Help identify birds of prey

[James M]

Originally Posted by ChrisJB

About five years ago, they were virtually unheard of in my neck of the woods, but I've seen a couple from the house in recent months. Including one on Christmas Day last year. I almost dropped the turkey.

Regards, Chris

They have spread and increased in number very quick haven't they? I'm hoping Red Kites will do the same, they're still on my "to see" list.

[ron1863]

Buzzards for sure, we have lots of them up my way. They have gone from the odd one or two to dozens in just the past few years. Beautiful birds to watch.

[EyeInTheSky]

Thanks to everyone who replied to our post, you confirmed what we thought, although we were holding on to a slight hope that they may have been Red Kite. They are fabulous birds to watch and we see them most days, although they have not shown today, possibly due to the fact that it has been raining most of the day. We will post more photos if we get any good shots, we are hoping to upgrade our camera to a DSLR soon so we should get some better photos.

[EyeInTheSky]

I spoke too soon! Sitting at the PC, I just glanced out of the window and a buzzard was gliding past. Nice to know they've not deserted us.

[EyeInTheSky]

Hope to upgrade to D,SLR soon so please forgive the quality. The photo's were taken on a Sony cybersot W80. We are so thrilled that the Buzzards are coming regular that we should get updated camera wise. Thinking of starting off with a 2nd hand Nikon D50 & Sigma 28-200 from a friend. I hope it will do the job. We may upgrade a bit more later.

Here's a few pics anyway, excuse the quality but the action was more thrilling at the time.

[wildherbalian85]

Originally Posted by Jenny W

Yeah, Buzzards have extended their range massively in the last 20/30 years or so. They were very much confined to western Britain, but since the 1970's/80's they have come further east and now can be seen in most areas of the UK and are considered the most common B.O.P. in the UK.

BTO CBC/BBS data from 1967-2006 suggests a 419% population change.

I wonder how long it will be now before people like salukiwhippet (and Co.) say we should be shooting them because they are too numerous and are killing the pheasants and other pretty birds???