An Afternoon with the Marsh Harriers

22nd July 2026

I didn't arrive on site until just before 12pm and made my way round to the Reed Bed Hide in an anti-clockwise direction on the off-chance that some Water Voles were showing. No luck there but I did find a few Cinnabar Moth caterpillars on their food plant Common Ragwort. When I was a kid we used to call them caterpillars with football jerseys on.

Now in the Reed Bed Hide and the first bird to be seen was this Stock Dove that was perched on a post on the other side of the mere. In my opinion Stock Doves are grossly under-rated, often being dismissed as "just another pigeon". However their plumage is almost 100% subtle pastel colours set off by a couple of wing-bars.

Also on show today was this cracking leucistic Fallow Deer which was enjoying some fresh Phragmites. Leucistic Fallow Deers are not uncommon and there are about four in the local herd of about 25 deer that feed in the fields opposite the entrance to the reserve.

And with the size of the mere you would think there was enough water to go round, but the only two Little Egrets on the mere decided to have a territorial dispute.

Just a single Hobby today, an adult, which only stayed for a few minutes, but did manage to catch a sizeable dragonfly. Unfortunateley a bit too distant to be able identify the dragonfly, but you can see that its head has already been bitten off. 

So what about the Marsh Harriers? Well, ever since the juveniles fledged the female has spent more and more time off-site and only returns in the evening, leaving the male to feed the young. However, this is less important now as the young are starting to feed themselves. The male was not seen during the time I was there and only returned to the site without food just as I was leaving.

So all the action was left to two of the juveniles. At least I only saw two at any one time, or knew where they were. The whereabouts of the third juvenile was a mystery as you normally see all three together.

However those two certainly made up for it and put on a fantastic display during the afternoon hunting around the mere. Enjoy.

And like the adults they had selected their favourite perches..................

.......................but would sometimes land on the mud around the mere for no apparent reason.

Well what a fantastic way to spend an afternoon and some great company in the hide.