Rapturous

It was a half decent day at last, even a touch of sun and less wind, with the result that all the raptors came out to play on Rawcliffe Moss. I’d gone for a wander about and bumped into Seumus dropping seed for the sparrows, and then afterwards found myself watching mainly birds of prey. For the record and in rough order of appearance the raptor count stood at 1 Hen Harrier, 1 Merlin, 1 Short-eared Owl, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Kestrel and 1 Peregrine, with a total of 8 Buzzards appearing as four pairs over four separate woods.

The harrier looks like it was flying into the trees but it wasn’t, it just flew quite close at one point then kept a safe distance without giving any more photo opportunities.

Hen Harrier
Buzzard

Both the Peregrine and Merlin were a distance away, at one point the Peregrine stooping without success at a flock of Jackdaws. The “shorty” put in a brief appearance before it too disappeared into a ditch that looked suitable for a daytime roost. Plodding around the moss produced a good selection of other birds, especially the bunting family, with 24 Corn Bunting, 25+ Yellowhammer and 30 Reed Bunting.

Corn Bunting

Other birds seen: 14 Grey Partridge, 1 Goldfinch, 2 Greenfinch, 30 Chaffinch, 200+ Tree Sparrow, 40+ Skylark, 4000 Starling, 300+ Lapwing, 4 Snipe, 2 Song Thrush, 8 Blackbird

Greenfinch

A few readers commented about my new header, but I'm not happy as the picture should fill across the page, not stop half way. Seems there's a problem with Blogger (again).