Monarch of the marsh
Could an increasingly common raptor help save the endangered water vole, something it would also dearly like to eat? Julian Hector heads to Norfolk to meet this most regal of birds.
As soon as I arrived at Sculthorpe Moor I was immersed into a mature wood of Osier, a type of willow that thrives in marshland. Criss-crossed by dykes and channels this osier carr was clearly a wooded island on the edge of a sea of reed. Inside the wood the humidity was high, allowing dripping greenery to cascade off the branches and many of the trunks and boughs were coated with thick, soft velvety moss.
The wood had its own acoustic too. To a back drop of shrieking woodland song birds, every now and then the harsh cronk of a golden pheasant echoed around the woodland giving it an air of depth and mystery. Standing quietly on the edge of a barely flowing dyke I just knew I would see something special.
Rare in the extreme
Sculthorpe Moor Nature Reserve is run by the Hawk and Owl Trust. It nestles in the county of Norfolk on the eastern bulge of England. I was with the reserve's warden, Nigel Middleton, who with the eyes of a naturalist, could tell a few stems of grass on the far bank had been nibbled.
And then there it was; swimming purposefully across the still water, a bow wave generating little splashes on its face, a wet tail trailing in the water and that earnest expression of a dog doing the doggy paddle. This was 'ratty' - the water vole - rare in the extreme, but it shouldn't be.
Reed bunting at Sculthorpe
We emerged from the filtered light of the wooded island onto the edge of a reed bed. The light now was bright and only filtered by the thin milky clouds. The reed in April is still largely last year's growth, as tall as a man and topped with a sickle-shaped head of seeds. New arrivals from Africa buzzed and rattled with their song. The sedge warbler at this time of year, together with other songsters also just in from a long migration, are riddled with testosterone, blinded by the quest for sex and oblivious to our presence.
The icon of East Anglia
It happened when I least expected it to. My gaze was fixed across the gently swaying reed tops, I must have been looking for many minutes. And then emerged a bird with such grace and control I was transfixed with breath-taking wonder.
This was a bird that could do beige with style. My memory is of creams, light tans and darker browns, wings that were big, and then big again. A small body, long naked legs and, that most poignant of features, the concentration of a killer and the hooked beak of a hawk - this was a marsh harrier.
Nigel knowing the spiritual experience I was enjoying quietly told me this is 'the icon of East Anglia', the monarch of the marsh.
Marsh Harrier at Sculthorpe Reserve
Marsh harriers are rare for two reasons, in the past they were persecuted to oblivion in the region and secondly, they are top predators. Nigel and the Hawk and Owl Trust have clearly arrested the decline in this species on Sculthorpe Moor and proudly boast one or two breeding pairs.
Over the next hour or so, both male and female birds emerged from the reeds. They displayed in the air with their characteristic tumble turns and screeches. The male went on recces around his kingdom looking for any other individual who might have a desire to dethrone him.
Appointed monarch
Get it right for marsh harriers and it’s right for everything else in its web of life.
Julian Hector
Rarity, in a true ecological sense, is not bad. Top predators cannot live all the time in big flocks, herds and colonies. By their very nature they are at the top of the food chain and they hunt, seek and cherry-pick the cream of the productivity beneath them.
Sculthorpe couldn't sustain many pairs of marsh harriers. And neither should it. Rarity gives this bird its iconic status, its conspicuous solitude makes it the emblem of the wetland. And by being the appointed monarch it represents all the other plants and animals that are part of its marshland domain.
Get it right for marsh harriers and it’s right for everything else in its web of life. So the marsh harrier is helping to save the water vole, something it would also dearly like to eat.
Julian Hector was in Sculthorpe to record the sounds of the reserve and interview Nigel Middleton for Radio 4 programme The Living World: Marsh Harriers.
Published 29 May 2009
Julian Hector
