2015 Springing Bits and Summer Bobs

[JohnN]

When I was a lad on my dad's poultry farm I used to drive a Ferguson tractor, with cutting blade attached, in the 3-acre field where we grew wheat to feed the free-range hens. I rarely completed the job without slicing up 2 or 3 rabbits which, confused by the noise I suppose, would run straight into the horizontally flashing blade. Ugh!

[peter]

Yesterday I think I saw a pair of Buzzards!
Broad "finger ended" wings circling each other, gliding effortlessly very high up and a call like a "mew", which is what first drew my attention.

Now, over here by Stansted Airport on the Hertfordshire / Essex border would they be more likely to be buzzards or red kites?

After nipping in the house to get my camera and binoculars they'd buzzed off. So I couldn't get a better look.

[oldherbaceous]

They sound like Buzzards to me Peter, Kites have that distinctive V shape tail fearhers, but maybe they were not close enough to see that....

[Ricard with an H]

Yes, classic buzzard looking for an easy meal. I didn't think you got kites near Stanstead but I did see a kite in Reading last year so they are spreading, one of our locals said you won't get kites and buzzards together. We have a lot of kites in Wales though in this valley I live in I have only ever seen buzzards and in pairs.

That little mouse I told you about that was living in the trunk of the tree I felled is a gutsy little chap, I had assumed I had frightened him off. I'm working on the remainder of the trunk and blow-me it the little mouse doesn't pop out of his hole again and run down the remaining trunk.

I'll give the poor chap a week to vacate.

[peter]

Flat ended, broad, wedge tail I thimk OH.

[oldherbaceous]

Buzzards...

[Elaine]

Peter, definitely Buzzard then. Even at a distance there is no mistaking a Red Kite's long forked tale. That mewing call is quite distinctive too. Lovely.

[Ricard with an H]

Our local buzzard lookout post is a particular Telecoms pole, the buzzard poo has turned it white through almost a perfect 180 degrees and I always put my foot down when I'm passing that post.

No-one understands when I change the topic of conversation too, "I got buzzard shit on my car".

Very posh to have your car poo'ed on by a buzzard. Sea-guls pooing on your car is the normal. Buzzard poo is very middle-class.

[Motherwoman]

I have a kestrel who roosts on a hook on the gable end of the house and poos down my windows...will that do? Does it have a posh-ness factor?

Lots of buzzards on the island, best place to view is Bleak Down where the ground drops away from the road sharply and you can find yourself on a level with hovering buzzards. Get whole families of 'em in groups of 5 or 6.

MW

[Geoff]

I think I want to come back as a Buzzard, they always seem so perfectly relaxed and efficient, hardly ever beat their wings and when they do they get a long way. Known as Tourist Eagles in the Lake District.

What a glorious day today. Frogs awooing at last, Bumble Bees and a Peacock Butterfly on the heathers, Buzzards and Curlews calling, morning and afternoon brews outside watching them, best solar generation since I got the panels.

[Ricard with an H]

Buzzards are quite lazy compared with other birds of prey, that lazyness starts when they leave the nest. They squeak all day long for the feeding parent to get food, you can hear that squeak for miles.

Do buzzards actually hunt in the same way other birds of prey hunt ? I always had the impression they live of carrion/road kill along with the crows and rooks.

We have clear skies for the fifth day running now so the eclipse should be obvious as I'm doing the final tidy-up around my arboreal site.

[Geoff]

Clouds acted as a effective filter.

[peter]

Cloudy, but just visible through them.

[Ricard with an H]

Clear skies here, the birds stopped twittering and it turned to dusk. Very weird.

[oldherbaceous]

Just another day here really, but the dog where i was working, was acting in a very strange way.....