Highland Foundation for Wildlife

Marsh Harrier Migration 2004

2004 Research Project on Marsh Harrier

This page shows the fascinating migration of a young marsh harrier from the
Tay estuary in Scotland to Senegal and The Gambia. The battery of the radio ran out in March 2005 and the following entries detail the
 data  received throughout its amazing journey.

INTRODUCTION

In recent years we have tracked the migrations of ospreys and honey buzzards from Scotland  and results have been given on this website. Two other long distance summer migrant raptors now breed in Scotland in very small numbers, they are marsh harrier and hobby. For comparison, we are interested in their migration strategies, so this summer a young marsh harrier from the Tay estuary in eastern Scotland is being tracked by satellite radio and this webpage will update its migration.
My prediction was that marsh harriers had colonised from England and that birds would travel back down through England to cross into France and on south towards Africa, unlike the other two big raptors which sometimes take a south-westerly route through Ireland.

This is a partnership project between Steve Moyes and his colleagues on the Tay estuary and Roy Dennis of the Highland Foundation for Wildlife. We are very grateful to Steve and Joyce Moyes  and Harry Bell for offering the opportunity to carry out this new project and to Scottish Natural Heritage and the British Trust for Ornithology for the appropriate scientific permissions.
 

The Juvenile Marsh Harrier

Photo: Joyce Moyes

Details: Ring Number FP08669 Juvenile female, one of a brood
of five chicks ringed by Steve Moyes & group

Satellite radio: 20 gms Microwave Telemetry PTT 21197 fitted on 7th July 2004,
 when young weighed 780 gms and was in excellent condition and nearly ready to fly.

The radio was programmed to transmit at 6 day intervals until 7th August and from then
 transmit at a just over daily schedule throughout the migration. Early transmissions were
received from the breeding area on the Tay estuary.

The bird had moved about 4 kilometres towards Dundee on 7th August but returned to
the estuary on 8th, and started its migration that or the next day. Information will be provided below as the young female marsh harrier sets off on her first migration - we do not really know  what to expect and hope that she is successful.

Migration maps of this young harrier

Detailed map of migration, using the DMAP system

Wintering site 4828 kms from home!

Daily migration data received from satellite

Daily record of migration

On 8th August, the young harrier started its migration and surprised us by moving across  Scotland and was located in late morning of the 9th on the island of Bute.

Ian Hopkins, Rothesay, Isle of Bute went to look for the marsh harrier on evening (12th August) after he finished work. Earlier in the day I had telephoned him with details. After searching  the area around Loch Fad, he was returning to Rothesay when he saw the marsh harrier hunting over ripe barley fields near the loch at 8.10pm. It crossed the road near him and he was even able to see the radio aerial to confirm it was this bird. Ian says this is the first marsh harrier he has ever seen or known about on the Isle of Bute.

The bird remained on the Isle of Bute for 9 days (during a period of frequent rains and low  clouds), frequented various parts of the south of the island and apparently visited   Inchmarnock island off the west coast on 16th.

On 17th August we were very lucky with the transmission period because it covered the time  when the young harrier departed from the Isle of Bute, two hours later it was 42.5 kilometres  south a short distance to the east of the Isle of Arran.The next transmission is expected tomorrow evening when the bird will presumably be back on the Scottish mainland.

On 18th August, three transmissions between 5pm and 9.30pm came from the south-west  coast of the Isle of Bute near Scalpsie indicating that the bird had returned north after being recorded off the Isle of Arran at 2pm on 17th. This at sea transmission was of class 1 accuracy  signal indicating a location within one kilometre. Apparently a case of false starting.On 19th the bird was a little further north and west on the island of Bute, transmission was at 9pm  so she would have been starting her night time roost. Very wet weather still predominating in Scotland, although a change to clearer colder weather is forecast for the weekend with  northerly winds, which may encourage migration.

On Friday 20th the weather improved and when I flew south by plane that evening I could  see the islands of the Clyde right across to Kintyre and northern Ireland. The lochs on the Isle of Bute were shining in the evening sun and a class 2 accurate signal sent at 3.30am  showed that the harrier roosted overnight on a small hill east of Scalpsie Bay on the
 south-west coast of Bute. Next day in good weather, sunny, clear skies and light northerly  winds it flew 166 kilometres to the south crossing the Solway Firth into England. Early  Sunday morning 22nd, it was at Westward Park, just SE of Wigton and about 10 kilometres SW of Carlisle in Cumbria and must have roosted in that area overnight.

By morning of 23rd August, she had migrated a further 89 kilometres to cross northern  England and at 8am was at some small lakes just west of Blaydon, west of Newcastle  in Northumbria. Four hours later she was near Hadrian's Wall near Throckley. Her journey  is certainly taking her back and for across the country. Next day she was along the River  Tyne a little to the west and on 25th still outside the city but just a little further north.

A good signal on the morning, 30th August, showed that she was hunting along the River Blyth, just west of the A1 trunk road at Stannington just north of Newcastle. She had moved to this area on the 27th August. As before she has decided to stopover in this area, after the  journey from Bute, via Carlisle. 

Midday and early afternoon on 31st August, she was in open space just north-west of Killingworth junction with the A19 road, on outskirts of city. I wonder if any of the locals are seeing the harrier during her stay around Newcastle?

During the early evening of the1st September, she was hunting just south of the airport  but by dark she had moved to an area of lakes and marshes near Beacon Point, north of  Newbiggin-on-Sea. This is a journey of 25 kilometres but harriers are known to move to secure roosts before nightfall. This harrier is certainly exploiting a range of different areas.
Is she going back each evening to a favourite roosting site?. The radio has been set to transmit  at 22 hour intervals so on some days signals/positions are obtained for daytime and on others  for night.

Saturday 4th September. Position at 4.30am was near Whalton, north of Belsay, while after dawn she was along the valley of the river Blyth just south of Stannington. With high  pressure building over England this weekend I wonder if she will start migrating again after a 12 day stay around the north of Newcastle.

Sunday 5th September. A 5 am signal of the roosting bird was from the valley of the River Blyth, SW of Stannington . John Miles emailed to say that BirdGuides website reported a marsh harrier at Prestwick Carr, 5 kilometres to the south at 8.30am - it is a regular hunting and roosting site for marsh harriers. This could easily have been this individual.

Still living north of Newcastle - afternoon signals on 6th were north of Ponteland,  not far from Prestwick Carr, and also some kilometres over the NorthSea at 3pm  (but this was not accurate satellite fix) while signals on 7th were further north and by 6.30pm  were near Tranwell, south of Morpeth. At 7.30pm on 8th September the harrier was near  the River Blyth, SW of Stannington just north of Newcastle, presumably near its roost.

Last night I received the most accurate signal todate and the bird was again in the same area. She was within 300 metres of Bellasis Farm beside the River Blyth, SW of Stannington. This mars h harrier is clearly finding good hunting and roosting conditions along the River  Blyth and has now spent 18 days in the Newcastle area.

Overnight on 10/11th the harrier roosted near the River Blyth SW of Stannington, but  at 6.30am there was a signal 7 kilometres out to sea NE of Blyth. The next report was for  6.20am today 12th September and it was near Alnmouth, further north in Northumberland, but by 10am the harrier was again along the River Blyth valley near Belsay.

The following map shows the locations of the harrier around the west and north side  of Newcastle upon Tyne and the northerly location of Newbigging on Sea. 23 August - 10th September

NOTE: Peter Francis wrote to tell us that the harrier's favourite area along the River  Blyth, near Bellasis, is an area managed for pheasant and duck shooting as well as fishing  and is a good area for raptors. There are no sizeable reed beds but there are a few small  ponds and marshy areas. The farmland includes tall maize crops and he wonders whether  the harrier might be roosting in the maize. A couple of years ago a male marsh harrier spent the winter in the Blagdon/Prestwick area. Below are two sent bu Peter - we have reduced the memory size and quality to use it on the website.
 

Maize crops - river Blyth valley .................River Blyth valley looking east.

Photos Peter Francis

We hope that this harrier will continue its migration south!

On 14th September, transmissions started in the early afternoon when the harrier was  still near its usual haunts north of Newcastle, but by 3.45pm it was migrating into the  North York Moors, being located over Danby on Eskdale. The harrier continued migrating strongly southwards and by 5.30pm it was on the north side of the Humber estuary, just west of  the Humber Bridge. It covered 170 kilometres during the afternoon at a mean speed  of 42.5 kms/hour, although the latter part of the journey was at 48kms/hour.

I asked Peter Francis for a report on the weather conditions which may have encouraged  the harrier to restart its migration after 21 days around Newcastle. He reports " The  weather was good in Newcastle this morning with warm, bright sunshine and, I think, a  S/SW breeze (approx.10-15mph). By lunchtime there was a lot more cloud and the wind  had increased slightly and swung round into the NW bringing heavy showers in the afternoon.  It was also noticeably colder pm. p.s. A Marsh Harrier was reported from Prestwick Carr this evening so there is still at least one bird in the area". The change to colder northly winds was probably the stimulus. The first signal of 15th September, was poor quality from northern  France, and it was not until 1854GMT that an accurate signal showed that the young marsh  harrier had flown 453 kilometres south since the previous evening and had definitely crossed  the English Channel.

It was located in open country about 10 kilometres SSE of Abbeville  in northern France, near Allery, east of Oisemont. The local weather was isolated light  rain showers with a 18km/hr NW win d.A signal two hours later was one km further south
 so the bird was roosting in that area. After spending 3 weeks living around Newcastle this  bird has moved very fast to the south and may have flown continuously for ten hours. Looking at the map, the SSE track fitted exactly with the track heading of 14th, directly to the shortest sea crossing from England to France.

16th September 11pm first signal received - poor quality from near Vendome, north of Tours,  but a better quality transmission at midnight showed the harrier was in open country, about  20 kilometres NW of Blois, probably near the River Cisse. This is a journey of 260 kilometres  for the day. The new map shows how the young harrier held a SSE track to the short sea  crossing from Kent to North France, and then turned more to the south.

18th September. First signal at 0418GMT was from near Nontron, 60 kilometres SW of  Limoges in southern Limousin, so the harrier appears to be heading fast for Spain having  covered 243 kilometres yesterday. This is very similar to the previous day's journey of  260 km.

19th September. The young harrier roosted west of Mirande, in the foothills of the Pyrenees,  SW of Auch. This is 230 kilometres south of last night's position so the bird is still migrating  strongly south. At 8am local time she was near St Michel along the River Grande Baise which  leads up into the mountains, but two hours later she was further west rather south. The weather is clear and calm, with good conditions for crossing the high altitude passes into Spain.

20th September. Morning signals in northern Spain near Monzon, NW of Lleida, show that  the harrier made a direct crossing of the high passes of the Pyrenees in near enough a direct  line in yesterday's good weather. It covered 255 kilometres yesterday but this morning signals  over 4 hours came within 19 kilometres suggesting it slowed down to hunt and feed. It has  made a remarkably fast journey since leaving Newcastle.

21st September. Signals at 3pm local time in Spain gave the bird's position as near Bonete, 25 km. west of Almansa in Albacete, and the track showed she had changed direction much more to the south west heading for North Africa. Almansa is 308 kilometres from Monzon, so she is travelling fast through Spain in good weather conditions.

22nd September 6pm local time; the marsh harrier was crossing the western Mediterranean Sea being one hundred kilometres south of Motril out over the sea. Motril is east of Malaga. The afternoon's position is a further 402 kms so the harrier has been maintaining a strong  migration. The weather was sunny with clear skies and light northerly winds, perfect for crossing to Africa. A later poor quality signal at 9pm suggested the bird was getting near the Moroccan coast but we need to see tonight's transmissions.

The harrier is now over 2300 kilometres from the Tay estuary and in the last 9 days of migration has flown 2066 kilometres which is 238 kilometres per day. This young harrier has carried out a very competent migration to date.

23rd September. Just one poor quality signal at 2042GMT. The young marsh harrier has  continued its southwards migration and is now in the High Atlas, of Morocco, somewhere  near El Rachidia. The radio transmission schedule was for the middle of the night and with the bird roosting in high mountain ranges, the chances of clear signals to the satellite were
poor. El Rachidia is 436 kilometres from the position at sea the previous evening. Now it will be interesting to see if she slows down and finds a good stop-over habitat or continues a fast  journey on to Senegal.

25th September  Poor quality midnight signal from SW of Zagora - at the moment the schedule  is for night time transmissions but that will change soon. This was a journey of 212 kilometres during daylight on the 24th September and continuing to migrate slightly west of south  towards Senegal.

26th September  Early morning signals showed further movement southwards, with a good transmission at 0635GMT to the west of Tinfouchy in the Hammada du Draa. Yesterday's migration was 134 kilometres and the young marsh harrier has left the high mountains and is now starting out over the deserts of North Africa. Hour and a half later it was a further 49 kilometres southwards.

27th September  The young harrier is now travelling across the Sahara Desert. At 0753GMT  she was near Maraboutia in the Erg Iguid deserts of Algeria, and just over three hours later she  was near El Biodh on the border of Algeria and Mauritania. During this morning she travelled  at 38 kilometres per hour and her previous days journey was 238 kilometres so she is travelling  fast across the deserts. I wonder if she is migrating on her fat supplies or catching prey either  end of the day - may be hoopoe larks in the deserts or more likely northern passerines also migrating south for the winter.

28th September. The over-desert migration continues with the harrier near Eg Glab  Tiguesmat in Mauritania at midday - a further 253 kilometres. Four and a half hours later she was  a further 109 kilometres passing through the Rall Amane desert in a south-westerly direction  towards Senegal.

29th September. By the evening the harrier had traveled a further 209 kilometres and was  near Daya Hamami in stone and sand deserts. During the day it crossed the Tropic of Cancer.

1st October  Last night, she roosted in the stony deserts of Makteir, east of a 640 metre  high mountain range near Aghrejit. Two signals came in for 9pm and 11pm from the same location. She is heading towards Atar, the first big town, and is only about 100 kilometres from the edge  of the desert. Yesterday's migration (30th September) was 250 kilometres which is a very good  distance, considering she has been 7 days crossing the Sahara desert, a distance of over 1200  kilometres at an average daily journey of over 170 kilometres.

2nd October  Overnight she roosted in semi-desert west of Talorza; two good fixes two hours  apart during the night from exactly the same place. Yesterday, she flew another 245 kilometres, a  similar journey to that on 30th September and she is now just 350 kilometres to the Senegal river.  By tonight she should be just about there - then it will be interesting to see where she settles  after the long desert migration.

3rd October. Early this morning, the marsh harrier was at the Lac d'Aleg in Brackna, southern Mauritania, close to the Senegal river. This is an important wetland for birds with a counts of up to 116000 waterbirds in September 1987, so the harrier is now in excellent hunting habitat. Yesterday's journey was another 243 kilometres. I wonder if she will stay there after her huge cross desert migration?

4th October. She did not stay at the lake but kept on south; by this morning she was south of the Senegal river near Ngour and had travelled a further 109 kms since yesterday. It is her  shortest distance for many days (see table below) The young bird is now in good marsh harrier  wintering habitat and we can expect her to stop somewhere soon. We have been extremely  fortunate as well because the satellite transmitter will now switch to its winter schedule of once  every 10 days, when we will get less information on a regular basis. But we should be able to  log her movements into 2005 for as long as the battery is working.

14th October. Very good signal from up river near the Senegal river in Senegal. Just 95 kms. from  the position of 10 days previously so the young marsh harrier is now in her wintering range.

25th October. Good signal at 0405GMT on the Mauritania side of the Senegal river, east of  Matam. This position is 44 kilometres east of the location of the bird on 14th, so the young  marsh harrier seems to have settled in a wintering area either side of the Senegal river.  Next update expected on 4th November.

The group of dots show the wintering area between 5th October and 14th November, with
 the Mauritanian side of the Senegal river on 25th October, and then the move to The Gambia by the 25th November, then back to Senegal on 5th and 15th December.

4th November. During the daytime, signals were back on the Senegal side of the river, 52 kilometres west of the last position on 25th October. Between 1034GMT and 1503GMT the bird had moved in an area of upto 15 kilometres but the signals were not fully accurate so this is only an indication of daily hunting range.

14th November. Two good signals from same area to the west of Matam, Senegal, so the bird has settled down to a wintering area.

25th November Three signals early today showed that the young harrier had moved 272  kilometres further south and was now in Gambia, near Cheesal Bessel, 40 kilometres  south-east of Georgetown in the upper reaches of the Gambia river. The best signal at 0622GMT was accurate to one kilometre. The weather today was clear skies, 31C and 4mph NE wind. Steve Moyes in his comments (see below) has had one previous sighting of a  wing-tagged harrier in The Gambia. It will now be interesting to see if she settles down in a new wintering area, after her six week stay on the Senegal river.

5th December Three signals during the morning but not high quality - she has moved 77 kms NE and is now west of Tambacounda in Senegal.

15th December Two accurate signals during the day. At 1537GMT the harrier was just 13 kilometres from her position 10 days earlier. A very accurate class 3 position came in for  four hours later when she would have been at her night time roost. This was 14 kilometres from  the earlier location so she seems to be hunting in an open area with small rivers near Boba about 25 kilometres west of Tambacounda in Senegal.

25th December  Just one signal at midnight while the harrier was roosting and she is still in the same area of Senegal.

5th January  Several signals late in day, the one good one was just 1.5 kilometres from the bird's location ten days earlier, so it has settled down in a wintering area.

15th January  Still in the same area - several signals during the morning.

25th January  Three signals in the evening from the same area.

5th February  Just received three signals between 2100 hours last evening (4th February)  and 0250 GMT this morning. All were poor quality, the best being a B, but all three came from  the same general area and the data also indicates the bird is still alive. The location of these signals is near the River Bafing, north of Mamou in Guinea, 430 kilometres SE of the Senegal
wintering area. Has the harrier moved or are these incorrect data, we will not be certain until  the next transmission on 15th February. The location area is in mountainous country rising to over a 1000 metres, and this along with the fact the harrier would be roosting low down in vegetation at the transmission time might be the reason for the inaccuracy of the signals. If she
has moved then it's really interesting and we wonder why she has flown another 430  kilometres to the south into Guinea. This young harrier has proved to be a very interesting bird!

15th February  Two very poor signals early morning suggested the bird was in the previous Senegal area so either the signals of the 5th were incorrect, or the bird has returned, or the latest  signals are so poor they are not useful. Hopefully we will get better class signals next time.

25th February  Just one non-accurate signal at 3pm GMT at the normal Senegal wintering site; signals indicated bird was alive and moving, so it is impossible to say whether the position on 5th was a technical mistake or whether the young harrier went on a fly-around, and then returned to its wintering area just north of The Gambia.  The poor quality signals may be due to the battery declining in strength.

18th and 7th March  One poor quality signal each date came from the usual Senegal wintering area.The battery strength is declining and not sure we will get much useful data  during the spring migration - but fingers crossed.

29th March  Three transmissions yesterday afternoon, but none had a location but the activity sensor did show she was still alive. The battery is now close to running out so we might t not get any further locations. No further transmission received - but interestingly a marsh  harrier was seen in SE England in May carrying a satellite transmitter. No proof it was this bird as a few harriers were satellite tracked from Sweden in 2004.

The Tay Estuary reedbeds between Dundee and Perth - where this bird started its migration

Photograph - Joyce Moyes

£££...... If you've enjoyed following the migration of this young Scottish
marsh harrier on our website - seeing the latest positions as they come in - you
 might like to help us with the costs of satellite tracking. This initial tracking has
 proved very interesting and has already shown how competent this young raptor
was at getting from Scotland to West Africa, quite unlike some of our young
 honey buzzards and ospreys.

This year's data has encouraged us to try to track more in 2005.

£££......But satellite transmitters are expensive, presently about £1800 for
this species, and a year's supply of data from the Argos tracking station is a
further £900 so donations of any amount will be very gratefully received.
Please make cheques payable to the Highland Foundation for Wildlife and send
to me Roy Dennis, The Glebe, Dunphail, Forres, Moray, IV36 2QH,Scotland
 or bank transfer to the Foundation's bank account (Number 00105056) at
 The Royal Bank of Scotland (Sort code 83 22 19), Grantown-on-Spey, Scotland.
 The Foundation is a charitable organisation, so with UK taxpayers we
 can reclaim tax on donations

If you'd like to sponsor a complete bird, please get in touch.

Thank you
enjoy following the marsh harrier's progress.