I hope you will excuse me for saying that I am absolutely thrilled with this photograph.  I know that there is so much still to come but I am getting there at last.  The secret?   Just a hint of flash to bring out the detail. The background is smooth and creamy because there is nothing but infinity for the camera to record except the fields and grass 100 metres away and what a great effect.  The bird "pops out" of the background and the fill flash has brought out the detail even in the eye of the bird.  The colour is perfect as well, it's a female so the colour is not as intense as a male would be.  It wasn't a fluke because once I had taught myself  to deal with the flash properly I managed quite a few more.  Flash light is very harsh, or can be, and the effect can be a bit artificial.  The way to deal with that is to diffuse the flash so that it is soft and subtle rather than harsh and glary.

It's an  effective way to bring out the white areas of the bird. If the flash hadn't been diffused it would be  too harsh and it would make the eye look very artificial and it wouldn't be half as successful. Here's a few more.

The background is entirely natural.  It was almost dusk, the sun was lighting up the fields in the distance with golden late evening light. I used the fill flash to bring out the detail, without it, it would have been just a silhouette.

All in all a great days photography even though the Buzzard didn't come in to feed.