With the wind still whistling around our ears last Thursday, I arrived at Church Point to collect Paul and Alex for a mini-safari around Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland.
Red-breasted Mergansers flew by at our first stop, as Alex’s sharp eyes picked out a Roe Deer, eying us nervously from the opposite bank of the river before vanishing into the undergrowth (the deer that is, not Alex!). More Mergansers were displaying (quite a comical act), as were a pair of Great Crested Grebes, including ‘dancing with weed’ – that could conjure up some odd images 🙂 Meadow Pipits were picking their way along a grassy field, Wigeon were grazing, a single Long-tailed Duck stayed distant and spent much of it’s time underwater and Tufted Duck, Gadwall and Goldeneye demonstrated that you don’t need to be colourful to be attractive.
Despite the weather, and the late arrival of many of our summer visitors, one pair of birds seemed oblivious to the conditions. A female Marsh Harrier fought against the breeze before dropping out of sight, only to reappear again as a male, who we had watched hunting at some distance, flew over with prey. The female rose ahead of him, and as he caught up with her he tossed the love offering through the air and into her talons. Harrier food-passes will always be one of my favourite wildlife spectacles. The raw emotion and the invisible connection between the birds, following the arc of the food item as it travels between them, is just very, very special.