The Lincolnshire Bird Club

A female marsh harrier and a 'this years young' youngster was around Ness Pit this morning. The youngster calling to the female and they were closely interacting. The youngster went on to persist with the capture of a coot in open water. It followed it overhead and hovered as it lowered and tried to grab it. The coot dived but the harrier remained hovering over it with rest circular flights in between. Each rest allowed the coot to get air but it was losing the ability to stay under water and after about 6 attempts the harrier managed to grab the coot's head with one foot. The harrier could not lift it out the water and after a couple of attempts it sank to it's chest in water, leaving it's head and wings out (at one point most of it's right submerged too). We couldn't tell if the bird could get it's talon out of the coot to escape if in trouble. It remained on the water and after a short time made a big effort to pull the coot out enough to drag it over to the north side reedbed. It pulled in the drowned coot out of sight and I guess it had earned a large lunch, it certainly provided a titanic tussle worthy of any Documentary.