Easter Feaster: Bunny & The Pallid Harrier

The fug of a long day at my desk demanded an energetic response: a ride up the coast for another look at the Hoopoe which had arrived earlier in the week. A circuit of the embryonic Woodland View caravan park and old railway line north of Stirrups Lane peaked at a Black Redstart. In the distance, a familiar figure: Peter Ransome heading along the coast road in pursuit of Hugh Pugh, too. I joined Peter in another fruitless circuit before we mustered at the entrance to the rapidly developing site (sidenote: caravan sites are singularly ghastly affairs; rebranding as ‘lodges’ does nothing to enhance the charm beyond Stalag Luft III POW camp cosplay. The great escape, indeed. And to each, his own).

Whilst chatting, my attention was drawn to a grey harrier gliding in low from the west behind Peter. Bins up. Ghostly pale grey with wedge-shaped black wingtips. “Pallid Harrier!”, I exclaimed. Peter, too, noted the diagnostic feature. My D500 + Nikkor 500mm f/5.6 rig was swiftly deployed just before the harrier glided through the boundary trees of Broadland Sands. I took the obligatory ‘back-of-camera’ photo before news was broadcast on my Twitter feed and local birders’ group chat.

The fallow fields around Woburn farm were alive with larks and rabbits, with plenty of bunnies on view in the short, manicured sward surrounding the caravans across the coast road; an opportunity clearly not lost on the harrier.

The swift arrival of the vanguard of local birders ensured good coverage before the harrier reappeared in the same field towards Stirrups Lane. As the Pallid flew low along the old railway line, it was clear it had succeeded in capturing a rabbit. Flying through the trees with its dinner, we lost it as it went to ground to feast on its Easter bunny.