What superb photos! Re Buzzards, I use to look forward to seeing them in the north of Britain when we went on holiday in Scotland, but about 12 years ago there was one soaring on the wind over Cranham, only 1 mile from where I live! Now, they are more commonplace. But Hen Harriers! A different thing altogether!
Somebody ought to raise a campaign to protect ALL our native birds, and send these shooters packing. Yes, I know full well it will take time, but it has been done for foxes, so it could be done for birds of prey as well as other birds that some folk don't like, but only native ones, and regular migrants. But we have alien ones like the Ring-necked Parakeet that comes from the Himalaya regions, and is squeezing out many of our smaller native birds, so maybe the shooters could shoot them! And Canada Geese, but with them you would eat the shot bird, as they are very good, I have been told, but they too are alien pests.
Your Forum
This forum has now been more or less replaced by the Club's Facebook page at 
The weblog below is for naturalists to use to report interesting sightings, ask questions, report on field meetings and generally post pictures and any information or questions generally relevant in some way to the wildlife and geology of Essex. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum, and you need to upload pictures first, for use in posts. Find out more
The weblog below is for naturalists to use to report interesting sightings, ask questions, report on field meetings and generally post pictures and any information or questions generally relevant in some way to the wildlife and geology of Essex. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum, and you need to upload pictures first, for use in posts. Find out more