Spotting a Hen Harrier in France

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Every single morning I wake up to something different here. The countryside is changing. Bleak lifeless landscapes have given way to vivid and turgid growth; Grasses, trees and wild flowers are now erupting.

We also enjoy a wide array of wildlife too. I have seen boar, deer, foxes, badger, owls, buzzards to name but a few.

Last Sunday I heard my first cuckoo and swallows have been here for a few weeks. One of my favourites though is the Hen Harrier. Although I have been seeing the bird flying low over the fields in the spring and summer for all of the time we have been here, I have only recently (through ignorance and laziness) learnt that it is in fact a male Hen Harrier.

This video was filmed late yesterday evening as he passed by on a regular hunting foray. Three times I spotted it yesterday but this was the closest pass of the house.

He will surely be feeding chicks now and be hunting regularly to feed them.

By the way, all of this activity could be observed from the Pigeonnaire terrace.

I have just returned from walking the dogs and as I left the house he was hunting again.