Ready & Waiting
Usually there is always a buzzard perched on a post somewhere keeping watch…but mostly if I stop cycling and get my camera out then they will fly off to another post further away…
Fortunately this one hadn’t seen me, neither had I seen him…I’d stopped to get my camera ready for white balance and ISO sensitivity…when I looked up this buzzard was sitting there ready and posing… 😉
An Evening in the Lanes
When the weather is so hot as it has been the last weeks I tend to spend more time in the narrow lanes between the pastures…the lanes are all lined with trees and vegetation and are a good place to search for various insects and birds, also providing a pleasant alternative and shelter from the oppressive heat of the marsh and open pasture. Lately I have found a couple of quite narrow lanes such as the one shown in the image below which I assume is meant to be a footpath….the route is lined with tree roots making the way quite bumpy and potentially very wet if I lose my concentration for a split second. 😉
Small fields seperated by lines of trees make a perfect habitat for the buzzard…I seem to hear them quite a lot at the moment…this young buzzard was soaring about making himself heard…
If you look carefully in the top left-hand corner of this last image you can see one of the many dragonflies that were hunting in the lanes.
Cry of the Hunter
In springtime buzzards are rarely heard at all on the marsh, maybe due to nesting in more wooded areas…yet in the summer the buzzards’ call soon becomes a familiar sound again…
Considering Crows
Crows are everywhere, they seem to be present in all habitats…on the marsh, in the forest, heathland, farmland, in the town centre and of course in my street and garden.
I regularly witness crows attacking raptors like buzzards and sparrowhawks, either chasing them off or stealing their recently caught prey. In turn the crows are not too popular with smaller birds…so their visits to my garden are generally short and opportunistic in nature.
Early mornings on a weekend I’ve seen them in the town centre clearing up the mess from the previous nights’ festivities alongside several species of seagulls.
Buzzard Country
As you can see, you really don’t want to mess with a buzzard….you wouldn’t want to be a shrew or a mouse either.
These raptors have a good life here in the Frisian meadows…and there are a multitude of convenient perching posts to enable them to survey their territory. It’s worth bearing in mind to move slowly when they are around too because they do have a habit of attacking people during nesting time…especially cyclists and joggers.
These photographs were taken last August just in case you are wondering about the lush green meadows and the obvious difference in the light…it’s been more than 6 months since I’ve been there, yet I do hear some vague rumours (spread by the hopeful songs of great tits and blackbirds) that the winter will eventually give up…
Until that fine day I have only an archive of memories to share, which in turn prove to me that spring and summer really do exist, so you’ll have to forgive my random indulgence. 😉
Underneath is the best view I had of a marsh harrier the same day I met the buzzard….the harriers’ speciality is flying slow and silent, almost levitating at times.
Misty Morning
It was a cool summer morning as I arrived at De Leijen again….the cycle path was infested with thick clouds of gnats…I’m cycling slowly, peering over hedgerows and between trees as I go…and then I noticed this buzzard classically perched on a post…however I did not notice at the time the two rabbits posing in the left hand corner…
a heartical view 