Spent most of the day today advising BAA on what to do with a 1st summer female Montagu's Harrier that is frequenting the grass strips adjacent to one of its major UK airports - an interesting day !
The following is a comment about this bird from raptor expert Dick Forsman -
This bird is a rather typical 2nd cal yr female Monty. This individul can best be identified by its head-pattern: The pale collar is far too broad for Pallid, there is a lot of white around the eye, and the dark ear-coverts spot looks isolated and does connect with bill and gape, as in Pallid. Most of the 2nd cal yr female Monties would look just like this one, and because of their prominent pale collar they are more than often mis-ided as Pallid. Also the body moult is typical of imm. Monty, with lots of new feathers on neck and upper breast, while Pallids tend to show very little moult, or no moult at all, turning upin spring in a nearly all-juvenile plumage.
This evening at Broom a 1st summer Little Gull and the Grasshopper Warbler is singing again.
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