Bird of Prey spotted - no idea what it is!

[solarized]

Hi all - firstly sorry no pictures.

The other morning around 8am travelling to work through the country I spotted a huge bird of prey! We pass a field every morning which I always look at as it has a baby shire horse in it!

The other morning sat on one of the fence posts was a huge bird, must have been about 50cm and what I initially thought was an owl! To me it looked grey with whitish flecks and its head was turned to the side so I couldn't see its face! Very stocky and unlike anything i've seen before, as i say it was massive.

Two days later saw the same bird pirched on a branch in a bare tree in the same field - a lot further away but the main significance was the size!

I know its difficult without pics, and as I say my innitial thought was an owl, due to shape, but having looked at pics I can't really see an owl that matches the discription, not that would be sited in the UK.

I am in North Warwickshire, the field is placed near a canal. Any ideas so I could look at some pics would be great!!!

[scout]

It's probably a Common Buzzard.

[pammosley]

Hi, I`d guess a buzzard as well, they can vary greatly in colour & are quite common now
Welcome to WAB, it`s a great site.

[solus]

I'd go for Common Buzzard too - they spend a lot of time atop fence posts, trees and telegraph poles and are becoming pretty common in many areas now, including the Midlands.