Pallid Harrier of Britain and Ireland
Photo credit: Koshyk on VisualHunt / CC BY
The Pallid Harrier, Circus macrourus, is a rare winter and spring visitor to Britain and Ireland. However, sightings of Pallid Harriers have increased in recent years not only in Britain and Ireland but also in southern and central Europe.
The first successful breeding of Pallid Harriers was reported in Spain and the Netherlands between 2017 and 201. Some ornithologists believe Pallid Harriers could also breed in Britain in the future.
The Pallid Harriers who visit Britain and Ireland breed in Eastern Europe. They also breed in Central and Western Asia.
Most of the population of Pallid Harriers spend their winters in the Indian subcontinent and sub-Saharan Africa.
Some wintering birds travel to North Africa, southern Europe, Turkey and the Middle East. Very little is known about their migration through the Mediterranean.
A few wintering Pallid Harriers pass over Britain, western France and Ireland in the spring and winter while journeying to and from their wintering grounds to North Africa and southern Europe.
The status of the Pallid Harrier in Britain and Ireland has not been assessed due to the rarity of these birds.
Pallid Harriers belong to the Harrier family of birds which also includes the Hen Harrier. They are elegant and attractive raptors who display great manoeuvrability in the skies.
Pallid Harriers breeding in Eastern Europe inhabit extensive, dry open grasslands, farmland and marshes. Their range in Eastern Europe has contracted following a rapid decline as their grassland homes have been changed into farmland.
They are now considered fairly rare birds in Eastern Europe who are found on the edges of their former range. A map of the breeding distribution of Pallid Harriers can be found on EBCC Atlas [ http://s1.sovon.nl/ebcc/eoa/?species1=2620 ).
Pallid Harriers normally hunt low near to the ground on open countryside. Their prey includes voles, lemmings and other small mammals, birds, large insects and reptiles. Voles and small mammals form the main part of their diet. They eat birds and insects when small mammals are scarce.
Males and females form pairs in their wintering grounds and return to their breeding areas together in the spring.
Pallid Harriers fly to their wintering grounds between August and November. They return to their breeding areas between March and April.
Pairs nest in open grasslands, heathlands and forests where there are wet pastures, bogs and wet grassland near small rivers and lakes. Some build their nests in forest clearings.
Males and females begin breeding when they are 2 years of age. The average lifespan of the Pallid Harrier is 14 years.
“Native to central Asia, Pallid Harriers were, until a decade ago, a mega-rarity in Britain, but sightings have become more frequent” [Daily Post - https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/local-news/flintshires-rare-pallid-harrier-joins-13708734 ).
A male juvenile was reported as wintering in Norfolk between 2002 and 2003. There was a “veritable influx of this stunning bird, with records from Fair Isle in the north to Sussex in the south” during the autumn of 2011 [Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/oct/23/birdwatch-pallid-harrier-rare-mendips ).
A Pallid Harrier was reported on the Connah’s Quay nature reserve in Wales during 2017. A male Pallid Harrier was seen displaying and building a nest in the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire in the same year [Pixie Birding - https://pixiebirding.blogspot.com/2017/05/skydancer-pallid-harrier-forest-of-bowland.html ).
Most of the sightings of Pallid Harriers in Britain are of males. There was a rare sighting of a female and the first for Herefordshire in 2018 [Stuart Pics - http://stuartpics.co.uk/pallid-harrier.html ).
A Pallid Harrier was reported in 2011 in the marshes of Ballyvergan in County Cork in the Republic of Ireland. The Pallid Harrier was a first-year male who was seen for only a few days while hunting along reedbeds and open ground in the area [Birdguids - https://www.birdguides.com/articles/britain-ireland/rarity-finders-ghostbusters-pallid-harrier-ballyvergan-co-cork/ ).
“Since 2003, a few pairs have bred in Finland in most years although numbers are influenced by vole population cycles. On migration, high numbers of juveniles usually follow good vole year…Reports of birds wintering in southern and central Europe are increasingly frequent” [ British Birds - https://britishbirds.co.uk/article/the-changing-status-of-the-pallid-harrier-in-western-europe/ ).
“In 2017 the first pair of Pallid Harriers to nest in western Europe was reported from the Netherlands”. Pallid Harriers were again reported breeding in the same area in 2019.
“it might have seemed that this was a remarkable and amazing one-off event but the evidence is that Pallids are spreading west, not so slowly but very surely” [Mark Avery - https://markavery.info/2019/08/05/a-bright-pallid-future/ ).
The first record of a pair of Pallid Harriers successfully breeding in Spain was reported during 2019. The female was ringed in the Netherlands in 2017. An abundance of Common Voles was possibly the reason the Pallid Harriers decided to nest in the area.
Some ornithologists believe the increased sightings of Pallid Harriers may lead to the raptors eventually breeding in Britain.
Sadly, the Pallid Harrier is classified as a Near Threatened species of bird by IUCN. Pallid Harriers are considered the most endangered of all the European Harriers.
The global and European status of Pallid Harriers is currently Near Threatened. The global population is estimated to be between 9,000 and 15,000 pairs.
Europe holds 40% of the global population. A large decline of 30% was reported in Europe, particularly Russia, between 1970 and 1990. Their numbers continued to fall during 2000 until they were classified as a Near Threatened species of bird in 2015 [Birdlife International).
The main threats to Pallid Harriers are loss of nesting and wintering habit due to agricultural changes, burning of their grassland homes, grazing by livestock on wet pastures, clearance of shrubs and poisoning from pesticides and rodenticides.
For more information on the birds of the gardens and countryside of Britain and Ireland, please visit,
Interesting Articles
European Raptors - http://www.europeanraptors.org/raptors/pallid_harrier.html
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