HARRIER HARASSMENT

Last hour of daylight was spent on the Reeveshall seawall on Saturday 29th. There was no mud on show along the Pyefleet as the walk coincided with high tide, pictured above.

What was really handy were all the marsh harriers flying over the marshes and saltings of Reeveshall, also along the Pyefleet but mainly over Langenhoe Point, disturbing all the other birds wherever they went. The main concentration of marsh harriers was just at sunset when six female / immature birds circled and tussled with each other above the reedbed of Langenhoe Point. Not quite sure what the collective term for harriers is but a "harassment" of harriers sounds very suitable. The harrier tally for the afternoon was probably about eight birds.

One of the early harriers to cross over the reedbed flushed out about 50 shelduck into the air. On Reeveshall a female crossed over a field where 1000 golden plover and 500 lapwing had been roosting. Up they all went with big flocks dispersing over to the nearby Pewit Island in the Pyefleet Channel. A little while later, a second harrier over Reeveshall was pursued by some carrion crows which was eventually forced to drop the small prey item it was carrying. In this case the harrier was being harried!

There was only a brief view of a single male marsh harrier quartering the reedbed at the back of Reeveshall, before it disappeared over some fields. Another female harrier was seen leaving Reeveshall for the evening roost on Langenhoe and on its way, it just happened to pass over Pewit Island where lots of waders and wildfowl were gathered.

The golden plover and lapwing made up the bulk of the birds but small flocks of dunlin, redshank, oystercatcher, wigeon and teal, all rose into the air as the harrier passed by.
There were several small groups of wigeon and teal scattered along the Pyefleet during the high tide.

The Reeveshall pool was deserted although a dunlin and redshank were seen checking the area out. No sign of any twite on the nearby saltmarsh and the only small birds noted were 3 skylarks, one rock pipit and a reed bunting.

Walking through the Shop Lane wood at the end of the walk, a sparrowhawk swooped swiftly into the cover of the trees as the light began to fade.