Male HEN HARRIER lingering at Hatfield Aerodrome

Here is some more information about this bird. I had met Alan Reynolds in the area as he has kindly agreed to produce a site guide and wished to walk around the area with someone who knows it reasonably well.We followed the public footpath from the Hatfield Road to a point near where there used to be double gates into the airfield from the footpath. When looking around we saw a large raptor about 10m above the ground not far from the fence with the former BT compound along with a substantial number of startled Fieldfares. It was immediately obvious that the bird was a male HEN HARRIER which flew across onto the old airfield at low level and flew towards Hatfield. We watched it for about 10 minutes and then lost it from view. About 30 minutes later it appeared again a little to the north of its original position and the bird flew over the old BT site and climbed to some height before dropping over the hedge onto the airfield again. It must have been within 100m of us at times but unfortunately nether of us had a suitable camera with us to take a record shot.This bird could still be there now as it was clearly hunting over the rougher areas of vegetation. It was easy to see from the public footpath so there is no need move away from this track to see the bird if it is still there (Alan Gardiner)