A Pallid Harrier. A what? An average of 2 sightings per year in the UK, I believe. One was seen and photographed and posted on Facebook on Friday, and it was confirmed as a Pallid Harrier by people who know about these things. Yesterday I went to the area it had been seen (about a 20 minute walk from where I'm staying). I saw one obvious twitcher and little else.
This morning I went back - the tide allowed me get there via the beach. There were already people visible on the road through the golf course (not moving, so not golfers). As I was getting closer, I saw 3 people pointing very long lenses at a point above my head, and silhouetted against the sky was a bird of prey. The three twitchers, who had come the hundred miles or so from Glasgow that morning, confirmed that it was indeed the Pallid Harrier I had seen.
I stayed about an hour chatting to various twitchers, gazing into the distance - at one point it was on a very distant fence post and visible using a powerful telescope, and from time to time it would fly about a bit, but little more than a distant spot unless you had powerful binoculars.
As I was making my way back via a headland, a bird flashed past me, about 30 ft away before disappearing into some trees some distance ahead, and I'm pretty sure it was the one. I got a good view and it matched pictures online (although most but not all pictures are from below and I saw it from above).
