Geltsdale, The Solway and Northumberland ... a Skydancing Harrier

This is the season for returning to the uplands in the hope of locating breeding Hen Harriers with a view to giving them some protection from those who would wish them ill ... and for me it is my eleventh year of such activity following on from each successive winter of monitoring their roost sites ... the great prize in store for us Hen Harrier workers is to see displaying birds in the spring - sky dancing ...

I witnessed harrier sky dancing this week ... but not in the way I had hoped for ... I was in Druridge Bay and it was a male Marsh Harrier that I was watching ...

... a striking individual with marked contrast on the upper wing ...

... the female became active after having perched on the ground as the male sky danced above her ...

While in the Geltsdale uplands this week with a brisk westerly blowing a Buzzard was the only large raptor .. it flew low over the burn and rose only to gain a little lift before disappearing behind a bluff ... the Golden Plovers were vocal but flew very low to avoid the steady blast while a pair of Curlews performed a high level circuit of the valley ...

The Northumberland coast provided my first Sandwich Terns of the year as I overlooked Coquet Island and saw a few Puffins buzzing back and forth ... on the Coquet Estuary a pair of Sandwich Terns fished and courtship feeding took place ...

Avocets were active and vocal as ever at Cresswell Pond where a single White Wagtail fed distantly near the causeway ...

The day I picked to watch the Solway over the high tide failed to produce the expected westerlies and both skuas and Kittiwakes were absent ... a transitional plumaged Black-throated Diver was a nice but distant surprise along with several more predictable Red-throated Divers.

As the tide fell a spring plumaged adult Little Stint joined some Dunlins and other waders just east of the harbour at Port Carlisle ...