Raptor Heaven

I spent a fantastic day on Friday at a place that I have visited a couple of times now. Unfortunately I don't want to say where it is because of the potential risk of people persecuting the birds I went to see.

Anyway, it was quite an early start to try to beat the traffic, and I was picking up a friend en-route to another friends house so we could car share and save a bit on the costs. As it happened we managed really good time and were on site a little after 08.00. Too early in some respects, particularly for raptors, but perfect timing for the eclipse! The cloud cover was mixed, but actually made it better for photography - when there was no cloud it was simply too bright to get a decent shot. However, as you can see below, once the right amount of cloud covered the sun we got some great shots (for me anyway). The pictures below are in time order, top to bottom, for the height of the eclipse.

It was quite eerie at the height of the eclipse, and birds definitely went quiet for a brief time. But it was great to be out in the countryside to experience it.

As for the birds, well, once again I had a great day here. Siskin were plentiful as were Chaffinches. The odd Goldcrest and Redpoll were heard and I did pick up on one or maybe two Crossbills. However the main target for the day were the raptors and we weren't disappointed. Buzzards were seen regularly all across the area. We also had a couple of Kestrels and Sparrowhawks. There was one small falcon that left us slightly confused. Its behaviour suggested Kestrel, but it didn't hover in the exact same way and it looked much smaller and shorter tailed. The distance that we were viewing at didn't help, but I'm counting it as a Merlin. However the star of the show was the Goshawk. We had two birds. Again one very distant but one that gave brilliant views as it flew from one side of the lake to the other. This bird is a great example of that well known saying that birders often use - 'you'll know one when you see one'. It is completely different from any Sparrowhawk. Deep chested, broad hipped, different feel altogether from its close relative.

Its a pity that I don't feel able to say, in public, where this location is. Its a great place to visit and I've seen Goshawk here every time I've been, along with a number of other raptor species. As I mentioned above, there are unfortunately too many people out there that would use the information for the wrong purpose.