I had come to try and see the summer visiting residents to the area...Honey Buzzards and hopefully encounter some of the other forests avian delights as well.
After a fairly quick journey up from home,which took only just over an hour,i arrived at the raptor watch point car park and had something to eat before heading to the viewpoint.
On arrival and just as i set the scope up i was greeted by a singing and displaying Tree Pipit,a nice start to proceedings.
It wasn't long before i logged the first 'Good' raptor with a single immature Goshawk flying along the opposite side of the valley,giving good,but distant views.This was shortly followed by a distant Honey Buzzard,following the same track along the opposite side of the valley before being lost behind the huge pine forest.I couldn't have wished for a better start,with both hoped for star birds in the bag.
I continued watching,seeing a single Hobby,Kestrel,a hand full of Common Buzzards,a brief displaying male Honey Buzzard in the same area as i had the earlier bird and also more Goshawk sightings,one of which flew from behind us and across the valley giving some nice views in the scope and was a whopping immature female as well,a cracking beast before i was joined by more people travelling to see the raptors on show.
The next Honey sighting was overhead this time,albeit too high for any decent pics with my set up,but it was great to see it in flight alongside a Common Buzzard for comparison.They are such smart birds with their languid flight action reminding me of Red Kites,with not much wing flapping,just gliding and twisting of the tail.
A welcome diversion away from the raptors for a few minutes included a couple of small flocks of Crossbills and the usual Siskins and also a male Garden Warbler sang his lovely liquid song from the adjacent trees.
One more sighting of Honey Buzzard on the opposite side of the valley again was enjoyed by us all before i decided to call it a day after putting in a respectable 7 hours.
It was great to come and re acquaint myself with these beautiful birds of prey and lets hope they can be success full and breed again in the area.
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| Singing male Tree Pipit. |
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| Male Tree Pipit. |
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| Record shot of one of the male Honey Buzzards. |
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| Distant record shot showing the considerable difference even at long range between Honey and Common Buzzards. |
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