An unexpected Marsh Harrier morning
I went out for an hour or two in some lively winter sunshine with no great expectations of finding anything to photograph; the Waxwings were absent in the strong wind so I chanced a visit to the usual Marsh Harrier hide in the hope of a hunting bird but having already seen the adult female head off west earlier I was not hopeful. But sometimes luck prevails and not long after I set up in the hide the male came diving down in a display flight into the reedbed. Initially fairly distant he was nevertheless a fine sight in the low winter sunshine. Then he did a couple of circuits of the pit head down in hunting mode and luckily I still had the 2x converter on the 400 lens after the Smew. In the glorious light I managed more keepers than any Marsh Harrier session for a lot of years and what a stunning bird. Just look at all the shades of grey and brown. This seems to be the male that first bred at this site in 2021 as a presumed 3cy male with the old female. He has since been ousted by the original old male but still bred nearby in 2022 and 2023.
adult male Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus December 28th 2023
