Buzzards Over East Kent

[Bird spotter]

Hi all,
Just joined the forum and quite new to bird watching.
Noticed a pair and on one day three buzzards flying very high on thermals over the Elham valley area.Quite a sight and did'nt realise they were in this location.Looking through one of my bird books confirms their location.
BS

[Dave B Smith]

Hello Bird spotter,
On behalf of the staff, welcome to the Birdforum. Hope you enjoy it here.

[Fozzybear]

Hi BS. I had a similar experience here in Essex, have seen buzzards a few times and was astonished as I really didn't know they were in this part of the country... quite a sight for sure! :t:

[Bird spotter]

Hi Fozzybear
I was surprised to see them as well.In the past I have seen buzzards in west country but had no idea they were this far east.
These birds were flying very high,but are easy to spot as they fly in circles and have a distinctive look about them even though they are so high up.

Regards
BS

[Fozzybear]

The pair I saw over Little Baddow recently were circling very high up and the one I saw at work was high too and being mobbed by Jackdaws, which looked very small in comparison.

I'm admittedly pretty dire at bird of prey ID (I don't see that many, Kestrels and Sparrowhawks mostly and some Marsh Harriers in Norfolk) but Buzzards seem rather stand-out by their size, their really deep wings and 'jizz' - when I've seen them I've gone "Oh Kestrel... no... sparrowha... no, too big - ooh! Buzzard!!". :-O

[Bird spotter]

I saw the 3 buzzards again today approx 13:30 flying very high as usual.I was looking at a light aircraft flying over the house at the time,then I saw 3 small dots in the sky.Had the bins to hand which confirmed they were buzzards.
Beautiful to watch as they soared through the air....