A Couple of Hours with the Marsh Harriers

26th March 2022

Spring is certainly here now with several Chiffchaffs singing and just a single male Blackcap which kept well out of sight high in a tree.

The Marsh Harriers were reasonably active, the male mostly out hunting while the female sat around in the reeds interspersed with a few flights to collect reeds for the nest from the piles of cut reeds conveniently left around the place by the volunteer work parties. Here is a collection of the shots I managed to take.

So still no sign of last year's male and probably getting a bit late now, but the nest seems to be progressing although no sign of incubation yet.

And back on the subject of the best photographs being taken in the car park, we were just enjoying our traditional pre-departure coffee when my attention was drawn to a commotion above our heads and looked up to see a tussle between a pair of Red Kites and one of the local Buzzards. How good is that?

One of the kites returned to perform a victory lap.

Meanwhile a Muntjac had appeared in the field, apparently unaware of our presence, and once spooked raised its tail as an alarm to others.

Since this visit the female harrier has been aged as a 2CY bird so the combination of 2CY and 3CY birds is not too promising for a successful breeding outcome. Also the adult male has now returned but so far is not interfering with the young pair, so WATCH THIS SPACE!!!