persecution in England.
David Cobham weaves the story of Bowland Beth, a satellite-tracked hen harrier, with the history, conservation, and the possible future of hen harriers.
Bowland Beth's passages are told from her perspective, which reminded me of Ice Walker: A Polar Bear's Journey through the Fragile Arctic, The Otters’ Tale, and The Last Wolf.
David Cobham weaves the story of Bowland Beth, a satellite-tracked hen harrier, with the history, conservation, and the possible future of hen harriers.
Bowland Beth's passages are told from her perspective, which reminded me of Ice Walker: A Polar Bear's Journey through the Fragile Arctic, The Otters’ Tale, and The Last Wolf.
January 8, 2020
Sad how greed drives the death of so many things. This book was a stark reminder of the impact we have on wildlife, hardly ever of which is good.
February 6, 2018
Read it, get angry, and help join the movement to stop the illegal persecution of a beautiful bird.
October 26, 2023
4.5 stars. This book was published in 2017, so I'm interested to go away now and read updates on the progress of the Hen Harriers in England.
This book definitely pulled at my heartstrings and it was a fascinating insight into a bird that I didn't actually know too much about but have always longed to see.
I'll definitely be looking to read more about them.
This book definitely pulled at my heartstrings and it was a fascinating insight into a bird that I didn't actually know too much about but have always longed to see.
I'll definitely be looking to read more about them.
September 22, 2024
"Beth was a beautiful bird, an amazing bird. Her story is remarkable. We should be celebrating her life now, tracking her sons and daughters. We grieve that she was cut down in the prime of life. I hope she has not died in vain."
I think we can say that that hope has not been entirely in vain in the 7 years since this book was written. Hen Harrier numbers in England have risen since then, although the first article I saw on opening Google after finishing this book was about another drop again in the number of nests in 2024 due to illegal persecution. There were 25 breeding nests in England this year.
Hen Harriers are known to predate red grouse chicks. Gamekeepers are tipped/bribed to kill them by a certain class of people who like to pay thousands of pounds a day to shoot the grouse themselves, and don't want harriers affecting their sport. At the worst point in 2013, Hen Harriers were extinct as breeding birds in England.
Volunteer teams have to guard Hen Harrier nests in shifts round the clock, using thermal imaging to watch them at night. The book describes it as an arms race, between the sophisticated satellite tracking of conservationists, and state of the art weaponry of gamekeepers.
Earlier this year, Scotland introduced a bill so that a licence is required to manage land for driven grouse shooting. We desperately need something similar in England, as well as more wildlife crime officers.
This quote from the book struck me - "I would not think any bird of prey safe in Nidderdale. The whole of North Yorkshire has had the worst persecution record of any county in England or Wales over the past 25 years."
As someone from Yorkshire, what a depressing statistic. Hen Harriers are such beautiful birds. I don't know how anyone can bring themselves to kill them. I would love to see one in the wild some day, if there are any left.
The book ends with the poem "Bowland Beth" by David Harsent, which is beautiful. I'd recommend reading the whole poem online.
"That she made shapes in air
That she saw the world as pattern and light
moorland to bare mountain drawn by instinct
That she’d arrive at the corner of your eye
like the ghost of herself going silent into the wind
...
That the gunshot was another sound amid birdcall
a judder if you had seen it her line of flight broken
That she went miles before she bled out."
I think we can say that that hope has not been entirely in vain in the 7 years since this book was written. Hen Harrier numbers in England have risen since then, although the first article I saw on opening Google after finishing this book was about another drop again in the number of nests in 2024 due to illegal persecution. There were 25 breeding nests in England this year.
Hen Harriers are known to predate red grouse chicks. Gamekeepers are tipped/bribed to kill them by a certain class of people who like to pay thousands of pounds a day to shoot the grouse themselves, and don't want harriers affecting their sport. At the worst point in 2013, Hen Harriers were extinct as breeding birds in England.
Volunteer teams have to guard Hen Harrier nests in shifts round the clock, using thermal imaging to watch them at night. The book describes it as an arms race, between the sophisticated satellite tracking of conservationists, and state of the art weaponry of gamekeepers.
Earlier this year, Scotland introduced a bill so that a licence is required to manage land for driven grouse shooting. We desperately need something similar in England, as well as more wildlife crime officers.
This quote from the book struck me - "I would not think any bird of prey safe in Nidderdale. The whole of North Yorkshire has had the worst persecution record of any county in England or Wales over the past 25 years."
As someone from Yorkshire, what a depressing statistic. Hen Harriers are such beautiful birds. I don't know how anyone can bring themselves to kill them. I would love to see one in the wild some day, if there are any left.
The book ends with the poem "Bowland Beth" by David Harsent, which is beautiful. I'd recommend reading the whole poem online.
"That she made shapes in air
That she saw the world as pattern and light
moorland to bare mountain drawn by instinct
That she’d arrive at the corner of your eye
like the ghost of herself going silent into the wind
...
That the gunshot was another sound amid birdcall
a judder if you had seen it her line of flight broken
That she went miles before she bled out."
November 25, 2017
Entertaining, informative and enraging, this book intersperses a literary narrative based on the true life and death of a satellite tagged hen harrier, with facts and figures relating to the crisis facing this species in England at the present moment, where it has been persecuted to near-extinction by grouse shooting interests. It is beautifully illustrated throughout.
July 23, 2019
The novella insighted a sense of beauty that is natural to the life and flight of raptors. I ache for the loss of our great british wild birds, and pray that those better prepared can help these beautiful creatures. The poem at the end made me weep
November 3, 2017
*Disclaimer: I was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*
Beautiful and sad in equal measure. The story is a mixture of personal story and illustrating what Bowland Beth's life might have been like, mixed in the facts from the satellite tagging data and interviews with Hen Harrier watchers and conservationists. I felt the way Bowland Beth's life ended so suddenly and out of the blue really illustrates the tragic loss of life these birds face. I think the tale feels especially cruel because she was killed by humans rather than by the forces of nature (red in tooth and claw). It was also frustrating, as you witnessed her begin her life, and then it was cut so short.
I feel the book does try and illustrate the pressures on game keepers, to artificially keep the numbers of grouse unnaturally high, and so there is a pressure to try and prevent predators removing weaker birds, because they are so valuable for the shooting business. It would have been good to have some interviews with game keepers to better understand their motivation (as most people don't deliberately break the law). If a dialog is possible maybe a compromise could be reached, like diversionary feeding, or even just subsidising the game keeper for any lost birds and giving bonuses for breeding pairs and increases in Hen Harrier numbers on or near their land. Then the birds have a value and so are less likely to be eradicated (similar to the proposed changes to rhino conservation, so the horns could be sold and so local people have a financial incentive to breed and protect the rhino).
This book was beautifully illustrated, and the feel of the hardback cover is beautiful. Sometimes the contrast between the interpretations of Bowland Beth's life and factual interviews and data and sometimes a little discordant and jarring, but it overall works well. I would recommend this book to anyone working or interesting in conservation, nature lovers, bird fanciers, anyone living in the countryside and even to younger adults. This would be a beautiful gift and really helps explore the challenges faced by this beautiful species in modern Britain.
Beautiful and sad in equal measure. The story is a mixture of personal story and illustrating what Bowland Beth's life might have been like, mixed in the facts from the satellite tagging data and interviews with Hen Harrier watchers and conservationists. I felt the way Bowland Beth's life ended so suddenly and out of the blue really illustrates the tragic loss of life these birds face. I think the tale feels especially cruel because she was killed by humans rather than by the forces of nature (red in tooth and claw). It was also frustrating, as you witnessed her begin her life, and then it was cut so short.
I feel the book does try and illustrate the pressures on game keepers, to artificially keep the numbers of grouse unnaturally high, and so there is a pressure to try and prevent predators removing weaker birds, because they are so valuable for the shooting business. It would have been good to have some interviews with game keepers to better understand their motivation (as most people don't deliberately break the law). If a dialog is possible maybe a compromise could be reached, like diversionary feeding, or even just subsidising the game keeper for any lost birds and giving bonuses for breeding pairs and increases in Hen Harrier numbers on or near their land. Then the birds have a value and so are less likely to be eradicated (similar to the proposed changes to rhino conservation, so the horns could be sold and so local people have a financial incentive to breed and protect the rhino).
This book was beautifully illustrated, and the feel of the hardback cover is beautiful. Sometimes the contrast between the interpretations of Bowland Beth's life and factual interviews and data and sometimes a little discordant and jarring, but it overall works well. I would recommend this book to anyone working or interesting in conservation, nature lovers, bird fanciers, anyone living in the countryside and even to younger adults. This would be a beautiful gift and really helps explore the challenges faced by this beautiful species in modern Britain.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews