A Pallid autumn

"There it is!"  An excited group of birders and photographers stood on the Lancashire Mosses near Croston today searching for a Pallid Harrier across a wide landscape of fields and farmland.  The western face of Winter Hill, the most northern point of my own 10km circle for birding, formed the backdrop with stormy skies and warm November sunshine alternating like a landscape scale strobe as the gloriously orange form of the juvenile Harrier twisted in mid-flight and dropped into head height set aside vegetation.  Hundreds of Linnets spilled out of the immediate vicinity, and the odd Yellowhammer fled.  A crow buzzed the location where the Harrier rested, but in another hour of searching, there was no further sign.  My aim - to get some reasonable photos of a Pallid Harrier - had been failed.  In all other respects this was a significant sighting.

Autumn 2026 has been remarkable for Pallid Harriers in the UK.  As well as long-staying individuals on Shetland from August, there were sightings in September and October in London, Cornwall, Northumberland, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, West Sussex, East Sussex, Wiltshire, Kent, Lancashire/Greater Manchester, Caithness, Aberdeenshire, Glamorgan, Carmarthen, Orkney and Anglesey.  Some of these are mobile birds in more than one location across September and October, but even taking that into account, there have been a lot of sightings of a bird that traditionally breeds in the far east of Europe across the former USSR states and into central Asia, and which winters in sub-Saharan Africa, India and at its closest, Tunisia.  Taking into account a small number of breeding records in the last two years from the Netherlands, perhaps some passage migration across the UK is to be expected, and certainly the range expansion suggests that Pallid Harriers are moving towards a colonisation of the UK.  

Before this year, I had seen two Pallid Harriers; one very distant bird at Warham Greens in Norfolk, and one incredibly close in at Kilnsea.  When a very orange Harrier was reported at Marshside on 27th September I initially assumed it was linked to the sightings of a small number of Montagu's Harriers that have fledged in the UK for the second summer.  I was excited by this - my sole Montagu's in the UK was at Marshside in August 2025 and I'd love to see another.  However, it was quickly apparent that this was a Pallid Harrier, and I spent the following day there to observe the Pallid hunting distantly over Crossens Out Marsh, making the odd flyby the back of the sand plant.  My photos were hopeless, but recognisable, and we also clocked what seems to be the first ringtail Hen Harrier returning to winter on the saltmarsh.  On the day I bumped into Danny, a new birder I've seen at Pennington Flash a few times, and we marvelled that he'd seen Pallid Harrier before Hen.  

Five days later I received a message from Danny saying he thought he'd found another Pallid Harrier, but this time near Belmont Reservoir on the Manchester/Lancashire border.  I was dubious at first - the chances of the bird having relocated roughly 15 miles (it was reported from from Hesketh Out Marsh at 12.19pm on October 3rd while Danny was seeing it at 12.58pm at Belmont) in 40 minutes is very unlikely.  Unless one of the sightings was in error, this was likely a second bird.  I asked him for some back of camera photos and he had absolutely nailed clear as day photos of a Pallid Harrier.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  I sent the photos on to a few more experienced birders for confirmation, and got a mixed response - a couple of people saying it was a juvenile Hen Harrier simply because they couldn't believe it was a Pallid at Belmont!  Enough people recognised it that a few local birders managed to connect with the bird hunting west of the reservoir just before dusk, and word went out: Pallid Harrier to roost near Belmont.  What a find for a new birder!  His response was brilliant: "still haven't seen Hen Harrier".

The following morning saw a large gathering of local birders on the pavement at Belmont Res intently searching through scopes but seeing nothing, until Bill Aspin clocked it on the shore, roosting on a clump of mud.  The juvenile Pallid flew up onto a tree on the island on Belmont and spent three hours being mobbed my Magpies which it steadily ignored, before hunting Snipe and Teal, and eventually vanishing over the moors.  I took some rubbish photos, and the discussion turned to whether it was a different bird from the Marshside one.  I'm useless at this kind of comparison, and my photos are the worst sort of Crimewatch photofit, so I'll leave that discussion to those with better lenses/eyes/knowledge than me.  The Pallid hung about for days, and was still being seen ten days ago on Winter Hill, but ranging across a large area - though perhaps these sightings were being confused by a larger number than usual of juvenile Hen Harriers moving through and flashing distant white rumps at the unwary.

November 1st saw the first report of a Pallid Harrier on Mawdesley Moss, the expanse of farmland in Lancashire that closely resembles the Mosses where I spend a lot of time birding.  Reported the next two days, I decided I might try for a closer view of this bird.  Whether all the records in Lancashire have been one bird moving from Marshside to Belmont to Mawdesley, or whether there have been an incredible two juvenile Pallids in the county at the same time, it's been an absolutely incredible autumn for sightings of this gorgeous animal and no matter how many I see, I always seem to crave that bit more time watching them.  That my views today were very limited and distant is nothing to be disappointed with given the hours I've spent with harriers this autumn.  Incidentally, the number of Fieldfares, Redwings, Linnets, Bramblings, Chaffinches, Yellowhammers and Tree Sparrows I saw today was incredible - all these birds in habitat I routinely travel past to get to Martin Mere, Marshside and surrounds.  Perhaps there's a thing to learn in that.