Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many hen harrier nests in the UK were located in areas where the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds had primary control over access in (1) 2015, (2) 2016, and (3) 2017; how many of those nests failed to have any chicks fledge; and what were the known causes of those nest failures.

Wildlife conservation is a devolved matter so this reply relates to England only.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has primary control over access to two known hen harrier breeding sites: the RSPB reserve at Geltsdale and United Utilities landholding in the Bowland Fells.

Between 2015 and 2017, eight nests were located on these sites, six of which failed to fledge young.

Further details including known causes of nest failures are shown in the table below.

There were no nests on RSPB monitored land in 2017.