As you may have heard me say if you know me well, or perhaps even from reading the Blog, I have been wanting to get up close to a Buzzard for ages.  At last, with a bit of careful thought and a considerable amount of effort, which has involved building a very natural looking hide, I have almost achieved it.    Today the weather was as miserably cold and overcast as you could get and yet I spent a great couple of hours in the hide trying for both Raven…….. a no show today……. and eventually, after two hours, the Buzzard. Today was more about study than photography and I observed some interesting behaviour. He was up to his old "worm-eating" trick and I watched him for ages as he spotted the worms on the bank from the post in the pictures. In fact, in the sequence, he is just flying up from the bank after  eating on the ground.  He, or she, is a magnificent bird with a massive wingspan as you can see. At one point he was quite close as well but honestly, the light was so bad it was really frustrating. But what a taster for things to come. I have been working out a strategy for getting really close to him, watching where his favourite perches are and which posts he favours etc. When I have watched him for a few more days I will have been able to work out his routine and then I can make my move for that real good close up. In the mean time , I may just get lucky and he may settle close to  me. I am considering some other food delicacies that he may like better than rabbit. Frankly it's a big surprise that he has not made his move for the rabbit carcass, it doesn't make a lot of sense, it's not as if he doesn't see rabbits regularly.

 Here's a couple of shots from  a bit closer but still, with the fence and wire in the way, not as good as they will be when he is this close in good light.