Adult Male Pallid Harrier......The Holy Grail Of Birding!....Wednesday 10th May 2017.

It had only been a few weekends ago when news filtered through that serious local patch watcher Tim Isherwood had seen an adult male Pallid Harrier fly north through his East Yorkshire coast patch at Grimston.This stopped me in my tracks as it is a bird most of us mere mortals would love to see,let alone find.
 Fast forward a week or so and news breaks that a male Pallid Harrier is holding territory in the well known raptor breeding area of the Forest Of Bowland in Lancashire,it has to be the same bird.
 After a lovely trip away with Trace to Northumberland,i got home and just had to go and see this mythical beast for myself.
 I got up at 4.00 am,got all the kit together and headed west across country to my destination at Dunsop Bridge.
 The drive over was pretty good and it was apparent there had been quite a frost overnight.
 I eventually arrived at the lovely little village of Dunsop,paid for my parking and i was off on the 4K hike to where the bird had been holding territory in the Whitendale Valley.
 The walk up was great not only for the scenery,but i logged some great birds which included my 'First' Pied Flycatchers and Redstart of the year,a couple of female Stonechats and some displaying Common Sands,what a brilliant start i thought,but better was to come.
 After arriving at the area where the bird had been watched from along with two other birders,we set up and began to scan the area,then all of a sudden a ghostly shape flew down the hillside and disappeared into a small valley,it had to be him.
 A few tense moments later and there he was,i couldn't believe what i was watching at first,a bird i had dreamt of seeing and now i was actually watching one!.
 I just watched through the scope as he floated about above the bracken covered hillside,taking in all the features of this beautiful bird.
 As we watched he began to collect nesting material which he took into one of the nests he has built in anticipation of attracting a mate,now that would be something else.
 After his nest building activities,he passed across the valley,a hundred metres in front of us,giving stonking scope views and then began to gain height,thermalling higher and higher and then began to display.This has to be one of the most impressive sights i have seen in all my 30+ years birding.He just threw himself all over the sky looping about back and forth,uttering a distinct chattering call all the time,what a BIRD!!!!.
 After this he disappeared over a nearby hillside and we went back to normality after seeing this stunner.
 About half an hour lapsed and he then appeared again doing the same routine of covering his territory and again displaying,just fantastic to watch.
 The 4 hours i had just spent,literally flew by and after saying my goodbyes to the lads who i had been watching with,i made a steady walk back to the car.
 I was on a high as i travelled home back through the bustle of Bradford and down the M62 and back home.I havn't stopped talking about this stunning bird ever since,what an experience and one which will stay with me for the rest of my days.

Male Pied Flycatcher,Dunsop Bridge.

Singing Male Redstart,Dunsop Bridge.

Whitendale Valley.

Skydancer!.