Saturday 11 May 2013

The one that got away

Whilst surveying some land on the northern edge of Teignmouth on Friday morning, I had frustratingly brief views of what was probably a pale-phase Honey Buzzard. It was flying fairly low and direct in a north-westerly direction and caused quite a stir among the local gulls, more so than Common Buzzards usually do at this site, but I never got a really decent view to confirm its identification. More cooperative and straightforward was a nice female Redstart nearby.

A brief seawatch off Teignmouth this afternoon produced only a handful of Gannets and Sandwich Terns.

2 comments:

  1. That must have been so annoying! I hate it when that happens, as I'm sure everyone does.
    Honey Buzzards have been arriving in the UK over the last few days so it's quite possible! Did you get any ID features or was it just the jizz that made you think honey?

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  2. The underparts were whitish and the head was greyish; these were the only plumage features I got. Never mind! A Sandwich Tern was fishing off Passage House this morning, the first time I've seen one so far up the estuary

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