Bruce Pearson marsh harriers sky-dnacing

Sky-dancing marsh harriers
North Norfolk, April 2009

(Above) A5 sketchbook spreads.

(Right) A3 sketchbook studies of sky-dancing marsh harriers. Both the female and male birds took to tumbling about swooping and diving down low across the reeds, which surprised me as I thought that only males pefomed this kind of courtship display.

But it was the males that climbed to the greatest heights and mewing loudly dropped with wings folded almost falcon-like, then pulling up and floating on the wind before dropping again and risng just as suddenly rolling over and twisting in the climb, with each manoeuvre losing height until ending with a sweeping pass over the marsh. Spectacular!

Return to Homepage

After a period of cold spring weather and some long studio sessions, there was an opportunity and a need a couple of weeks ago to get up to North Norfolk as a run of bright days were in prospect.

On the marshes at Burnham Norton there were tumbling lapwings, hares were active, and there were still flocks of wintering wildfowl. And every scrape of water had tight groups of avocets dipping bills and vigorously chasing each other - the changing seasons could be seen clearly in the landscape and wildlife.

But the most breathtaking evocation of spring showed in the displaying marsh harriers. With a large wingspan coupled with a low weight the birds have plenty of lift and is one of the main reasons they are able to perform their famous sky-dancing routines. It was difficult to judge but I concluded there were two males and three female birds active over the one small area of reed and tangled willows at Burnham Norton. The males often pair with two and occasionally three females, and pairs usually bond for a single breeding season but sometimes remain together for several years.