Buzzard over ED

[Zak]

Did anyone else see a buzzard at around 8pm tonight? It was soaring in the sky somewhere roughly over Bellenden Road, at the Choumert Road end. Whatever next!

[PeckhamRose]

Wow. Who's got stuff buzzards like?!

That's incredible.

[DulwichFox]

Buzzards like Rats . Pubs, Bars, Restaurants, Take Aways, Food Waste left out... Rats.

[Sue]

Are you sure it was a buzzard?

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/b/buzzard/feeding.aspx

I've had a bird of prey in my garden eating the starlings, but it wasn't a buzzard.

Can't remember now what it was, it was a few years back.

[ironjawcannon]

There have been kestrels in the area for years. Could it be a kestrel you saw?

[Sue]

Bird of Prey Identifier

[Jo]

We saw it too, circling & then diving for something (we presumed a rat) on the railway line. Think it was most likely a kestrel from the shape of the wings (thanks Sue!), esp since it had a black strip along one edge of the wings.

[Hare]

I saw it too, but the tail shape was very un-kestrel and it was a big bugger. I'd put it as a buzzard, especially since they are the most common and widespread birds of prey in the country. Same sort of size as the red kites we see all over the Chilterns and up the M4 these days. Buzzards, I recognise from the family raised in the trees in the field opposite my parents' Shropshire home last summer. Maybe one followed me back.....

[Sue]

Well it pretty certainly wasn't a Golden Eagle, and red kites are easily identifiable by their forked tails.

Did it have raggedy wings (technical term :)) ) at the edges?

I know buzzards are common in the country, but one in East Dulwich??

[Sue]

Extract from Wild About Britain Buzzard thread:

Hi,

I work for Greenspace Information for Greater London (Greenspace Information for Greater London), and part of our remit is to collate information on London's wildlife and open spaces. The information we hold comes in from a range of sources, from GiGL partners such as the London Boroughs through to members of the public (see our website for an up to date list of our partners).

I've had a look at our information and we have over 400 records of common buzzard in Greater London, the most recent record having been sent in a couple of months ago. The main data contributors in this case are The Royal Parks, Greater London Authority and London Natural History Society.

We are always keen to receive more information to help us build up a better picture of London's wildlife, so if any of you would like to tell us about what you've seen please visit our website. Once you have registered as a user you can submit your sightings online and have a look at some of the data that we already hold via our WIMBY tool.

Kind regards

Mandy

[ElDuderino]

There's no reason why it couldn't have been a buzzard, the population in Kent has really grown in recent years and Kent isn't far away.

I saw a red kite fly over Therapia Road not that long ago and a Peregrine over Peckham Rye park last summer.

[Sue]

JosephWilkes Wrote:

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> There's no reason why it couldn't have been a

> buzzard,

xxxxxxx

Yeh that was what the link in my last post was supposed to show - sorry for casting doubt earlier :)

[bandwagonesque]

Aren't Buzzards pretty big? I've seen them in the country side and it's pretty obvious once you see one. Wingspan is up to 60 inches.

[Sue]

bandwagonesque Wrote:

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> Aren't Buzzards pretty big?

xxxxxx

Yes.

[Tarot]

I saw a very large bird flying around Goose green way yesterday,it looked like a Buzzard.but like Sue I wondered,but there have been these strange weather and hot air currents.

I know Wimbledon has brought a bird in to deter pigeons, but I dont know what it is,maybe thats lost its way.

[Sue]

Tarot Wrote:

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> I know Wimbledon has brought a bird in to deter

> pigeons, but I dont know what it is,maybe thats

> lost its way.

xxxxxx

My OH's flatmate bought a large plastic crow, stuck black feathers all over it, and put it on their balcony to deter pigeons from nesting there.

All the crows in the neighbourhood flew down and pecked all the feathers off it, so basically it has had no deterrent effect at all.

Sorry, just had to share that, as you were :)

[WickedStepmother]

I think Zak's right. At the weekend, above Peckham Rye Park, I saw something far too big to be a kestrel, definitely a bird of prey but rather more "chunky" and less elegant than a kite or a falcon - no fork to the tail either.

"If I were back in the sticks," I thought to myself, "I'd swear that was a buzzard. How odd."

But then Wimbledon distracted me and that was as far as the ornithology moment went.

[Renata Hamvas]

There had been a confirmed sighting of a red kite in the area (eastern side of Peckham Rye Park)last week, so maybe it's the same bird?

Renata

[Sue]

You can't mistake a red kite, because of the forked tail.....

[Jo]

To follow up my husband swears it was a buzzard, not a kestrel. Far too big to be a kestrel, he says. I'd believe him rather than me, given how small I used to think badgers are.

[Sue]

Jo Wrote:

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> To follow up my husband swears it was a buzzard,

> not a kestrel.

xxxxxxx

Must have been a buzzard, then :))

xxxxxxx

Far too big to be a kestrel, he

> says. I'd believe him rather than me, given how

> small I used to think badgers are.

xxxxxxxx

I have the opposite thing, I used to think moles were as big as badgers :))

[Penguin68]

But surely size isn't important

[Vince]

Could it have been a white parrot?

[Sue]

Vince Wrote:

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> Could it have been a white parrot?

xxxxxx

Well if the parrot man has it on a lead, he would have been dangling down from the bird while it flew :))

[The Minkey]

"My OH's flatmate bought a large plastic crow, stuck black feathers all over it, and put it on their balcony to deter pigeons from nesting there.

All the crows in the neighbourhood flew down and pecked all the feathers off it, so basically it has had no deterrent effect at all."

Oh, thanks for that, I needed a good laugh. Priceless.

Small bird of prey in gardens is extremely likely to have been a sparrowhawk, not a kestrel.