A Couple of Hours with the Marsh Harriers at Fowlmere

13th May 2023

As is often the case these days the weather forecast was totally wrong and the afterrnoon sunshine never materialised and we were left with dark gloomy skies. Not ideal for photography but I was interested to see how the harriers were doing.

The female only put in one appearance and flew off the site to hunt. This year the area of the nest site is not visible from the Reedbed Hide and therefore not possible to say whether the male took over incubation duties whilst she was away.

The male  perched up for a while and although a bit distant did allow a few shots to be taken.

He then took off and did a few laps of the reed bed and then for whatever reason just folded its wings and fell to the ground in a stoop, the like of which I haver seen before from a Marsh Harrier. I can only assume that it spotted some prey and decided to have a go.

 

But the stars of the show today were the 8-10 Fallow Deer that came walking along the track the other side of the ditch outside the Reedbed Hide. They were very cautious but did come close enough for some shots, certainly the closest I have ever been to Fallow Deer anywhere.

What a fabulous way to round off the day!!!!