I've said it before and doubtless I'll say it again, I'm not a great fan of 'twitching' (man I can't afford the fuel costs for one thing!) but if there's a good bird on my doorstep sure I'll make an effort and so it was the case today ...so many thanks to
Mikey for alerting me to this peach of a raptor that's been hanging around for the past few days on the
Yorkshire Wolds nr
Grindale, just outside of
Bridlington ... a
Rough Legged Buzzard.
Similar at first sight to our own
Common Buzzard, one or two of these sub Arctic hawks over winter here nearly every year and
East Yorkshire seems to be a favoured spot for them. They're longer winged than our own, paler with a distinctive white rump and they tend to hover a lot, pretty much like a
Kestrel does, and on their breeding grounds further north Lemmings are what they're usually after. Not sure what this one was after but it sure was doing a lot of hovering and have to say it was a wowzer of a bird! Shame about the poor light but if it hangs around I might pop back on a better weather day.
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Hovering like a Kestrel but so much bigger! |
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| Nice profile! |
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| From some distance but that white on the rump is so distinctive |
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| Awesome head on view! |
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| Nice in black and white! |
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| Unfocussed I know but it was coming right at me! |
Lemmings are in short supply in
East Yorkshire but I bet he'd have been interested in this
Stoat I spotted on my patch this morning!
