Yesterday, Alan saw 4 marsh harriers together, three in the air and one perched. Caroline’s review of her photos confirms that we had 5 marsh harriers present throughout November (following 4 in September-October) – 2 distinctively marked adult females (3CY+ types) and 3 1CY bird
Today I found 4 individuals – the two adult females, and 2 1CY birds – one ♂ one ♀. Didn’t see all 3 1CY together, not sure of gender of third. In cold SE winds, they usually fly high and fast towards the end of Starman’s Hall and then slowly drift back downstream to the low air over the reedbed, occasionally getting close enough for a half-decent picture. At one point, the two women were buzzed by a female merlin while flying E – the merlin took off from some willows, then continued to hunt alone. In the last three months, we have recorded 9 raptor species in Corse – marsh, ringtail hen, red kite, buzzard, peregrine, kestrel, merlin (♂ and ♀), sparrowhawk and goshawk.
Fewer ducks are on display now, but the juv whooper is still in the same place with its adopted family of mutes. The skin is increasingly littered with spare parts of the starling, thanks to the barn owl, which Caroline encountered the other day.
1CY – ♀ according to size and build
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Typical view! (here are 2 ads ♀♀). There is always a crow.
Juv whooper with 2 mutes
