Duel of the skies

Today was pretty dull and the air held the faint promise of rain that expressed itself as the odd drop here and there and the odd short spot of mizzle.

There was a lot of song on my patch but little activity. Despite the lack of wind most of the birds seemed to be sticking to the woodland where I could not see them.

Soaring above however were a pair of Swifts that screeched overhead and dived and tussled together. Its only when you see them in the sky together do you realise how stocky Swallows can appear in comparison.

Beside the river there were plenty of flying insects and I was able to get a few nice shots of a Grey Wagtail taking a quick preen in between feeding bouts.

On my return stretch I noticed the Kestrel emerge from one of the field side trees adding further evidence that there could be a nest where one of the branches has cracked and left a cavity, this was further reinforced when the male also flew out of the tree. They both seemed a bit agitated. Lots of people pass under the tree so I did not think it was my presence and then I caught site of the object of their worry, a buzzard across the meadow.

Both Kestrels proceeded to 'buzz' the buzzard by dive bombing it and calling incessantly.

Then after a few minutes the buzzard finally had enough and made a run for it pursued by the Kestrels.

On a side note: There is more bad news for the areas swans, a second nest has failed. The usually excellent nest site on the canal has been abandoned. Their was no sign of eggs or cygnets in fact the adults were located further down the canal attempting to make a new nest at the bottom of the garden. It is possible they were disturbed in their first site. Either way at the moment this leaves only 2 out of the original 4 nests still surviving.