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| Marsh Harrier (with Common Buzzard in lower pic) |
Roy has always theorised that light headwinds are great conditions for raptors and, knowing the conditions today, he came over. We put in a good few hours and did very little other than staking out at the Watchpoint for raptors. The highlight came when we were watching a low flock of four
Common Buzzards - we didn't realise at first but, after a few minutes, a female
Marsh Harrier replaced the buzzard that had broken off from the group and they started jostling in the air! This bird was picked out my Roy and marks his 100th bird at CFBW, giving the CFBW100 Club a membership of two. Marsh Harrier is a scarce bird at CFBW, there are only three records (mind you, they're all within the last twelve months): the first was picked up by Ian in April 2011 (which I saw) and the second was spotted by Grant Prater as he was working in the recording area in December 2011. The bird was picked up a short while later over Beddington. Another highlight for me came just after Roy had gone, with a fairly low
Red Kite drifting north. We also managed something in the region of fifteen
Common Buzzards, a bare minimum of four
Sparrowhawks and two
Kestrels.
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| Red Kite |
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| Common Buzzard |
