Disputed territory in Buzzard Land

I can get away with using the tenuous link of Sean Wood’s excellent article featuring one of my Haughton Green buzzards on page 35 of this weeks Advertiser as my reason for posting this video.

The video features an adult buzzard swooping down and attacking a juvenile. The location where I film these buzzards is now home to three resident buzzards. The light coloured buzzard is the juvenile and the other two are almost certainly its parents. As the youngster eats it gets alerted of an ‘air raid’ attack by the woodland early warning system - the magpies. The magpies knew the other buzzard was coming and started making a raucous alarm call which alerted the young buzzard. The young buzzard looks and sees the incoming attack just in time and manages to escape without serious injury.

Starting at 34 seconds into the video you will see the young buzzard flying through the woodland. For a large bird it is incredibly agile.

If anyone is interested in seeing the buzzards in real life get yourself onto the horse fields which are located in between Stockport Road in Denton and the M60 motorway. If you go there tomorrow during the day and look skyward, providing the sky is clear it you will almost certainly see two or three of these impressive birds circling round on the thermal currents. Sometimes they soar to incredible heights so binoculars could come in useful. Also listen out for their call, it is a very distinctive meow call which resonates over a wide area.