Don't hurry, be happy

The marsh harrier, with its effortlessly slow and floating signature manoeuvre, is so enjoying its UK comeback that it now stays with us all year round

- Mark Cocker

I REMEMBER clearly my first ever sighting of this bird. All raptors are wonderful to watch in flight, but there was something truly special about a first marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus). The signature manoeuvre is a slow, wandering, almost haphazard float on wings held above the level of the body, so that they create a shallow V in full span. The bird rocks and tilts in the breeze or as it shifts its path.

A hunting marsh harrier is entirely unfazed by strong wind and can almost never be rushed. The performance combines minimum effort and the slowest pace, yet with an aura of total control. Should it need to, a bird can drop to the ground like a steel weight or it can reach out with those ridiculously long, yellow legs to pluck some unwary prey clean from the air.