Observing Raptor nests - Buzzard

 There isn't much more exciting for a birder than discovering a nest and none more so than a bird of preys.

This year on my patch I have identified a Buzzard nest. A pair of Buzzards have nested annually on my patch for the last 20 years at least, but identifying the exact location has always been an issue. Buzzards are cunning birds and between late January and early May will build a series of nests across their territory. I have recorded them building such structures over the years but the trick is that they only lay in one of them and until this year it was never in one I had found.

Chick - about 10 days old (struggling to hold head above nest rim)

Early this season as the leaves were still starting to burst I noticed a large nest in the cleft of a tall willow tree. I marked it as promising but was unsure whether it was a sparrowhawks. Over the weeks I kept an eye on it and slowly I noticed that there was often a lone Buzzard nearby, either in the tree itself or in a tree beside it. I began to suspect it was the Buzzards. This was confirmed on the 2nd June when I was able to spot a chick in the nest. Since then there has always one of the parents sat on a nearby tree and this week I got a better look at the chick.

Chick about 20 days old. Chick able to hold itself upright

Watching nests comes with a lot of responsibility. All nests are protected law (Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981) and it is illegal to disturb them or take eggs. The baseline rule is that nothing that you do should risk the chicks in the nest or run the risk of disturbing the parents such that they abandon the nest. The BTO as part of their Nest Record Scheme (NRS) have an excellent Code of Conduct but I would suggest that  unless you are taking part in the NRS or some other sanctioned survey that you avoid getting close to any nest especially  when so many of our breeding birds are in trouble.

To safeguard my buzzards I have made sure that if I am checking the nest that I do not get any closer than 70m and if I can see nothing I move on. Although I use social media I have not revealed the nest location in anyway such information will only be shared with the NRS.

One of the Adults standing watch in a nearby tree

At present I have only ever seen a single chick in the nest. The average clutch size is 2-4 eggs but mortality can be high. Clutch size and survivability for my buzzards is probably most likely relate to food availability. Buzzards success has been linked to rabbit abundance and my patch has very few warrens in the area. Sheep pasture is also a favourite hunting ground of which there is 21 ha close by. It is my suspicion that these buzzards are taking mostly birds and could account for the distinct lack of breeding Great Spotted or Green Woodpeckers or even sightings of these birds for the past month.

Looking at the chicks rough size in the first picture I took I would estimate  the on the 2nd June the chick was 10 days. From this we can broadly extrapolate the following:

1st Eggs laid                     = 15th-17th April

Estimated Hatch Date      = 23rd May

Fledging Date                  = 2nd-28th July

Dispersal from Territory   = 21st August

These dates line up with the average dates listed in studies conducted by the Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme and in the text, The Birds of the Western Palearctic.

I will continue to monitor the nest carefully and hopefully see what prey is being brought in. Hopefully once it fledges and moves away from the nest I will be able to go closer and try and find any pellets under the nest to analyse contents.