BoP around the clock!

27th March

Although the weather has been grand of late, there are still a few patches of snow lingering from the weekend.

Another beautiful day of weather that looked good for raptors turned out to be just that. A ringtail Hen Harrier was hunting over Gilsetter in the early morning, but was not seen again. Later in the day, Susannah found a magnificent adult male Hen Harrier over Kirki Mire. It was seen again briefly at Da Water then, whilst Susannah and I were chatting at the Plantation trap, the Hen Harrier appeared a few metres away, grabbed a Blackbird, perched for a short while then headed north with its prey. Although unfortunate for the Blackbird, it was a superb sight to witness.

Sadly I just had my 'snappy' camera with me when the Hen Harrier put on its show, although you can still make out the Blackbird clutched in its talons as it ghosts up the road.

There was no sign of the Marsh Harrier today (sadly for those who predicted it for the prediction competition, which doesn’t start until 1st April!), but the raptor theme continued with the first Sparrowhawk of the year. Another addition to the year list came in the form of two Grey Wagtails over Mavers Geo early this morning, whilst the first Golden Plover and Snow Bunting for a while also appeared amongst the scattering of lingering birds.

With Assistant Warden Will Miles arriving back for the start of the season today, and the weather set to remain good for a while (with the possibility of a slightly stronger easterly wind), I suspect there’ll be a few more birds to report in the next few days.

As the BBRC is now assessing records of 'Black-bellied' Dipper, we are trying to find details of our old records to submit. We've got photos or descriptions of the birds in 1984, 1985, 1986, 2000, November 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2011 but that still leaves 24 records unaccounted for. If you have any information on them (sketches, notes or photographs), I'd be grateful if you could send copies to the Obs please.