Harrier Delight at St. Mary's

Today we went to the lighthouse again to see if we could see the Brent goose for the first time and the sanderling again. As soon as we got there we were greeted by rock pipits (4), starling (10+), turnstone (5+) and a pied wagtail all on the beach. As we ventured further on we saw a curlew, a redshank and some oystercatcher (5+). That was all however down on the beach. So we left and we noticed a big black goose on a bank at the opposite end and it turned out to be the Brent goose we were looking for!

So we left the beach and had a look on the lagoon. There was loads of different ducks such as: Teal (40+), Mallard (40+), Wigeon (5) and one rare duck... a gadwall. We looked away from the lagoon and had a look across a field where we had seen a kestrel flying overhead and hovering so we went and look. No sign of it today. But, we looked across the field and noticed a bird of prey which at first had us baffled. It was about the size and shape of a red kite but without the forked-tail. I took a picture as it came closer and when we got home and had a look on the RSPB website we found out we had been watching a female Hen Harrier!

Gadwall

Teal

Rock PipitHen Harrier