Raptor Fest

Today I returned to St Aidan’s Nature reserve, this time on my own, with no time restraints or worrying about any clients. The weather was a bit of a mixed bag, with sunshine and showers, but nothing was stopping me from enjoying this walk today. What an abundance of species, I counted at least 30, including Green Woodpecker, Dunlin, Spoonbill, Spotted Redshank, Great Crested Grebe, Little Egret and various raptors.

The highlight of the day was watching a Marsh Harrier hunting over the ridge and furrows field. Later the same Marsh Harrier was involved in some aerial acrobatics with a Peregrin Falcon, a Red Kite, a couple of Buzzards, and 3 Kestrels. Basically the Peregrin was attacking anything that moved, whether it was bigger than itself or not.

My target species for the day was a Little Owl by the visitor centre, but although it was showing for everyone else there was no sight of it for me. Guess that means that I’ll have to come back.