Having had 2 blanks on my last 2 visits to Welwick, I was begining to think I ought to turn my attention to something different especially seeing as there are some pretty cool birds around at the moment.I thought though, out of them all which one would I like to get a decent shot of and the answer came back-pallid harrier.

So off I went this morning after negotiating some icy roads I got to Welwick at about 7.30. There were 4 short eared owls in flight as soon as I got there but they soon disappeared. I took up a new position although there is nowhere really any good for first light at Welwick.

I waited until about 10.30 and there was no sign of the pallid and I contemplated moving on. However it was a nice morning so I went back to my favourite place and by now the sun had moved round so the light was a bit better.

There was a single marsh harrier and a few large flocks of waders but other raptors were pretty thin on the ground.

I could see a distant harrier moving across the saltmarsh and slowly but surely it got closer. My theory had worked and I managed to position myself close enough to the bank and under the cover of a bag hide for the harrier to come within about 40m. It was in view for a total of about 5 minutes and never showed again until at least 1.00 when I headed for home.

I'm quire happy with these shots but light wasn't brilliant, shots were under exposed, it could have been a bit closer-maybe next time.