It’s that time of year again when we’re very excited to announce that Marsh Harriers have once again bred at our Weymouth reserves, but this they’ve gone one better... We’ve actually got two pairs!
Since 2009 we’ve had a male bird which has successfully nested with several different females over the years and in some, managing to bag himself two in same season. At the time that was something we’d never really expected and in fact, joked one year about the possibility of two nests. In recent years we’ve joked about the possibility of two distinct pairs on the Weymouth reserves and earlier this spring we started to realise that this was actually a strong possibility. We’re now very pleased to announce that we’ve not only got two pairs but we’ve got two pairs with chicks! We don’t know how many yet, we’ll have to wait until they fledge which will be another few weeks but very exciting news none the less.
So why are two pairs better than two nests from the same male? Well, we’ve always been a little worried that our whole Weymouth population replies on one individual male who attracts in females during the late winter and early spring. He’s now at least 7 years old which isn’t particularly old for a harrier but if something was to happen to him we could loose our breeding Marsh Harriers from Radipole and Lodmoor. However, with the appearance of a new male who’s nesting at Radipole, it makes our population much more stable. Our Radipole bird is a younger male so will hopefully stick around for years to come.
The Radipole birds are real easy to see, the North Hide provides the perfect vantage point to watch these amazing birds. Weekends up until the end of July, we’ll have volunteers stationed at the hide (11am-3pm) to tell visitors about the birds and hopefully show you these impressive predators. See you soon!
Thanks for the update Luke.