Over the weekend there was a degree of confusion at Welney WWT. First of all, it was reported that a Montagus harrier was hunting on the reserve. These are breeding birds in the UK but only in very small numbers and so would be eminently twitchable. Then it was reported that the bird had been re-identified as a hybrid between a pallid and a hen harrier. Hen harriers are a commoner bird, although disappearing at a rapid rate near any grouse moor. Pallid is a rare migrant into this country. A hybrid however is not tickable for both of them so the excitement level dropped. Finally after some photos were obtained of the underwing pattern it was determined as a juvenile Pallid harrier, the best of all results. Morning therefore had me on the road east towards Welney. The weather was clear but blowing a gale so it could be interesting trying to pin down a bird that hunts on the wing.
The reserve opened at 9.30 and I was first into the main observatory. By 9.40 about 6 of us were scanning the marsh. In Winter it is flooded and covered in swans but now it is very dry with a few pools concentrating the waterfowl. The rest is scrubby fields and brush. Within only a few minutes we picked up two harriers in the far distance. One was clearly a marsh harrier but the other was a lot smaller. As it banked you could see the "ring-tail" or white-patch on its rump. This was almost certainly the pallid. It was miles away though and not wanting to come closer. Myself and another birder broke ranks and yomped down the river to the Lyle hide, about 10 minutes away, risking of course it coming past us in the other direction. When we arrived there was no sign of any harriers.
It wasn't devoid of birds. A family of cranes were feeding in the field and the odd marsh harrier did fly past on the strengthening wind.
Finally though we got onto a smaller bird hunting at some distance - clearly a raptor, banking and drifting over the reeds and grass, ring-tail showing and when it turned into the sun it almost glowed orange! This was our target.
In case you are wondering, they are not building a new housing estate behind the reserve, it is work to shore up the river bank and stop the nearby village from flooding! Gave a lovely back-drop for the photos.
As we waited the bird came closer an closer as it searched for its brunch. It was now around 10 and I spent until 2.30 in the same hide. The harrier would go on circuits, sometimes on the far side of the reserve, others quite close to us. Sometimes it disappeared for 45 minutes but would finally be picked up again. It was being very fair, coming close to pretty much all the hides at some time or another giving everyone good views.
With sun behind us, the colours in it really stood out. With the wind getting stronger all the time it was challenging both for the bird and for us trying to photo it. Going into the wind it almost stood still but when it turned with the wind behind it put a spurt on! That together with it always being low made tracking it pretty tricky.
What made being in the Lyle good was that there was a pool, or two connected pools, near us which is kept coming back to, trying to catch ducks and waders right in front on us.
I'm not sure how a good a hunter it is though. We never saw it catch anything close to us, but it did drop down a few times further away from us, presumably having got a small bird or mammal.
We had a steady stream of admirers caning into the hide, al of whom left happy, especially with the really close views of the cranes in front of the hide. The decoys fooled more than one person!!!
It was a stunning bird and carried on putting on a good show over the afternoon although you had to be quick to catch it close. Just the sight of it quartering the fields was spectacular though.
Apologies for so many photos but you don't get to see a bird like this to often, and certainly not in perfect light. Another great day out at a wonderful reserve. If it stays I may well go back for another bite of this cherry.
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