Buzzard bounce-back
By Charlotte Owen
WildCall Officer
The beautiful buzzard is a common sight across Sussex, whether soaring high overhead on a thermal or surveying its surroundings from a fence post. In fact, it’s the UK’s most common bird of prey and so often seen that it’s easy to take its presence for granted - and it’s a presence you can’t really miss. This is a big bird with a wingspan of up to 1.4 metres and a wonderfully wild, cat-like call that often provides the first cue to look up.
But this hasn’t always been the case, and as recently as the 1950s the Sussex skies were completely empty of buzzards. The species was almost lost to the UK completely after heavy persecution in the 1800s, when Victorian landowners and gamekeepers were wrongly convinced that buzzards would decimate their pheasants and grouse. From 1841-77, just seven buzzards were seen in Sussex and six of those were shot. By 1887, the once-widespread species was rare enough to be included in a book of Lost and Vanishing Birds, clinging on in just a handful of wilder places in Wales and south-west England, the Lake District and western Scotland - well away from the gamekeepers’ guns.
Persecution lessened during the two World Wars and buzzard populations began a slow recovery until 1955, when myxomatosis outbreaks decimated rabbit populations and caused widespread buzzard food shortages. At the same time, the ongoing use of organochlorine pesticides like DDT caused catastrophic eggshell-thinning in contaminated birds, literally crushing any attempts to reproduce. These chemicals were eventually withdrawn in the 1960s and with the introduction of better protection for birds of prey and enlightening attitudes among gamekeepers, buzzards finally started to prosper. In 1995 there were still fewer than ten pairs in Sussex but a mere three years later this had increased to an amazing forty pairs, and then to an almost unbelievable 100 pairs by 2002. Nobody had imagined that buzzards could bounce back so quickly, given the chance. Today there are potentially 900 pairs in Sussex and buzzards have re-colonised habitats right across the UK, making them one of our biggest conservation success stories.
Comments
Amazing we have just moved to Southwater and have at times seen six buzzards circling above our garden. We are close to the A24 and they seem to use the road as a direction marker. One young bird often sweeps over the house and puts on an amazing flight display for us, wonderful well done for the conservation success.
28 Sep 2017 11:32:25
We live just north of the A264 Horsham By-Pass where we will shortly be blighted by the new and controversial North Horsham development. Buzzards have been nesting in the ancient woods behind us for at least ten years and we regularly see them over the house and the fields around us. The fields will shortly be no more so presumably no more rabbits either. This huge and arguably unnecessary development will devastate local wild life. Very sad.
28 Sep 2017 12:29:42
Today I saw seven buzzards and two red kites circling over my head at the same time. This was next to Kingley Vale near Chichester.
28 Sep 2017 18:51:37
A Wonderful sight indeed across Sussex after many years when persecution was the only reason for lack of breeding success and spread .. I can’t believe Natural England / the Government are already allowing shooting of buzzards under licence by some landowners ( especially when the “evidence” they heard was considered in private !
28 Sep 2017 20:31:34
It’s such a pleasure to see buzzards so regularly these days. Long may it continue.
30 Sep 2017 22:03:00
Here in north Essex (CM6) we see buzzards on a daily basis, I have just watched three circling high in the peerless blue sky.
11 Jun 2018 10:04:45
Living on a hill facing Steyning We have in the region 5 beautiful Buzzard flying over our house on a daily basis and often sit on posts.
Take a walk along King’s Barn Lane and you see and hear then
01 Oct 2018 10:52:00
We live in Central Hove. during the summner of 2018, we heard gulls making loud warning cries.
Going outside we saw 6 Buzzards circling high above our garden.
Amazing to see them over our busy city.
03 Feb 2019 18:51:00
Saint Hill and grounds – close to the Weirwood Reservoir, so often see them over and around – was interesting when one drifted by one of our film crew’s camera drones !
03 Jun 2019 15:44:00
I am a keen bidwatcher. I belong to S.O.S and am interested in Raptor movement in my area of Hove, East Sussex. This week i have counted 7 Buzzards using the thermals over us. One Sparrowhawk drifted over too whilst putting up with being mobbed by gulls.
09 Apr 2020 15:24:00
Just had three buzzards Calling and flying overhead In Seaford. A beautiful sight.
16 May 2020 13:48:00
My partner and I were driving down the A287 near Haslemere at about noon on 18 May when a buzzard swooped in front of the car to retrieve what looked like an infant deer carrion. Unfortunately, we scared the bird off.
20 May 2020 16:01:00
On a walk over Iping Common near Midhurst, a Common Buzzard launched upwards out of the heavy bracken and gorse undergrowth and then we saw it had an Adder in its tallons…an amazing site that I have only ever seen on TV before. It flew off into the distance to no doubt feed its offspring.
04 Jun 2020 12:35:00
A few days ago I was riding deep in Five Hundred Acre Wood. It was silent and peaceful and deeply decidious green, many of the paths overhung with new season’s growth of Chestnut, Beech, Holly, Oak and Sycamore with their helicoptering winged seeds. My horse Callum mooched along happily. We stopped now and then to allow me to break off low hanging branches that impeded our passage. He is always happy to stop as he gets a feed of leaves while waiting.
Then in the distance we heard shrill whistles, the kind used by walkers to call their dogs to heel. Suddenly Callum was on red alert and walked with a spring to his step which I know from experience can change in a split second to a spin or a vertical ‘sky-jump’. I pulled him up, patted his neck and spoke softly to him, but his attention was on the whistling which was suddenly much closer. A movement in the air caught my eye. I searched the sky and saw almost directly above us two huge Buzzards doing circles and making their whistling cry. They were hunting. I tried to get the horse to look up but no joy, so we walked on, pogo-stick legs quivering with energy. And then the birds were gone and the whistles distant. We walked on, calmer now, the birds not aware that they had spooked the horse and me. The wild is ever with us. Man, horse and bird.
Julian Roup
Crowborough
East Sussex
30 Jul 2020 09:41:00
We saw a pair of buzzards circling in thermals above our house
Hi Richard. Buzzards are supreme opportunists, concentrating on carrion, small mammals (rodents) and even prey like earthworms. They rarely take prey much larger, though rabbits are not off the menu given the chance. Lambs and cats are far too large to tackle given the Buzzard's relative lightweight - their wing loading seriously inhibits the size of prey that can be carried. A simple point to remember is that they'll rarely take anything that isn't a regular food source, so domestic pets are not strictly on their radar!in Prinstedm near Emsworth,we wondered what is the largest
animal that they wold take,,small rabbit or kitten or small new born lamb but not a cat presumably?
18 Apr 2021 18:01:00
I see Buzzards every afternoon when conditions are right. Today one hovered right above my house which is to the North of Bexhill in East Sussex. The seagulls were encouraging it to move on and the pidgeons tried not to panic.
31 Jan 2023 15:34:00
I live in the village of Copthorne and take great pleasure in watching these magnificent birds
soaring so high on the thermal currents.
It is interesting to note that the jackdaws take a distinct dislike to them and gang up on them
in quite large numbers
Sheila Pearson
6/6/2024
06 Jun 2024 19:55:00