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Since 11th December my local patch has been blessed by one of the rarest raptors in the UK - a Hen Harrier. In this case it is one known as a "Ringtail" owing to the horizontal black bars on it's tail. This name is given to either an adult female or a juvenile (the adult male is pale grey and white with black wing tips) and this one has been identified as a juvenile, probably male. Hen Harriers are now extremely rare and no longer breed in England due to persecution by Grouse shooting interests, although they still breed in Scotland and fly south to English marshes in the Winter.
I have seen this bird at least a couple of dozen times and successfully photographed it before (with an OMD) but today's light was going to be good so I visited the patch again. As usual the bird is often put up by marauding Corvids which tend to harass it for a while and as it is concentrating on averting a collision it is less wary of humans, although it was still at least 100 metres away.
Being raised from the reed bed by a Crow:
Aerial combat:
Looking for prey:
With Canon 7D and EF400mm f5.6L
David
I have seen this bird at least a couple of dozen times and successfully photographed it before (with an OMD) but today's light was going to be good so I visited the patch again. As usual the bird is often put up by marauding Corvids which tend to harass it for a while and as it is concentrating on averting a collision it is less wary of humans, although it was still at least 100 metres away.
Being raised from the reed bed by a Crow:
Aerial combat:
Looking for prey:
With Canon 7D and EF400mm f5.6L
David
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