As millions of people tuned in to the BBC’s recent Springwatch series, Glasgow’s own small-screen wildlife stars made their own TV debut as the live camera pictures roll at the Clyde Muirshiel hen harrier viewing project, near Lochwinnoch.

While armchair wildlife watchers were treated to fantastic views of hen harriers from Islay during the three-week series, they can now get out and see them for themselves at the Muirshiel Visitor centre - just half an hour from Glasgow city centre.

The project is part of the RSPB’s Aren’t Birds Brilliant! Initiative and gives visitors a unique opportunity to experience the day-to-day lives of one of our rarest raptors through breathtakingly close CCTV camera footage live from Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park. So far, the hen harrier family consists of four chicks and one egg, and staff and visitors alike are already glued to the screens to watch how this new young family develops.

Already this season, this project has allowed visitors to see TV highlights from previous years as well as encounter the harriers at first-hand on guided walks with the help of RSPB volunteers and Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park Rangers.

The hen harrier still remains one of our most threatened birds, although changing attitudes and projects such as the Clyde Muirshiel hen harrier viewing are helping to reverse this trend.

RSPB information officer Kirsty Norrie is looking forward to the weeks ahead. “We’ve already seen some amazing display flights or ‘sky-dancing’ from the Clyde Muirshiel hen harriers on our guided walks this year and with the live cameras now rolling, it’s a great chance for people to experience their own piece of Springwatch right outside Glasgow.”

To make it easier for visitors without their own transport, there will be a free bus running to Muirshiel Country Park from Lochwinnoch each Saturday until 23 July. So with the live pictures rolling it will be ‘Brilliant Birds by Bus’! The bus leaves at 1pm in time to join the 1.45pm guided walk. To book places on the bus or guided walk, telephone +44 (0)1505 842 803. Further information from www.rspb.org.uk/brilliant