The geographic area covered by the Manchester Raptor Group is the county of Greater Manchester.
The Manchester Raptor Group was formed on 1st January 2011 by the amalgamation of the Mossland Barn Owl Conservation Group (established mid 1990s) and the Manchester Peregrine working group, both led by the same group of enthusiasts.
The new Group will also be responsible for Peregrine ringing throughout the county of Greater Manchester, as well as Barn Owl nestbox installation, checking, and ringing. All this work is done under Schedule 1 licences.
Essentially, there will be no change in the status quo as it has existed in the last five years, but the formation of a Raptor Group enables data from Greater Manchester to be fed into the Northern England Raptor Forum, and in turn, should specialist advice be required they are able to provide it. Should we require any grants, the new group will be well placed to apply for them, as a member of NERF.
Membership of the group is necessarily small and by invitation only, restricted to those who have a practical skill essential to the group, or who are undertaking studies of particular species. We liaise with other groups working in the county whose work may impinge on ours.
Abseiling to ring a peregrine chick
Photo: Judith Smith
Barn owl chick ready for ringing
Photo: M. Killelea
Northern England Raptor Forum 