Marsh Harrier, quartering
Circus aeruginosus
Marsh Harrier · Dungeness · 20 December 2025
A Marsh Harrier banked low over dry reed at Dungeness in December, the cream crown catching what little winter light there is. Marsh Harriers are birds of big reedbeds across Europe, and the Kent marshes hold a good share of the British population all year.
Harriers hunt by working a beat back and forth over the same stretch of marsh rather than stooping from height, a few feet up, wings held in a shallow V, until something below breaks cover. The face is part of the equipment: harriers have a dish of stiff feathers around the eyes, like an owl's, that funnels the sound of a vole in the reeds to the ears.
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