Buzzard.

[basil]

Like them or loathe them they are stunning.

 

[devon deer stalker]

Nice pic Basil.
I have to agree.

Cheers
Richard

 

[nun_hunter]

Like them or loathe them they are stunning.

I know they cause some people grief but they do not impact on my life or business adversly so I really enjoy seeing them. Seeing a couple patrolling the skys and calling out makes me feel the countryside is that little bit more wild than the general overcrowded feeling I have living in the South East.

 

[old keeper]

When I was keepering they were the bane of my life, now I really enjoy watching them! Considerable numbers round here.

 

[Spix]

Nice buzzard, basil, and numbers of these are increasing around here too. I shoot an leave out a few hundred rabbits a year for them and the kites.

 

[NigelM]

They are stunning birds, just like many of the other raptors. My particular favourites are the Kestrels. Great to watch them following the tractor as I'm mowing waiting for the mice to run for it. Even had a pair of Kestrels nest outside the bedroom window last spring. Amazing to watch them grow up, if a little noisy.

But I can't help thinking that when it comes to Buzzards and Sparrowhawks we are starting to get out of balance and the volumes are now too high. I regularly see 5 Buzzards circling over the farm these days and the Sparrowhawks are decimating the song birds. Regularly watch them tearing apart Green Woodpeckers and other birds on the back lawn.

It's all about balance, and at the moment I think the balance has just tipped a bit too far in the favour of some of the Raptor breeds.

 

[Gzl]

Quite correct it is about a balance and nature does a far better job than us...yes raptors take songbirds but not in the same league as Cats... These are the real villains!

 

[tumbleweed]

Cracking pics, have two on one of my permissions, only problem I see for them is the amount of crows that pester the feckin life out of them, was out with the farmer and loads of the black rats (his words) where attacking one of the buzzards and when it was chased off they came right over to the feed that the farmer has and I put several of the crows out of the buzzards life on a permanent basis and the buzzards where happily settled in peace until the next time. Farmer has loads of amazing pics over his walls and I thought that he had bought them but No he had taken them all himself at different parts of his land.

 

[Spix]

There was a buzzard on the grass on a roundabout in Sleaford town centre yesterday lunchtime. Numbers of these beautiful birds seem to be increasing in south Lincolnshire as elsewhere in East Anglia, and for me that is a very good thing. To see them regularly in towns would be really something and if they ever took to eating cats that would be even better. There were none in the Sussex and Surrey of my youth and even now they are a common sight I still get a buzz from seeing them. I remember eastern Germany before the Wall came down, at harvest there was a buzzard or a hawk on every fence post, a sure sign of a productive countryside.

 

[dan71]

....

 

[Essex stalker]

Cracking pics, have two on one of my permissions, only problem I see for them is the amount of crows that pester the feckin life out of them, was out with the farmer and loads of the black rats (his words) where attacking one of the buzzards and when it was chased off they came right over to the feed that the farmer has and I put several of the crows out of the buzzards life on a permanent basis and the buzzards where happily settled in peace until the next time. Farmer has loads of amazing pics over his walls and I thought that he had bought them but No he had taken them all himself at different parts of his land.

We have at least 8 of them in the fields out the back of us but they always have a pair of crows on their wings at all times

 

[tumbleweed]

We have at least 8 of them in the fields out the back of us but they always have a pair of crows on their wings at all times

Soon be time for the branchers to take a pounding with some #4s or #5s again I think.

 

[Gzl]

23-01-2015, 22:39

#10​

dan71

Regular PosterJoin DateAug 2014Locationsuffolk ukPosts298

I only get starlings in my garden now due to sparrow hawks. Use to have robins blue tits gold finch. I put feeders up but all i done was get them harassed by the hawks. 5 cats belong to local houses and none of them bothered the birds!​

​

Not possible..

 

[Gzl]

Soon be time for the branchers to take a pounding with some #4s or #5s again I think.

Can't believe a "supporter" is condoning illegal persecution!

 

[private fraser]

How so illegal?

 

[Yoda]

I thought I was in the minority on SD because I love wild life. Including Buzards
Got a couple of families in the fields behind me and it's great to watch them catching thermals and mewing.
I wonder if thr people who persecute them know what their diet is.

 

[private fraser]

I thought I was in the minority on SD because I love wild life.

Nope

 

[nuttyspaniel]

Can't believe a "supporter" is condoning illegal persecution!

Whats Illegal about shooting branchers??


Nutty

 

[The tramp]

I think gzl is thinking you mean shooting buzzards, not branchers, which I know you mean young crows, but gzl obviously doesn't.

 

[Gzl]

I think gzl is thinking you mean shooting buzzards, not branchers, which I know you mean young crows, but gzl obviously doesn't.

Branchers is typically a term for any bird that has vacated the nest but not the nesting tree, however it is also a falconry term, and therefore I assumed that the aforementioned meant the same after all the thread was Buzzard!