At least five chicks have hatched in the secret Northumberland nest of Britain's rarest bird of prey.

But with the extra hours of daylight of this week's Summer Solstice, the protection team watching over the hen harrier nest will need to be extra vigilant to protect the brood.

The harrier task force - co-ordinated by the RSPB, Forestry Commission, National Wildlife Crime Unit and Northumbria Police - has mounted a guard on a pair of the hen harriers nesting in Tynedale.

Photographs of the chicks have been taken from a surveillance camera which is monitoring the nest.

With only 15 hen harrier nests known in the whole of England this year - only three of which are outside the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire - the project team is delighted the Northumberland pair has hatched out so many chicks.

Phil Curtis of the RSPB, who is organising the nest protection scheme, said: "This is better than we could ever have hoped for. Before we started the round-the-clock nest guard we know that one clutch of eggs had vanished from a first nest, and a female hen harrier disappeared from a second nest.

"We are delighted that our watch over this third nest has helped the harriers and that despite some atrocious weather recently the chicks have hatched out. With the arrival of the chicks and the long daylight hours, it's more important than ever that we maintain the 24-hour guard on the nest over the coming weeks.

"We will continue to watch over the nest and now that the male bird's favourite hunting areas have been identified, we will be monitoring his movements further afield as well."

Tom Dearnley, Forestry Commission regional ecologist, said: "It's fantastic news that the chicks have successfully hatched. There'll be some hungry mouths to feed over the next few weeks, keeping their parents busy.

"So it's vitally important we do all we can to ensure the birds remain undisturbed. We're eternally grateful to all the volunteers who have signed-up to watch over the nest. The prospect of seeing some beautiful young hen harriers take to the skies over northern England will be a just reward for their hard work."

The first nest was built by the current male bird and a different female but the eggs disappeared from the nest.

Police are treating the disappearance of the eggs as suspicious and a potential offence under the Wildlife & Countryside Act.

The pair started to nest again, but this nest was abandoned after the female bird disappeared. A different female arrived on the scene and the new pair finally settled down to nest.