Jury still seems to be out amongst the boys on this morning's small ringtail harrier at Marshside - small ringtail Hen, or moulting female Pallid - it jiggered off in the direction of Martin Mere, where a small harrier was reported a week or so ago - intriguing........
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Hi John,
Saw the harrier this AM. Graham is submitting the record as Pallid, he's asked all who have seen it for any notes they may have.
What age was the bird, and what details were noted? Female Pallid Harriers must be turning up at least as often as males, but they could be easily overlooked.
Did anyone get any photos?
Harry
I scoped the bird in flight yesterday at ranges down to 700m for about 10 minutes. It's almost certainly an adult female, as it's in advanced primary moult. Several features strongly indicate Pallid, in particular heavily-barred, almost blackish under-secondaries, clear dark upper-breast with rest of underbody pale and unstreaked, and unbarred axillaries. Pale collar not particularly obvious, but range was long and bird looked somewhat worn! It was definitely not a Montagu's; quite apart from plumage features the hand was much too short..like a Hen Harrier..or a Pallid.
There was a 1st summer male monty's at Fenn's Moss for 3 weeks until a week or two ago. Only over the south Cheshire border