Red Kites/Buzzards East Midlands (1 Viewer)

[arcamnuts]

Hi. I'm new to this forum. I've lived just 7 miles east of Kettering in the small village of Twywell for 20 years. During this time, the Red Kite population has grown substantially and we frequently see them overhead at chimney pot level, say 10 to 20 sightings daily. So far, so fairly normal for us.
But the big news is that in the last 2 to 3 years I have had isolated, fleeting sightings of Buzzards locally, but that is all. But this week, I have seen what I presume to be the same Buzzard wheeling over the village at about 100 feet, looking for food, I guess.
So prior to 3 years ago, no known Buzzards locally in my part of the East Midlands. Now they appear to be here.
Questions: Does anybody know if Buzzards and Kites co-habit happily? Do they both feed on the same food sources? Has anybody got any information on why Buzzards appear to be now spreading into the east Midlands?

 

[chris butterworth]

Welcome to Birdforum, arcamnuts. Red Kite and Common Buzzard will share the same home ranges quite happily in the UK, they do in mainland Europe. Although there is an overlap in food sources ( both will eat carrion, earthworms, large insects etc. ) Kites are mainly scavengers while Buzzard, given the opportunity,will go for small mammals. The spread of Buzzard into the eastern side of the country has been going on for the last 10 or 20 years, mainly because of a drop in the amount of persecution has allowed them to move back into their historical range.

 

[chowchilla]

On behalf of staff and moderators a warm welcome to Birdforum.:t:

I have left your thread here for the time being but this query would have been better suited in another subforum such as 'Birds and Birding', 'Birds of Prey' or 'Bird Behaviour'. As fortune would have it however, Chris has already furnished you with an excellent reply.

 

[coal tit]

red kites/common buzzard

Hi. I'm new to this forum. I've lived just 7 miles east of Kettering in the small village of Twywell for 20 years. During this time, the Red Kite population has grown substantially and we frequently see them overhead at chimney pot level, say 10 to 20 sightings daily. So far, so fairly normal for us.
But the big news is that in the last 2 to 3 years I have had isolated, fleeting sightings of Buzzards locally, but that is all. But this week, I have seen what I presume to be the same Buzzard wheeling over the village at about 100 feet, looking for food, I guess.
So prior to 3 years ago, no known Buzzards locally in my part of the East Midlands. Now they appear to be here.
Questions: Does anybody know if Buzzards and Kites co-habit happily? Do they both feed on the same food sources? Has anybody got any information on why Buzzards appear to be now spreading into the east Midlands?

Yes buzzard are seen daily now in Derbyshire I have seen several or more birds together in recent times but upto 12 birds or more have been seen together a number of times in that period in Derbyshire their either back or getting back to the numbers they used to be here, red kites are
being seen more to here lets hope these birds are left in peace long enough to establish themselves here fingers crossed.

 

[Kits]

Welcome to BirdForum! I am sure you will find lots to interest you here, and I hope you enjoy your visits.

 

[arcamnuts]

Kite/Buzzard interaction

Thanks, everyone, for their helpful responses. Yesterday we walked down the nearby River Nene and spotted what we thought were five Red Kites wheeling overhead at about 700 feet. Closer inspection, however, showed that it was three Red Kites and two Buzzards happily occupying the same close airspace overhead for about five minutes.
What a spectacular sight and a real highlight of the last few months bird-wise for me. The Buzzards appear to finally be in this area on a permanent basis which is a great thing.