Are birds of prey spreading?

Ok, not a fishing subject but I know some of you take a bit of interest in it.
Last week I was in Weybridge Surry on the out skirts of London and I was sitting with my brother and looked up and saw two Buzzards circling. Never seen them this far east before, I know they are common Devon way but I have never seen them at my brothers place and I have been visiting him for years.
A couple of days ago I was on a Bus and saw a bird being mobbed by a crow, at first I thought it was a Buzzard but then it opened its tail and it was red. I am certain this was a Red Kite, again I have never seen one here on the SE coast, a long way from their usual haunt which I believe is in Wales.

Lots of Buzzards where I live also saw a Sparrow Hawk zooming round the end of a block of bungalows last week something I hadn't seen for quite a while so I would say yes they are.

Buzzards are everywhere in Dorset, I see them all the time, even getting quite tame sitting on fence posts etc by the roadside. I think their spread in recent years is because when myxamatosis poisoning stopped the rabbit population exploded and rabbits are their favourite meal.

Buzzards very common now in Dorset, see them most days in suburban Poole in Dorset. Red kites reintroduced to the Chilterns 20(?) years ago and have spread up and down the Thames Valley, into the Kennet valley and now progressing down the Hants Avon. I have seen red kites in Dorset many years ago but think that within 5 years will be a common sight here. Peregrine falcons nest in Poole on tower blocks, often see sparrowhawks (seen three in last week) and kestrels, occasionally hobbies and merlin. Ospreys visit the Avon valley and Poole Harbour on their migration route. Ravens becoming common now as well.

plenty of buzzard around Sheffield, but I've seen red kites on the moors on the outskirst of Sheffield

robertroach said:

Buzzards are everywhere in Dorset, I see them all the time, even getting quite tame sitting on fence posts etc by the roadside. I think their spread in recent years is because when myxomatosis poisoning stopped the rabbit population exploded and rabbits are their favourite meal.

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It does look like myxomatosis has come back; several places where I saw rabbits regularly have had none for a couple of years now and John Levell on his Avon Diary has reported the same. I've got a feeling the DDT was one of the problems that affected birds of prey (and otters!) at the top of the food chain.

Plenty of Buzzard and Kestrels in Essex see them every time I go fishing. Have Sparrow Hawks hunting in my back garden, easy picking when the birds are at the bird table. When I visit my friends we feed kites in their back garden.
See very few Owls these days.

Probably particularly Buzzards which are our most common bop. Bearded vultures have also been seen recently on Dartmoor and near Bristol. These are very rare visitors and may have been blown of course.

Around Frodsham Marsh in cheshire one can see, buzzards, kestrels, sparrow Hawks and marsh harriers.

Marvels of nature and they make bird watching such a pleasure.

Plenty of buzzards round here, also seeing more goshawks, not many but there. Seem to be more. Not as many kestrels about now, Ospreys pass this way every year,

Haven't seem a red kite myself, but they are seen occasionally, not as many tawny owls nowadays, but more barn owls, see short eared owls sometimes on the moors.

Do see merlins and Hobbys now and again.

There's a pair of Buzzards that nest close to a fishery in South Sheffield I see them frequently whilst fishing.
Not seen them this year but I doubt they've gone anywhere.

The Chilterns where I am is rotten with Red Kite and they are spreading. Get them over my garden every day. Plenty of buzzard and sparrowhawks but a lot fewer kestrels than there used to be.

Its not unusual to see 25-30 kite around the Chiltern gap on the M40.

Mark Wintle said:

It does look like myxomatosis has come back; several places where I saw rabbits regularly have had none for a couple of years now and John Levell on his Avon Diary has reported the same. I've got a feeling the DDT was one of the problems that affected birds of prey (and otters!) at the top of the food chain.

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Mixy has never gone away. You'll get a surges in numbers of bunnies and you then mixy kicks in and decimates them again.
The sirvivors of a mixy attack are emune to it and thei numbers will gradually recover, but over several years the strain of mixy (just like our flus and colds) mutates and the cycle just keeps on repeating itself.
I used to go exterminating bunnies etc for the forestry commission up Scotland and even with the mixy killing them off they where there in massive numbers, a couple of days ferreting them and shooting would average 500 to 700 bunnies!

Monday: noticed a BIG bird up high near Winforton in the Wye Valley...couldn't identify it and couldn't keep craning my neck as I was driving at the time.

Tuesday on Welsh TV - a Lammageier spotted in South Wales!!

Had to be the one, eh?

Had to look that up Cliff, didnt know what it was;its a vulture seen along the Severn Valley, the first one in the UK; perhaps you did see it.
Spectacular bearded vulture spotted for first time in UK | Environment | The Guardian

Kestrels seem to be decreasing, common along the motorways once, don't see them hardly ever now. Perhaps they are being pushed out by the buzzard which seems to increasing all over the place..
I did not know they were now so common in Dorset MarkW, Weybridge not far away but I have never seen them so close to London and they looked like a breeding pair.
Every other raptor seems to be increasing as well, Hobbies very localized but I see them fairly often in the right place.
Interesting about Owls, I dont think I see or hear them rarely these days. Perhaps they are being pushed out as well.

Interesting answers, thanks.

On my first trip with binka last year there was a Buzzard sitting on a branch above me for a while, maybe it was expecting me to expire and it could get a fresh meal

thecrow said:

On my first trip with binka last year there was a Buzzard sitting on a branch above me for a while, maybe it was expecting me to expire and it could get a fresh meal

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Actually Crow I thought of you when I saw that Crow mobbing the Red Kite, I thought yep, that's Crow making a nuisance of himself.

---------- Post added at 11:38 ---------- Previous post was at 11:33 ----------

Just a thought while I remember, I bought two hamburgers yesterday in Mc Donald's, walked outside took one bite and a seagull came down and snatched out of my hand. Pulled the other one out and another seagull came down and whacked me on the arm, I had the hamburger tight in my mitt this time. Just as well I bought two.
Saw one last year fly in through an open window in a pub and nick some poor blokes steak right of his plate and fly out again; his face was an absolute picture..
they going to take over the world, mark my words.

Plenty of buzzards across Lincs. When I drive down the AI parallel to Rutland Water area the red kites are often overhead.

Barn owls have a stronghold here in Lincs as there are numerous boxes on high poles for them along rivers and drains. They took a big hit in the bad 2010 winter but seem to be about again.

On the Warping Drain a few years ago I had a barn owl try to land on the pike rod I was holding whilst I was standing still in the reeds.

Red Kites were ' reintroduced ' some years ago mainly, and I got this from a chap who was keeping track of them, in the Stokenchurch area near to High Wycombe, Bucks. Memory tells me some came from Wales and some from Spain but I'm not altogether sure on this..
Since then this same area has witnessed an explosion in population, to the point where they seem to be taking over and spreading like wildfire. Several years ago in fields near to Hambleden, ( Henley direction ) I saw at least 12 / 20 of then following a tractor ploughing a small field and since then it is not unusual to have a dozen or more over our house at any time of day.
On Sunday I went to visit my mother in Princes Risborough, Bucks using a busy road and cars had to slow down because half a dozen Kites were trying to pick up bits of a dead deer in the middle of the road. Far from being wary they were just diving / swooping to within a metre of the road and then wheeling away. Looking up, a similar number seemed to be queuing up for a turn !!
The only enemy they have are those of the crow family who hassle them big time if they come too close to nests.

A walk through the vast Hambleden Estate will find any number of Buzzards, but nowhere near as numerous as Kites. They seem to live in harmony as they circle in small groups riding the thermals and a lovely sight they make too. How they find enough carrion to survive in such numbers is hard to fathom, but no doubt about the continuing increase in numbers - at least in my area !!

Am I correct in thinking they have spread to Yorkshire and beyond - I thought I read somewhere they are pretty much countrywide, if only in smaller numbers ??


In the not too distant I can see them becoming problematical if numbers keep growing and farmers start to see them going after lambs and the like, regardless of the fact that carrion is the main food source - from what I'm told.................I believe they became a problem many moons ago and they were shot to reduce numbers and then they seemed to become an endangered species ?? That's a question !!

The problem the sheep farmers are having is with ravens, another bird once rare, now common, that are attacking new-born lambs. It seems keeping llamas with the sheep alleviates this!

Mark Wintle said:

The problem the sheep farmers are having is with ravens, another bird once rare, now common, that are attacking new-born lambs. It seems keeping llamas with the sheep alleviates this!

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I can relate to that. Wandering home the worse for drink one night I blundered into a llama in the pitch black darkness. I didn't hang around to look for new born lambs !

There are raven around Aylesbury and I regularly see them at Bury Hill nr Dorking.