Barn Owl and 2014 Marsh Harrier "LD"

A very pleasant, if windy, evening with a confiding  barn owl at Dunsby Fen in the late afternoon of 19th December. There seem to be a lot of voles about, as the owl made three kills in about 20 minutes, quickly eating them all on the ground where they were caught (probably to avoid the aggressively kleptoparasitic kestrels on the site). Barn owl number seem to be much better than last winter, but the short-eared owls are pretty scarce. A single SEO briefly showed on the rough grassland to the west of French's Farm just as darkness fell, and hopefully there will be more later.

Two peregrines in the area, an adult male and a juvenile female, several passes by a female sparrowhawk at the linnet flocks in the game crops and the wing-tagged marsh harrier that has been around for a while. Fortunately, I was able to grab a few distant shots that gave us a readable code - she is female marsh harrier "LD," ringed and tagged at RSPB Lakenheath Fen on 12th June 2104 and this was the first sighting of her since she left the breeding site. Poor pictures, as she never came very close, but good enough for a positive ID and adding a little to our knowledge of this species as it slowly claws its way back from extinction in the UK.