Rough times

Last weekend's visit was a game of two halves if ever there was one. For the most part distinctly ordinary and uneventful, with one major exception.

I'll review the remainder later but here's some detail on the biggie: a ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD. The bird was present in rough ground adjacent to Kelk Beck on Sunday morning - we watched it for around 20 minutes. In that time it only flew a couple of times spending most of the time on the ground, occasionally hopping about - perhaps looking for voles? Unlike most raptors this one did not seem at all bothered by our presence and at one point we were about 40-50m away.

This photo shows the characteristic underside pattern - dark 'elbows' and a solid dark belly against otherwise pale underparts - both features of a juvenile RLB. The white patches on the wings are also typical.


Wow - look at that tail. Although some Common Buzzards show white in the tail the band would not be this well defined especially combined with the features noted above. Solid band also indicates a juvenile bird, adults tend to show multiple bands.


On the ground the pale head was striking, even with the naked eye. You can make out the white tail band here. A pale Common Buzzard would not show such contrast between pale and the brown body.


Another shot on the ground. Again note the striking pale head, but also the pale throat and bib - another feature of juvenile birds.


Finally, this was actually the first shot I took, in a frantic attempt to get it on record in case it flew off immediately. It's harder to get an identification on this view as it's facing away, you can't see the tail and the head doesn't look so pale. What would raise the alarm for me in this photo is how uncommon it is to see Common Buzzards perched on the ground, especially at such close range. The bird had actually flown over us and landed here just before this shot was taken - I was already happy with the identification by the time the camera was ready, give or take shaking with excitement!


Rough-legged Buzzards are scarce visitors to the UK, with less than half a dozen in Yorkshire in a typical year - most of those either along the coast or in moorland. Two winters ago three birds were present in the dry valleys around Millington.

In 2010 a national influx (late October) has taken place with dozens of birds noted along the coast from Scotland to Kent. Locally birds have been seen at Barmston, Tophill Low, Leven and Hornsea Mere.

During summer these birds are in the Scandinavian arctic where they feed largely on lemmings. Winter forces them down into Europe but it takes extra pressure to push them across the North Sea - such as a lack of small mammals in southern Scandinavia.