Allotments 4 All

We thought buzzard, but possibly a young one or?????

Has to be.

Beautiful bird. Great photo.

could it be a young sparrowhawk

Got to be a buzzy?

What's up with them this year - they're all into this low-fly business.

I wonder what they're feeding on. They're extremely adaptable; in some parts of the country they used to be known as 'rabbit hawks' as this was their main diet. If you think about how many rabbits one would have to kill, as opposed to the number of worms, you can see that this must have been a fairly easy life for them as long as there were plenty of coneys. After myxamotosis, they started hunting like kestrels, hovering (clumsily), looking for insects and small mammals. Yours may be adapting to another type of prey altogether.

Think the colour may have been affected by the sunlight. This is it with the redness much reduced.

My proximity to the M6 means we see a lot of buzzards.  A few weeks ago I drove over one of the many mootrway bridges and one very lazily floated just high enough to clear the railings, waftet across my front then dropped down to the verge below.  Blimey they're big when that close!

We frequently see them sitting on fence posts sizing us ( more likely field rabbits) up or circling overhead.  Never have my camera with me when that happens.  Great pictures.

lovely pictures, nice blue sky behind as well  :)

i think you find that she is a female kestrel ,

happy new year all

its a young female kestrel

I would go with the Buzzard.
Kestrels are smaller, have a different wing shape and are a different colour.

Watched six Buzzards circling around last weekend and the call sends shivers up my spine. Gret to hear.

Believe me its a Kestrel. I know my birds very well.

Oh wow, what a fabulous photo,Sawfish.

I am not really into this arguement about the id of the bird we saw. All I will say is that having spent the last 12 years watching buzzards, sparrow hawks, kestrels, kites and even once a peregrine falcon, all near to here, this bird neither looked, nor  flew like any of the above. The photo I took was at extreme range with the sun in the wrong position so it is hard to see the true colour of the bird.
Having talked to other bird experts in this area, it seems that there is a very peculair and so far unidentified hawk flying around.

Not usual for a bird of prey to feed on the wing other than to bring down another bird. But if it is feeding on the wing, then this time of year makes sense to fly low. Insects flying in cooler weather don't go high.
I wonder how it catches anything. With a kestrel shaped beak it must have to catch something with a downward flip of the head, ahead of the insect.
Very strange...looking forward to hearing more about this fella.

I am convinced the pictures you have are a kestrel Palustris. The facial markings, the bars at the end of the tail, the wing shape, the breast colouring.

I'd bet my pumpkins on it.

Stunning pictures Eric - thank you - do let us know if you find out any more...

its definately a kestrel. in reply to kenkew, it wouldnt catch things with its beak ,they use their feet even when taking prey in mid air.
To see a true master of this try to  watch a hobby{very small bird of prey} catching dragonflies.