Seymour Birdies Diary: Checking Up On The Harriers

13th June 2024

Time for a visit to Fowlmere to see how the Marsh Harriers are getting on. On my last visit it appeared that the adults were feeding young in the nest and I therefore expected that the young would fledge about the middle of June, but the first juvenile was seen on the 8th June so a little earlier than I had expected. Marsh Harriers fledge in two stages. Initially they leave the nest but often fly no more than 10 yards and stay within the vicinity of the nest for the next few days. Then they become free-flying and venture further afield, although still reliant on the adults for food. So just a matter of waiting to see what is going on.

As is often the case there were a couple of support acts, a female/juvenile Blackcap and an adult and juvenile Reed Warbler.

The juvenile Reed Warbler spent the whole time pestering the adult for food.

But back to the harriers. The first bird to put in an appearance was the female which flew across the reed bed and then left the site and did not return while I was there.

A little later the male flew in with some prey and dropped in to the nest to feed the young.

Then it did something quite unusual. Instead of leaving the site to hunt it flew to the right of the mere and started hunting there, something I have never seen befoe.

It would appear it found a family of young rodents as it would take one back to the nest and then return to the same spot to collect another.

Nice the see the bird with a different background

So what about the juveniles? Well there would appear to be just one.The eggs are laid every 2-3 days aand incubation starts with the first egg so the juveniles are 2-3 days apart in fledging. The first juvenile was seen on the 8th June and today is the 13th so if there was a second juvenile it should have appeared by now.

However, the juvenile was certainly enjoying its new-found wings and was flying quite strongy, but generally returning to the nest area.