TIGER of the WOODS

Follow a raptor monitor as she delves deep into the forests of Shropshire in search of a rare but particularly magnificent bird of prey: the goshawk.

- Katie Lloyd

It is late June and one of the hottest days of the year so far, but I’m wearing long sleeves, trousers and sturdy boots – clothing designed for biting insects and overgrown vegetation. My thighs burn from battling through the hip-high bramble which has, in the past couple of months, evidently flourished along the edges and rides of the woodland I’m standing in. Ahead of me, two juvenile treecreepers inch their way up the furrowed bark of a Douglas fir. Further up that same tree is a dark, straggly mass: a goshawk nest.

I’m in Shropshire, a hotspot for this magnificent raptor. This goshawk site is just one of 50 – and counting – regularly occupied territories that the Shropshire Raptor Study Group visits each year. Founded in 2010, the group surveys the local birds of prey and runs a colour-ringing programme to identify individuals from specific nests. As one of the 12-strong team, I help to monitor nests in my corner of the county. The data we gather, combined with that of other raptor groups across Britain, is allowing us to understand the status and ecology of these birds, and inform how they can be best managed.

Goshawks’ abodes are anything from 10-25 metres high so getting a decent view is not easy.