It was without doubt, the biggest treat for me as a birder, was to watch numerous Hen Harriers during the week on the west mainland of Orkney. Beautiful, graceful, stunning; these are just three words that could describe these fantastic birds of prey. I believe they are the only raptors to be still in decline in the UK with all of the others doing relatively well. This is almost exclusively due to persecution on the moors that they often share with Red Grouse. While it is acknowledged that they do take grouse chicks, I believe that is the presence of harriers on the moors that make grouse reluctant to fly when they are being driven by beaters for the waiting guns that make them even more unwelcome. After a serious decline in harriers on Orkney in recent years, the numbers are starting to recover - thankfully there is no organized grouse shooting there. Despite them appearing to fly quite slowly, I was amazed to see how quickly they can cover the ground; with just a twist of the tail and from being 50yds away, one could be half a mile away in no time at all. Below are a few pics from the week, again time limitations made me go for any shots I could. I was a little disappointed with the quality but just to watch these birds in the first place was enough. The first few were taken late evening close to the roadside at 9.30pm using 3200 ISO.......................
and a 'ringtailed', so called because in the autumn/winter, immature birds can be hard to tell apart from females - although this bird below is showing some grey in the upper wings it could be moulting in to a male plumage........................
.......just a shame it hadn't turned its head a little.
It obviously wasn't all birding for me and so most days we went out around the island. On one day we had a trip across to the island of Hoy as we wanted to see the sea stack called the 'Old Man of Hoy'.............
....no apologies for the squint horizon !
and my daughter Sula's idea of the 'Old Man of Hoy'.......................
(both the beard and hair have been cut since this shot - but it didn't take long)
Robbie
3 comments:
Great photos mate! I've not seen these birds myself for a few years now!!! (That male seems to be showing a touch of 'bling' too on it's right leg too!)
Cheers Dougie, we could do with a few up here. I was talking to one guy who said SEOs were now breeding on an Orkney island where there are no voles - hope for shetland yet !
Count me in for your return visit Robbie ('togs only :-) )
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