I've not seen a Montagu's Harrier in my home county of Essex, so I was eager to try to see this one if possible. Brian picked me up early this morning and we headed towards Blue House Farm. Following the pin dropped on the birdguides map, put us on the wrong side of the River Crouch, but we decided to walk along the river's edge to the pillbox and scan the area from there. As we approached the pillbox a Wood Sandpiper flew up and landed a little further along the shoreline. A Green Sandpiper and a Greenshank were also seen before a Buzzard was found sitting atop a distant tree, and we watched a Sparrowhawk take a Woodpigeon. Two Marsh Harriers were quartering the distant field before Brian picked out a ring-tail harrier. I didn't manage to see it, so we walked another mile hoping it would pop up again. It didn't so we decided to drive round to Blue House Farm car park and walk the bank on the north side.
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| Signage at the car park |
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| One of many fields to scan |
It was a walk of two miles before we reached a small group of birders already scanning for the harrier. We had watched several raptors before the female Montagu was seen. It was high up in the sky in the company of a Buzzard. It drifted past the marina and was lost to view. We waited it out and were rewarded with much closer views as it hunted the grassy area close to us along the sea wall. It then drifted across the river and again disappeared from view. Before heading for home I picked it up again hunting along the grass bank on the south side of the river.
