IN recent years I have been helping some industries to work more closely with our wildlife.

I'm always delighted when I hear of this sort of co-operation.

The RSPB have recently been working with United Utilities to protect rare breeding birds of prey in the Trough of Bowland.

Many species have benefited but especially the hen harrier. A large percentage of the hen harriers found in England are found on land belonging to United Utilities (formerly North West Water) and the company has its own team of dedicated ecologists looking after the wildlife of the area.

Although the hen harrier rightly gets most of the publicity, the area around our reservoirs also supports buzzard, sparrowhawk, goshawk and a small colony of Mediterranean gulls.