Arriving at Fowlmere on a pleasant afternoon, I decided to take the anti-clockwise route, and soon after crossing the small bridge over the Shep I noticed a raptor that I instantly thought was a Honey Buzzard. Views were appalling as I was looking directly into the sun, but I fired off a few shots which I tried to brighten later…
I think structurally it looks OK, though some images look more convincing than others. My first impression was that it wasn’t a Common Buzzard, hence the series of awful photos shot into the sun. I’ve tried to lighten them up to get some plumage features. If it is an HB, I would guess the lack of a dark trailing edge would make it a juv. and it appears to have dark secondaries, though what is shadow and what is plumage is hard to tell. – Toby
Anyway, also noted were 20+ Skylarks heading south, 13 Pied Wagtails on the mere, and the first Redwings (around about ten). Two Cetti’s Warblers were also singing simultaneously and an Barn Owl managed to catch five small rodents in the space of 45 minutes, returning the prey to the youngsters (of which there are apparently four). The wacky Water Rail was also photographed.
Edit (11/10/2012): After much discussion, it seems the bird is actually a juvenile Common Buzzard with a (very) long-looking tail. Head-shape seems to be the main problem with Honey Buzzard. See birdforum for some of the discussion.
