Today was a good raptorday for me,with Buzzards being my bird of choice,i love Buzzards,never used to get them round these parts,at least not in the numbers and regularity i see them around these parts nowadays.
I started off at Broadfield Farm where i intended on going on a walk around actually looking for early Spring migrants but on arriving the nest box programme was being put into full flow so we put 5 up in and around the barn,Malcolm dropping a plank of wood on my foot in the process which now hurts or at least one toe does which i think is broken.
After that while talking to Reg in the car park we had our first Buzzard,being mobbed by a kestrel,didn't get clear photos but they will do.
Earlier i had spoke to a dog walker who had told me his neighbour had seen a Buzzard nest with Buzzards feeding chicks,it was in an area where i had seen Buzzards before but seemed very early for Buzzards with good sized chicks but we headed up there anyway,nice site,have been there a couple of times before and always seen the birds but he didn't give exact location of the nest and i wouldn't get too close anyhow but would be nice to get some sort of photos.
We looked around for an hour or so,we saw Yellowhammer,Kestrel,plenty of Green Woodpeckers but no Buzzards,we also saw good trees for the peckers and Owls,worth going back to see whats around next month or two.
After this we headed over the other side of the M25 to look around another woodland,this one was bigger and after about 20 minutes we had a Buzzard in the distance,it had a wing feather or two missing,then we lost it,it came back about 20 minutes later and flew past South,got some decent shots of the bird.
Another 20 minutes past and we had a couple of other Buzzards way off over the woods,reg thought he saw a third but i missed it,but 15 or so minutes later we had 2 birds,then 3,then 4 all together at once,only downside was they were too far off for photos (got crap ones but wouldn't insult your intelligance by asking you to look at the paltry offering )
We left and i went back to Broadfield Farm for a bit of late Afternoon birding,didn't expect to see too much but it turned out to be a little bit of a birdfest.
First i had a couple of Jays & a Great spotted woodpecker by the pond,then 4 Greenfinch,then 2 Male Bullfinch and a straddling female behind,managed to get one shot of the Bullfinch flying,poor but you can just make out the white rump on it.Had 12 Redpolls in a pine and 3 Siskins flew over,no Spring Migrants yet on site but its my birthday tomorrow so i hope the odd one comes my way!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7wCfttJVnQ&feature=share
ReplyDelete