Bumper year for Marsh harriers at Leighton Moss
Marsh harrier facts
- Marsh harriers are medium-sized, slender hawks, the female being considerably larger than the male. They are characterised by long, narrow, rounded tails, small beaks and long, slender legs. The most notable characteristic is the owl-like ruffs of facial feathers that cover unusually large ear openings - an adaptation not for low-light hunting, but to locate prey by its rustling and squeaking in tall grasses.
- The largest UK breeding populations are on the Norfolk and Lincolnshire Wash, the North Norfolk coast and the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.
- Marsh Harriers can be seen easily at a number of nature reserves, including the RSPB sites at Elmley, Kent; Leighton Moss, Lancashire; Minsmere, Suffolk; Titchwell Marsh and Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk; Ouse and Nene Washes, Cambs, and Blacktoft Sands, Yorkshire.
- The bird is widespread elsewhere in Europe with an estimated 93,000-140,000 breeding females. It is also found across Asia and south into Africa.
- Most British marsh harriers migrate to western Africa for the winter although at least 100 stay all year, particularly in north Kent and the Norfolk Broads, where birds gather in impressive roosts.
- Marsh harriers feed on small birds and mammals, reptiles, fish and invertebrates.
Courtship is spectacular with male birds looping the loop and spinning through 360 degrees as they tumble from hundreds of feet up. Males release food in mid-flight with females turning upside down to catch it in their talons. - They lay between three and six eggs in nests hidden in dense reedbeds or crops such as wheat and oil seed rape.
July 2008. If you have ever seen a marsh harrier gracefully gliding over reeds or tumbling in the air and locking talons during a courtship display, you already know just how special these birds are. After 21 years of breeding at RSPB Leighton Moss nature reserve they are set to produce a bumper number of young this year. With four nests this summer, there could be as many as 24 chicks and the first young bird was spotted flying from the nest on Monday 30 June.
Jen Walker, the reserve's visitor officer, said: ‘Between now and mid August the young will leave the nests and often put on spectacular aerial displays while they practice flying and hunting for themselves -it's a great time to visit the nature reserve and watch them'.
Marsh harrier. Copyright David Mower
These rare birds of prey were once common in the UK's lowland reedbeds and marshes and were even found on upland moors until the 18th century. However Marsh harriers seriously suffered due to land drainage, persecution and pesticides and the marsh harrier eventually became extinct in the UK between 1900 and 1920. One pair then came back to an RSPB reserve in Suffolk in 1971 and with the help of legal protection and conservation projects the birds now breed in parts of Eastern England, the Cambridgeshire Fens, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Kent and even as far north as Scotland.
Richard Miller, the reserve's new assistant warden is really passionate about the future of our wetland birds "As well as continuing to manage the important reedbeds at Leighton Moss, we need to re-create new wetlands to further increase marsh harrier numbers and help other rare and threatened species such as bitterns".
Although marsh harrier numbers have recently been increasing, with an estimated 360 breeding females in the UK, they do continue to be at risk from persecution and egg collectors, despite the fact that it is illegal and has been for decades.
You can help the RSPB by joining the growing movement of people who say killing birds of prey must stop by visiting www.rspb.org.uk/birdsofprey. Alternatively, call in to your nearest RSPB reserve where you can sign a campaign postcard and find out more about how you can help.
Conservation
