ON THE WILD SIDE
Birds of prey back to stay
I THOUGHT I’d highlight some of our rarer species of raptor this week – and there are few as awe-inspiring as the harriers.
Harriers are enormous raptors that almost disappeared from Britain due to persecution and pesticides, but thankfully they are starting to claw their way back after a bumpy few decades!
Three species of harrier call the UK home, and I’d like to take a little time to talk about each of them.
In all our species it is easy for even an amateur to spot the difference between a male and female, but identifying them from other raptors can be tricky for the unfamiliar.
Harriers are large birds with long tails who all hold their wings in a distinctive “v” shape in flight.
The largest of the three species is the marsh harrier. The marsh harrier is a bird of bogland and reedbeds, and loves nothing more than flying low over reeds and catching frogs, fish, small mammals and birds. Once so persecuted there was only a single pair left in the whole country, they have now thankfully grown to a small population of around 1,000 birds. The female marsh harrier is brown all over while the male has a silver tail.
You still have to be lucky to see one, and they are localised to a few low coastal wetlands, except in the summer when a few can be found breeding in the highlands of Scotland.
The hen harrier is the medium sized of our three harriers, and the most common. They range over more of the UK in the winter, so are the most often seen then. The hen harrier is a little different from the marsh as he is a hunter of birds. Their favourite places are open country where they can catch pipits, but when there are no pipits they will happily take grouse.
The female is streaked brown and cream with a barred tail and white bottom, while the male is completely bright silver-blue with black wingtips.
The last, smallest of our harriers is Montagu’s harrier. He is a rare summer visitor and only around 10 birds nest here every year. Another silver male, but speckled with brown underneath, he was named after… you guessed it, ornithologist George Montagu.