Buzzards breeding - hopefully

[GlennUK]

Where we sit and eat we look over our back field, which is bounded by an informal hedge including a number of mature oaks.

Over the 8 years we've lived here we've had buzzards nest in our trees several times and seen young reared.

It's looking like they're going to grace us with their presence again this year.

A pair have been visiting one of the trees that have been used before over tje past week or two, and this morning we just watch them again with breeding activity taking place in the tree.

Fingers crossed for a successful year for them.

I'm planning on trying to get some.pictures this year as tje soar.over the house, might.habe to spend a lot of time waiting but they come very close to the house so I am hopeful.

 

[shakey jake]

Must be amazing to see

 

[Bo Diddley]

I'm planning on trying to get some.pictures this year as tje soar.over the house,

Just put some fresh carcass down near a little hide, and they should rock up within an hour. I get buzzards & red kites on the fox bait within 50 yards of the patio doors. I bury it now.
Buzzards & kites are as numerous as the population of badgers in Norfolk.

 

[opticron1]

When we were on Arran last week, we were entertained by the spectacle of watching three Buzzards trying to chase away a Sea Eagle from their territory..... can't say the Eagle was very much bothered!
Plenty of Buzzards on this side of the water and a good few nests in a few of the quieter spots.

 

[GlennUK]

Just put some fresh carcass down near a little hide, and they should rock up within an hour. I get buzzards & red kites on the fox bait within 50 yards of the patio doors. I bury it now.
Buzzards & kites are as numerous as the population of badgers in Norfolk.

When i shot my last fallow the gralloch and whats left of the ribs went out for the 'birds'. Buzzards and a Red Kite spent some time on the gralloch like watching Attenborough without the lecture!

 

[kenbro]

When we were on Arran last week, we were entertained by the spectacle of watching three Buzzards trying to chase away a Sea Eagle from their territory..... can't say the Eagle was very much bothered!
Plenty of Buzzards on this side of the water and a good few nests in a few of the quieter spots.

Quite common around here to see crows harassing buzzards when soaring.
A few years ago, a friend said he saw crows doing this and the buzzard turned into its back and grabbed one crow with its talons.
Ken.

 

[geoshot]

Good luck with getting photos, i hope you have reason & opportunity
I must sort my camera out and try to get some good photos of local wildlife this year too
Thanks for the motivation

 

[Smellydog]

No no no can't be so, they are all dying from lead poisoning remember!

 

[Demetrius]

We're not far from the New Forest, and we're now seeing red kites in addition to buzzards over the house.

D.

 

[Cottis]

No no no can't be so, they are all dying from lead poisoning remember!

The more lead I shoot the greater the number of Kites I see. Bloody things are nigh on outnumbering corvids.

 

[User00056]

I have a stunt kite I like to fly from time to time as a bit of relaxation. Last time I had it out I let it get up to a couple of hundred feet and had a buzzard soar in and keep station on it for ages. Whenever I flew it to one side or another the bird stayed right on it just like a wingman. It was great to see

 

[Scuffy]

We're not far from the New Forest, and we're now seeing red kites in addition to buzzards over the house.

D.

Keep your eyes out for the sea eagles

 

[JTO]

I disturbed a Bitterne on my place this morning.

 

[Smellydog]

I disturbed a Bitterne on my place this morning.

Any signs of lead poisoning?

 

[GlennUK]

I disturbed a Bitterne on my place this morning.

thats interesting, have never seen nor heard a bittern, where abouts are you?

 

[BryanDC]

We decided to sit out in the back garden on friday afternoon. Along with the usual garden visitors, finches, green, gold ,chaff and bull, greater spotted woodpecker, we also saw a sea eagle being harassed by a red kite and a little while later 3 more kites.
Picture of the sea eagle, very fuzzy as it was accidentally taken on a video setting on the phone, but you can clearly see the white tail.

 

[JTO]

thats interesting, have never seen nor heard a bittern, where abouts are you?

Just north of Weymouth. I last saw one over 60 years ago, but I think they are usually seen in the reeded area of Radipole lake, much nearer the town centre.
The RSPB rent Radipole and are trying to get Bitternes to nest there, but are also allowing mink and otters to flourish.

 

[GlennUK]

Just north of Weymouth. I last saw one over 60 years ago, but I think they are usually seen in the reeded area of Radipole lake, much nearer the town centre.
The RSPB rent Radipole and are trying to get Bitternes to nest there, but are also allowing mink and otters to flourish.

odd thing about 'conservation' something often has to die to allow something else to flourish.

 

[Mr. Gain]

I'm about as enthused by flourishing buzzard/kite populations as I am by proliferations of feral pigeons. That is to say, they are very low down on the list of species I would like us to support. The obsession with increasing numbers of large raptors, pelicaniformes, and mammals, at the expense of the more vulnerable species they prey on strikes me as perverse and premature. Get the habitat right for the base of the pyramid before you flood the apex.

 

[old keeper]

I'm about as enthused by flourishing buzzard/kite populations as I am by proliferations of feral pigeons. That is to say, they are very low down on the list of species I would like us to support. The obsession with increasing numbers of large raptors, pelicaniformes, and mammals, at the expense of the more vulnerable species they prey on strikes me as perverse and premature. Get the habitat right for the base of the pyramid before you flood the apex.

I tend to agree with Mt Gain!
When I was a keeper, buzzards were a far greater problem to me than foxes and the rest put together, I hated them with a passion. Now I'm retired I enjoy seeing them against a clear, blue, Devon sky.