Worcestershire Record No. 27 November 2009 p. 35

Report compiled by Mark and Christine Turner

During the 1990s with the realisation sinking in that Common Buzzards were properly established as breeding birds on my local patch in the North Cotswolds, I decided there and then to monitor their progress and find out all I could regarding breeding successes and population spread. Of course nowadays their success story is well documented and happily buzzards are still a talking point even amongst non birdwatchers.

We are now blessed with the spectacle of buzzard flocks riding the thermals right across the country, no longer restricted to a handful of strongholds dotted far and wide. Recording flock sizes appearing over certain territories over a period of time helps the observer to carry out a health check on local populations and be able to assess increases/decreases or perhaps importantly, population stability.

It is a sad fact of life that when bird of prey numbers start to increase a certain element of our society takes umbrage or even liberties with these wonderful creatures. Once again we see a return to old ways with eggers and keepers making the news despite tougher laws being in place. All the more reason then to monitor our local birds more closely. Happily the majority of gamekeepers nowadays are more conservation minded and more tolerant of predators sharing their land. Even so I have received several stories of concern from members of the public that buzzards in our region are being shot, trapped and poisoned.

Monitoring their numbers will indicate any significant impact persecution was having and putting up the warning signs that something is wrong. I am pleased to say all appears to be well on the home front despite a number of scares in recent times.

The last 15 years have seen phenomenal success for our region’s buzzards with the population expanding in all directions from the breeding hotspots of Bredon Hill and the North Cotswolds escarpment. Buzzard flocks even appear over town centres now on a regular basis. The weeks leading up to the breeding season when pairs sort out their territories are obviously the best time to observe numbers of soaring and displaying birds. Also the post fledging period can be fruitful whilst local numbers swell before youngsters disperse. My records reveal March/April and September to be the key months for observing good flock numbers on a more regular basis.

When I first started seriously monitoring local buzzard populations in 1994, 4 or 5 birds was pretty much the most you could see as a soaring group. Nowadays flocks are commonly double this so here is a sample list of my own findings locally. More information on this subject can be found in HAWKWATCH.

Reference:

COMMON BUZZARD GROUP NUMBERS SUPER-LIST FOR NORTH COTSWOLDS

AND VALE OF EVESHAM