Bird of Prey, Flying High

Two of the Rutland osprey family (photo taken through binoculars)

Back in the haze of early August, Rose's parents took us to BirdFair at Rutland Waters. We only had a ticket for the Saturday so on the Friday we went to look at the ospreys nesting there. Rutland is one of only two sites in England where ospreys nest, so it's a truly rare treat.

We went into the hide we'd been directed to and it was packed full of eager birdwatchers. Usually these places are empty or maybe there's someone in the corner patiently waiting with a telephoto zoom lens for a sighting of something interesting, but this hide was full of osprey fans.

The ospreys' nest was out across the waters on a raised plinth and there were a few more platforms where the family of five could sit and hang out and eat their prey. We watched them for a while as they flew around and hunted and whenever they did something interesting, like swoop down into the water for a fish, there was a burst of shutter clicking from the photographers in the hide like paparazzi. 

At one point there was a red kite in the sky, really high up. We only knew because someone else pointed it out. It was so high you couldn't see it with the naked eye. Only through binoculars.

Then this other bird came along. It was big, probably as big as the ospreys, maybe slightly bigger. From a distance its colours were dark with a light head. The ospreys didn't like it being in their territory and a few of them flew out to chase it off. It was like a kind of passive aggressive show of strength in numbers, no direct violence, just suggestions to the intruder that maybe it should go.

We didn't know what this trespassing bird was. The man next to me didn't know what it was either. I asked one of the more experienced and well-equipped bird watchers, and he said it was a female marsh harrier.

An example of a female marsh harrier (taken by someone else)

A week or so later, I was at work in the bakery, weighing up the farmhouse, and François was playing Fatboy Slim songs on his iPod. That song came on, the one with the sample that goes, 'bird of prey, bird of prey, flying high…in the summer sky' and it reminded me of seeing all those majestic birds at Rutland and it gave me a real thrill of happiness.