Sunday 27th September 2026
An afternoon trip to Marshside Marsh, on the south side of the River Ribble, with Malc was duly rewarded with great views of a dapper juvenile Pallid Harrier, which glowed in the autumn sun. This was, I think, my fourth in the UK; there was a time this species was one of those so rare it seemed like there would never be one. The increase in records, to the tens and more each year, is a reflection of the species' dramatic westwards expansion from the steppes of Central Asia. There are multiple pairs now breeding in Finland, and it seems now only a matter of time before there is a UK breeding pair and, possibly, colonisation. How different from the now functionally extirpated Montagu's Harrier (albeit with some slightly renewed success in 2026).
Aside from a couple of Little Egrets, the highlight was meeting a keen and confident kid lister and, more impressively, bumping into my old pal Julian Hough who was over from the US.
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