Saturday 18 June 2011

Taming a wild Buzzard



There has been quite a few news items during the past couple of weeks regarding my favourite type of large bird - the Common Buzzard.

On the 8th June the BBC reported that a female buzzard had been shot dead.

On the 10th June the BBC also reported that 71 year old man was attacked and badly clawed by a buzzard.

The best recent article on buzzards was in the The Telegraph a couple of days ago where Robin Page penned an excellent article about the explosion in numbers of Buzzards and Red Kites. Even if you are only moderately interested in wildlife you may still find his article interesting, especially the ‘eyewitness’ description of buzzards “disembowelling” squirrels.

I am not what could be described as a Twitcher but I have taken a very keen interest in the buzzard in the video above.

I have been acquainted with this bird for less than a year but our ‘relationship’ has come on a long way in a relatively short space of time.

Some birds like robins are relatively tame when close to humans due to their special place in our nations psyche. After all, a robin is a symbol closely associated with Christmas and very few people would wish them harm and as a consequence they are comfortable to spend time in close proximity to humans.

Buzzards on the other hand have been, and unfortunately still are a persecuted breed and their shyness and fear of humans is very well justified. This is one of the reasons I feel especially thrilled at forming a relationship - albeit based on me being the provider of an easy source of food, with a totally wild buzzard.

When I first started feeding this buzzard it would not come near food I provided until I was long gone. I initially started by leaving the food at night and the buzzard would come for it early in the morning.

When it seemed comfortable with that arrangement I started bringing food in the afternoon instead. It knew the food was there as I could see it leave the trees and circle above to make sure I vacated the area. When it was sure I was gone and the coast was clear it would settle down to eat. This normally took place around two to three hours after I left the food.

Fast forward six months and the two or three hours had reduced to five or ten minutes.

Yesterday when I made this film the buzzard spotted me from afar and in a very purposeful manner it flew at head height towards me keeping its course until it was around 30 feet away. It then veered off and perched on a low branch while ‘dinner was served’.

While it still will not eat from my hand it has developed the courage to perch very close while I am laying food down. On some occasions it hops from branch to branch very close to me while making its buzzard call in the process - I am pretty certain that it is greeting me with this its calls and display of branch hoping.

Buzzards can live for up to 30 years and while I have no idea how old this particular buzzard is, I do hope that one day it feels confident enough to come and eat from my hand.

44 comments:

TheDeadLands said...

Whilst this is quite charming, your actions are taming, and making reliant on you, a wild creature.

Higgs Boson said...

Correct, never try and play God by interfering in nature. If it loses its ability to hunt and you stop feeding it, it will perish.

Stuart Roosa said...

It won't lose its ability to hunt from being occasionally fed. If I were TC I'd be more worried about it having my eye out (a la Kirk Douglas in The Vikings), the fate of many bunny huggers.

Spirit of Thatcher said...

Nice bird but now for the serious business. I like your poll regarding public sector pensions. The public sector has had it too good for far too long. If we can crush the militant left unions in this parliament it will be a job well done.

I hope the public sector workers are not fooled into believing the hype from the lefty union fat-cats which will lead them into a battle they can not win.

John Warden said...

F**k public sectors workers. They've got it a LOT better than the private sector. Especially in modern globalised Britain, flooded with cheap foreign labour for the last 10 years, where wages are now f*****g s***e.
The public sector should keep their mouths shut and stop drawing attention to themselves or more and more people will notice and question the injustice of their preferential treatment.

Anonymous said...

They're entitled to better treatment. Don't ask why, they just are.

Jobs for the boys said...

Just as Tameside Council has made over a thousand staff redundant, former Labour councillor and researcher to James Purnell, Mike Kane, has been appointed as the new Senior Exective Assistant to the Leader.

Snouts in trough? Jobs for the boys?

So very Labour!

Alf Garnett said...

This has fuck all to do with the lefty unions and more to do with there lefty boss,s ? Dont people have short memorys there pensions contributions for the last god nows how many years got spent by the left wing governments, instead of investing it like they should have, now they trying to sort the mess out,? I say its politic justice. Lefty,s stealing off lefty,s and this load of cranks has the cheek to call the BNP ?Fuck them all if they want a pension let them pay for it out of their own pocket like the rest of us, if they think they will get public sympathy at a time when the vast amount of real British people are losing their homes their jobs, their identity, and more so the abilitilty to put food in there familys stomach thay are very much mistaken ? let it roll this could be just what we need

labour til i die said...

This is to complicated for retard bnprs to understand. stick to racism aludick and leave the politics to us

Alf Garnett said...

Thieving bastards and you know it ? your idols have done a maxwell on the wankers that voted them in and you know it, you labour spud.

labour til i die said...

Listen nobby we run the council and you have fuck all so whos the dick now

Alf Garnett said...

HA HA HA LOL im lovin it LOL

Alf Garnett said...

yes but the time will soon come when we will throw out of there if we have to and by that i meen the poeple and when that time come ill be first there ? you lot will pay for what you have done to my country ? you will see

Defeat from the jaws of victory said...

Labour 'til I die, if we're too thick you explain it to us. I won't be holding my breath.
In power you might be, traitorous scum you certainly are.

Alf Garnett said...

LOL ? So its to complicated for retards to understand is it LEFTY ? So lets see . Your masters take not just your lots but are pensions contributions as well and spend them ? are you with me so far lefty ? so no invest meens no erturn . now that suits me fine with yours but why should the good hard working people like me have to work till we are 105 to pay your fuckin lots pensions ? if anyone should be going on strike it should be us . one good thing that has happen over the years with you lot is you have lied and cheating to keep the real british people from havin a voice in politics . So you cant blame us for any of this mess its all yours ??? LOL

labour til i die said...

Aludick you illiterate fool are you a school kid or a retarded adult. your wild rambling makes no sense which is a good job coz you dont have a clue about anything. i told you yesturday leave politics to us and you deal with the only thing you know nazi racism

Immigrants before Brits said...

Poverty Tsar says immigrants take nine out ten new jobs created - most in the private sector. If these migrants are going to take jobs give them a fair crack at public sector jobs too - starting from the top working downwards.

We're exempt. Why? We just are. said...

Yes, let's advertise for an experienced Polish council leader to do Steven Pleasant's £189,000job in Tameside. For £50,000 we'd get the best of the best in Poland.
The economy's in dire straits and we're all in it together, apart from the public and banking sectors that is, who are 'more equal than others.'

Alf Garnett said...

Labour scum ? you are very rude and i dont like it so pls behave. and you dont seem to like the TRUTH do you ? So lets look at the fact

Did your your lot spend everyones Ni contributions including the perporpion that should go to are pensions ? YES and thats why we all have to work longer so thank you all you leftys


DID your lot sort all the people out when they lost private pensions ? NO so what makes you lot so speciol ? but im lovin it like i said coz you lot are goin to wake of people up Happy days

Now i know you dont like the thuth but instead of bein insulting pls tell us all which bit thats rong and may be you can educate this retard

Councillor Ellen Osa said...

A woman who became Swindon's first female black councillor in May has been suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation.

False statement under the representation of the people act. said...

Councillor John Taylor.
False statement under the representation of the people act.
That sounds like you during the 2008 local election.
And during the 2010 local election, not forgetting you're allegations to my neighbours against me.

Dey drink it in de Congo... said...

What the hell is that councillor wearing?

False statement under the representation of the people act. said...

False statement under the representation of the people act.

This act does not apply to Councillor John Charles Taylor.
He calls me Nazi, Fascist, incites violence against me in Dukinfield.
Spreads rumour and allegation about me amongst my neighbours.
I do hope the police come back and all this goes to court, so I can show the court, and most of all the people, what John Taylor has said about me in the community.

Anonymous said...

If you want to retire early in Tameside put a bet on Rick Perry now because its already sorted and the odds must be great at this future forecast.
You read it here first.

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars
Monday, June 20, 2011

Every indication suggests that Bilderberg-approved Texas Governor Rick Perry is set to become the frontrunner in the Republican race to challenge Barack Obama for the presidency, illustrating once again how a shady, secretive and undemocratic global elite holds the reigns of true power while Americans are distracted by the delusional notion that they have a genuine choice in 2012.Bilderberg has proven its kingmaker role time and time again not just in US politics but worldwide. Bill Clinton was a little-known Governor of Arkansas before he attended a Bilderberg meeting in 1991 and went on to become President a year later. Similarly, British Prime Minister Tony Blair attended Bilderberg before his election in 1997. According to Euro Weekly News, Maria Dolores De Cospedal’s attendance at Bilderberg 2011 in St. Moritz Switzerland also “augurs a victory in Spain’s next general election” for her Partido Bilderberg’s continual influence in picking US presidents and potential vice-presidents again serves up a reminder that the real power structure steering the planet goes beyond teleprompter-reading puppet presidents and rests in the hands of multi-generational globalists, central banking moguls and the CEO’s of the world’s biggest corporations, all of whom routinely attend the Bilderberg Group confab every year.

Iron Girders for Breakfast said...

Aluman you rambunctious bounder. Don't mess with 'Labour Til I Die'. He is a little beer bellied street thug who knock you out stone cold.

Alf Garnett said...

I would punch his fuckin head in in 2 seconds flat ? and i would enjoy it. P
iss and wind like all traters and wheses his reply ? yes coz he knows what im saying is true aluman dont tell lies

William Ford said...

Labour 'til I die and his ilk hates organisations like the EDL/BNP and denounces them as 'racist', translation - non-traitors who are prepared to fight for the survival of their land and culture.
As opposed to foreign culture worshipping, gutless scum who latch onto main parties and/or other PC organisations and go with whichever flow looks the strongest and who believe in NOTHING.

labour til i die said...

We take all kinds of people into our party, we love these people.
They have certain problems but we try our best to help them.

Duki/Staly Ward said...

Quit while you're ahead Aluman. He would demolish you.

Alf Garnett said...

iv just been on the BNP site and its made me feel sick how can the BNP be tellin people to support these strike ? Well thats it for me the party is fucked. its suppose to be for the workin man and not them that are a big part of the probelm public secter ?NO infact they are the probelm its this lot that vote these cranks in and its these cranks that brainwash are kids ? I could go on alday but im not going to coz its made me feel sick

im thinkin that this is down to that nob Adam Walker but im also thinking it could be nick and crew coz it looks like this lot are part of the public secter now so they will be after there pensions as well now ? so the last thing to say is you load of fucking sell outs

Nationalist said...

Totally brainless advice from the BNP website on supporting this strike led by Marxist unions and self interested indivduals who think they've got a right to preferential treatment.
The BNP is going nowhere under this leadership, it's long past time Griffin put party and country first and stepped down.

Traditional Conservative said...

Andrew Brons is the only hope left for the BNP. Here is a link to his new website.

Griffin and his band of cronies have turned you BNP'rs into a laughing stock but supporting Marxist strike action has to be proof positive he is trying to wreck your party.

Nick Griffin: A Boil on the Face of British Nationalism said...

Nick Griffin has become a putrid, festering boil on the face of British Nationalism and is dragging all of us down into the mud with his paranoia, idiotic acts, near-criminal behaviour, lies, deceit and outright fraud.

Griffin's behaviour over the past two years has been nothing short of treasonous:

1. He brought on board -- against the advice of everyone -- the Jim Dowson scam machine.

2. Dowson, with Griffin's full permission, employed his sister, his sister's husband, his daughter, Griffin's daughter and Griffin's son-in-law at the Belfast office.

Charge number one: nepotism on a grand scale.

3. The money which long suffering members contributed to the "fund raising" appeals went straight into the pockets of messrs Dowson, Griffin, and their immediate families.

This is why the costs of the fund raising appeals mounted up and formed a considerable part of the eventual debt. For example at least £58,000 was incurred in debt to Royal Mail for postage costs alone for the "fund raising" -- but Dowson and Griffin's family were paid first BEFORE the debts were paid.

Charge number two: gross financial incompetence, bordering on the criminal.

3. Dowson then schemed and plotted with Griffin against almost everyone else in the party, which resulted in a very large number of people leaving in disgust or being fired after daring to point out the numerous ill-advised ventures and scams (such as the old piece of junk called the "truth truck" sold to members for a cool £20K; the false promises of a "new election centre in Stroud" and finally, the insane idea of putting a Marmite logo into a spoof video.

Charge number 3: reckless endangerment of the party and its finances.

4. Griffin brought in non-party member Patrick Harrington, who had put up an Asian candidate for his mindless "National Liberal Party" (membership as of 31 December 2010: 21!) against the BNP to run the party after he (inevitably) split with Dowson.

Charge number 4: treason against the members of the BNP.

5. Not content with having Harrington set about wrecking the party, as he and Griffin did to the NF in the 1980s, Griffin then brought in Michelle Harrington, the tattooed self-confessed "sado" punk "singer" as part of his Euro staff. Yet another non-party member given a job.

The latest news is that Martin Wingfield has now been sacked as editor of Nick Griffin's EU website, and has to send all stories to Michelle Harrington for "vetting" first. This on top of Martin Wingfield's sacking as editor of Voice of Freedom.

Charge number 5: Gross disloyalty to long serving party members in favour of non-party people who are clearly unsuitable for the job.

6. Griffin then brought in the three-act clown's circus of Adam and Mark Walker, and Clive Jefferson. The Walker brothers had both been sacked as teachers
Adam Walker was sacked for misusing school equipment for private purposes. Clive Jefferson has offended about everyone with his bombastic behaviour, idiotic decisions and bumbling incompetency.

Charge number 6: Appointing completely unsuitable people to positions way above their competencies. This, combined with the continued nepotistic employment of his daughter and her husband (no-one knows exactly what he does, if anything, to deserve being paid out of the members' contributions and donations), makes a compelling case against Griffin.

7. Disgracing the party' s name with an appalling and humiliating performance on Question Time. This caused the party's vote to crash into the floor. Reason enough to resign.

8. Blatantly lying to the members about the constitutional amendments and then trying to trick people into giving him their proxy votes.

All in all, a real bad egg. Time for Griffin to go. Reply Reply With Quote

Anonymous said...

Having Patrick Harrington in the shadows operating, is one sure way to wreck you're party.
Clive Jefferson is a total disaster now. Adam Walker is no where to be seen.
The BNP had 17,000 members it's down to 10,000 under this lot.
Why on earth is the likes of Patrick Harrington involved in the BNP, is totally beyond me.

labour til i die said...

Im loving it. told you idiots i would destroy you and i always keep my promises

Anonymous said...

labour til i die you're an arsehole bnp kept you out of duki/staly.
Fat tosser. i'm loving it.

BNP Candidate said...

Traditional Conservative Iam not a member of the BNP at the moment, so I can't vote on the leadership contest.
But I urge all paid up members to vote for Andrew Brons.
If Nick Griffin wins the leadership contest, it will be the end of the Tameside BNP.
No Candidates no activists for Nick Griffin in Tameside.
Thats the situation here in Tameside.

Nick Griffin = Joe Stalin said...

'Mass' BNP demonstration in Bolton today. 11 at least, and that includes Griffin, Jefferson and Adam Walker.
Go now Griffin before you wreck the Party. I'm starting to think that's what you want.

Clive Jefferson said...

Clive Jefferson message to the hostile Tameside BNP.

Fifty years from now only 1 in 4 will be white said...

One in four primary school pupils in Britain today are from an ethnic minority - and almost a million schoolchildren do not speak English as their first language.
Official figures from the Department for Education show the numbers in both categories have soared in the last five years.
More than one in four (26.5 per cent) primary school pupils are from an ethnic minority, compared with 21.9 per cent in 2007.

Shock figures: One in four primary school children are from an ethnic minority research by the Department for Education shows.

Around 150,000 more youngsters than in 2007 do not have English as their mother tongue.
Overall, the data shows that 957,490 pupils in primary, secondary and special schools, as well as pupil referral units (PRU) have a first language that is known or believed to be other than English.
In 2007, five years ago, this figure was just under 800,000. This does not include PRUs.
More...Top jobs at BBC filled by private school elite, says Michael Gove

The figures are higher in primaries than in secondaries, with around one in six (16.8 per cent) of primary pupils speaking another language at home - 547,030 in total.
In secondary schools, that figure is around one in eight (12.3 per cent), some 399,550 children.
And in secondary schools, over one in five (22 per cent) of pupils are from an ethnic minority background, compared to 17.7 per cent five years ago.
A DfE spokesman said: 'Having English as a second language doesn't always mean that English skills are necessarily poor.
'It only shows the language to which the child was initially exposed to early on at home, irrespective of whether they speak English fluently later on.
'The evidence is clear that once English is established, children catch up and even overtake their peers.'
The statistics give a snapshot of the makeup of England's state schools in January this year.
They reveal that rising numbers of pupils are eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) - a measure of poverty - and more youngsters are taking them up.
In state secondary schools, 15.9 per cent of youngsters - 450,275 children are eligible and claiming the dinners.
This figure has risen for the third year in a row, meaning an extra 37,000 pupils are now on free meals than in 2008.
The numbers of FSM pupils in primary schools has also risen, with almost one in five (19.2 per cent), or 743,255 youngsters, now taking up the dinners.
This is 106,000 more than three years ago.

76 LANGUAGES UNDER ONE ROOF

In geography lessons, pupils at Southfields Community College (pictured above, last year) have a natural advantage. Choose any corner of the globe and you are likely to find at least one child from that region.

Youngsters at the South London comprehensive speak 76 languages between them, with their families coming from as far afield as Kazakhstan, Iraq, Congo, Burma and Afghanistan.

Many have fled war zones and some have not even been to school before.

The languages they speak include German, Mandarin and Arabic as well as
lesser-known tongues such as Tigrinya, spoken in Eritrea and Ethiopia, and Ibo,
originating from Nigeria.
Languages also include Twi, spoken in Ghana, and Tagalog, a language of the Philippines.

The 1,400-pupil school was hailed an inspirational success story after Ofsted
inspectors gave it their highest possible grade - outstanding. The education watchdog praised the school in 2007 for enabling pupils to make
'remarkable' progress.

The over-subscribed comprehensive has become adept at catering for children
still learning to speak English.

Those who join the school at 15 or 16 have just months to learn the language before sitting their GCSEs. Some have such little English they rely on picture books.

The school has a team of specialist language staff who between them speak
more than a dozen languages.

They call on community leaders if a child arrives speaking a language that is not
represented in the staff room.

Anonymous said...

Don't worry Clive Jefferson is building up mass movement, to save our people.

He has the skills to destroy every BNP group around the country.
He and Nick are doing a bloody good job.

Paved with good intentions said...

Southfields Community College has 'made remarkable progress', show us the exam results and the exam results of all similar 'rainbow' schools.
God help the few remaining British pupils in these establishments, they'll be educated not knowing who the hell they are.

Anonymous said...

BNP phobia regardless of which side you are on is a meaningless debate going nowhere.
Amazing those who cannot live with the reality of a defunct subject matter.

Gotterdamerung said...

If it's defunct why bother commenting on it.