Hen Harrier

Identification

A slim, long-winged, long-tailed raptor built for low, slow flight rather than speed. The male, sometimes called a grey ghost, is pale silver-grey above with black wingtips and a clean white rump that flashes on every turn. The female is noticeably larger, brown above with a barred tail and, crucially, the same white rump patch — that white block at the base of the tail is the surest mark for identifying either sex or a juvenile at any distance. The face carries a slight owl-like ruff of stiff feathers around the eyes, an aid to hearing prey in dense cover.

Hunting is done on the quarter: the bird flies low over heather, reeds or stubble in a slow zigzag, tilting and banking frequently, then drops suddenly onto prey it has heard or seen. Voles and mice dominate the diet, along with meadow pipits, skylarks and young waders, and it will take carrion in hard weather. In winter, birds gather at communal roosts in marshes and rough fields, sometimes several dozen together, arriving at dusk in ones and twos. The call is a fast, dry chattering that accelerates into a scolding rattle near the nest.

Upland moorland is the classic place to look, and spring is the best time to watch the male's sky-dance — a steep roller-coaster display flight over the breeding patch. In winter, shift attention to lowland marshes and coastal grazing levels, where roost-watching at dawn or dusk gives the best views. Persecution on managed grouse moors has left the species thinly and unevenly distributed across much of its European range.