Pallid Harrier at Therfield

I was idly going through tweets on Tuesday night when I found a report of a Pallid Harrier at Therfield that evening. Despite a few people getting there before dark there was no further sign. I wasn't able to go next morning, though Barry Reed posted some nice images early on but became more elusive Deteriorating conditions-with very high winds over the next few days didn't seem to deter observers and the bird was reported daily, though often it would go missing for hours at a time.
This put me off going before work, and again afterwards as I was very time limited, and decided to wait until Saturday.
I had to have a flu jab first thing, and helped Mum with her shopping, but I was able to get there shortly after ten, to discover that it hadn't been seen since nine, and at very long range. I found Tony Hukin and Jay Ward, and had a chat not having seen either for a long time. Tony naturally had been up earlier in the week and had already had good views. After about twenty minutes someone found the bird a long way off to the north. W were observing  on the high ground east of Park Farm and the Icknield Way, and the Harrier was actually over the ridge to the north east of Greys Farm, some 2km away. Despite the distance, the scope views were pretty good and the underwing pattern could be seen, though the neck collar was hard to see.
After a few minutes we lost it-about the time Ray Hooper turned up. He had a small flock of Golden Plover fly past as he approached us-missed by most, but only had to wait ten minutes before the Harrier reappeared. Eventually some decided to head up the Icknield Way to get closer views, but as rain was arriving Tony and I decided to leave. The bird was seen on and off all day, and seems to be favouring the high ground around Greys-There are several photos from the weekend of the Harrier sat on one of the bird tables, which is a bit unusual.
Naturally because of the distance I never got any photos myself.

With the general increase in Pallid Harriers in recent years-mainly juvenile birds like this one (and one or two probable Hen/Pallid hybrids), it was only a matter of time before one would turn up in Hertfordshire, and the Therfield-Bladock stretch was always likely to be the place one would be found, and complete the Harrier set, with regular Marsh and Hen here, plus the Montagues some ten years ago. With a bit of luck it will stick around for the winter.