Buzzed, and Buzzard

Monday, 23rd June 2003, page 2 of 2, West Yorkshire

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wasp As we're eating our pasta out on the patio in the evening a single persistent wasp makes us decide to retreat inside. By the time we've finished our pasta this wasp (I'm sure it's the same one) has found its way in via the patio windows which are open only a notch. We go out again to finish our wine.

buzzard crow mobbing buzzard I'm glad we do: I soon spot a buzzard being mobbed by a carrion crow over the wood. I rush in to grab our binoculars and get to see the brown of the buzzard's broad wings with their lighter golden patches. The buzzard is soon driven out of sight down behind the trees near the dam, towards Netherton.

As far as I remember this is only the second time in I've spotted a buzzard in Coxley Valley in the 20 years we've been here. I wonder how long it will be before we see a red kite here. The reintroduction programme has been quite a success and they've been seen not far away, often alongside the motorway.

A week ago, on the 13th, Ian Kirby, who lives just across Coxley Valley, in Netherton wrote:

Last night, around 9.15, I saw a buzzard over the woods. It was being mobbed by a rook and flew off down the valley towards Middlestown.

And he added:

In April I brought up a hare in the woods, close to the field separating the wood from the houses in Netherton. Around the same date a Woodcock was performing it's roding flight over the trees and the edge of the field - my children being bemused by its croaking call.

richard@willowisland.co.uk