A total of 28 hen harriers have fledged from nests in the North East in what could be a lifeline year for a species threatened by extinction in England.
They are part of a breeding season which, for the first time in over 100 years, has seen more than 100 hen harriers added to the English population.
Nine nests in Northumberland produced 26 youngsters and another two fledged from three nests in County Durham. Nationally, there were 119 successful fledgings across uplands in County Durham, Cumbria, Lancashire, Northumberland and Yorkshire. Seven of the nests were in the North Pennines.
