Some standing water: mallard, wigeon and greylag near the hide. 13 greylag feeding on the damp meadows upstream (beyond the pine trees), plenty of snipe on the fen meadow and a small party of 25 golden plover flew over. I was just thinking it was a bit quiet when a beautiful male hen harrier sailed E along the S edge of the reedbed, putting up around 200 snipe in the space of half a mile. It crossed the reedbed and dropped out of sight on the far side roughly below Corseside Farm.
The first male hen harrier I've seen there this winter. No sign of marsh harrier today.
