Right place, right time

Some birders seem to have all the luck when it comes to finding birds. For once, this afternoon, I was in the right place at the right time; having heard that Jason Reece had had the Ring Ouzel at Kilvington again, and fortunately having packed my scope in the car this morning, I decided to call by the site on the way home for a yeartick. I arrived at about 5.15pm, and went to the seat/sightings board to view across. The first thing I saw was some corvids hassling something on the other side of the West Lake; through bins it was a male harrier, Hen-like, but it had long, narrow wings... And it was heading north. 

I scrambled to get my scope on it, quickly noting a number of features including a black band at the base of the secondaries, and chestnut striping on the underwing coverts/ axillaries. Boom! Montagu's Harrier. I had left my camera in the car, but fortunately had my iPhone, which I hand-held to my scope to get some record shots, taking 30 pictures in quick succession. Unfortunately none show the underwing at all well, but the final shot in the sequence captured the upperwing nicely, and another shows the darker body/inner wings contrasting with the paler outerwing, with the black bands just about discernible.

It then dropped out of sight behind some vegetation. I had seen two other birders viewing from the gate on the road when I arrived (one of whom was Richard Challands, the other @snowboundsheep), so as soon as it did so I rushed in their direction. Unfortunately they'd been too focussed on the Ring Ouzel (which I subsequently saw) and had missed the Monty... I felt bad, and unfortunately there was no further sign of it by the time I left the site at 18.40. 

Interestingly, there was another male Monty seen in the Midlands today, at Napton in Warwickshire, at around midday. The distance, as the harrier flies, is around 55 miles, easily coverable in 5 hours or so. Same bird?

Back to yesterday, and I had a quick look at Collingham, catching up with the Knot on Mons Pool (Ruff, Dunlin and Whooper Swan also present), and 2+ House Martins over Ferry Lane Lake.