Three Buzzards flying over Denton

It’s a good job I don’t have ambitions of becoming a wildlife photographer for the BBC because if they looked at this footage they would say “look for another career Sunny Jim“. So now it is established the video doesn’t contain footage which would impress David Attenborough, maybe I can bore some Tameside Citizen viewers with it instead?

The clip starts with a buzzard being harried by a magpie, soon afterwards two more buzzards arrive and then two of the three engage in a buzzard aerial ritual. To the uninitiated this is probably the biggest load of rubbish imaginable, but when you see a buzzard up close and hear their unique call you realise what amazing birds they are. They are also quite rare in these parts so we are lucky to have at least three living in Denton.

I am not a twitcher, just a casual observer who happens to have Haughton Green woods and Reddish Vale on my dog walking route. I had never seen a buzzard prior to venturing to these parts, now I see them virtually every time I go that way.

Buzzards have to be the coolest birds in Britain. For much of the day they perch in a dead tree which overlooks a thriving colony of rabbits. Every now and then a buzzard swoops down and takes a rabbit for dinner. When they take to the sky they fly with very few wing beats compared to other birds - they just seem to drift on warm air currents for much of the time. Unbelievably some evil b@stard shot a buzzard last week. If I caught anyone attempting to do anything similar they would pay a price.